Your Weekend Top 5

Giving Tree - TAMPICO – Tampico’s Mini Festival of Trees and its annual Giving Tree Celebration is Saturday at the Tampico Community Building, 106 W. Market St.

There will be a silent auction featuring decorated wreaths, Longaberger baskets, a handmade doll, toys and other items, with the final bids at 4 p.m. John Deere fleece blankets and two half hogs, including processing, will be raffled, and door prizes given away.

Chili, soup, sandwiches and other items also will be sold.

Last year’s program helped more than 75 Tampico schoolchildren with Christmas gifts, clothing and school supplies.

For raffle tickets or more information, call Shirley Lester, 815-438-7447, or Joan Johnson,  815-622-8705. 

Extreme TV - The “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” episode featuring the Stott family of Lena airs at 7 p.m. Sunday on ABC.

Sauk Valley residents were among the hundreds of volunteers who spent Sept. 9-16 building a new home for Philip and Joey Stott and their three teenagers, so you may spot some familiar faces in the crowd.

Grab a hankie and tune in.

Stop and see the roses - DIXON – The White House Garden, a Smithsonian Museum traveling exhibit, opens Saturday morning at the Dixon Historic Center, 205 W. Fifth St.

According to the center’s Web page, www.dixonhistoriccenter.org, the exhibit “captures the history and splendor of one of America’s oldest continually landscaped gardens.”

It runs through Jan. 9, and the center, normally closed on Saturdays, will extend its hours. It will be open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, and from 10 to 4 Saturdays.

Admission is free.

Call 815-288-5508 for more information and the holiday schedule.

Local talent will sparkle on stage  - STERLING – Seeing Stars, the annual variety show to raise money for the nonprofit Lutheran Social Services of Illinois, kicks off tonight at 7 at Sterling High School’s Centennial Auditorium, 1608 Fourth Ave.

The show features 75 local performers dancing, singing, and doing sketches.

The second show is 7 p.m. Saturday, and the last is 2 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $10 in advance from 3 to 6 p.m. today at the Centennial box office, at www.centennialauditorium.org or by calling 815-622-3248. They also are available at Accents in Northland Mall. Otherwise, they’re $12 at the door.