Your Weekend Top 5
Summer music - Woodlawn Arts Academy music students will present two free recitals Saturday at the academy’s Mark J. Beaty Performance Center, 3807 Woodlawn Road, Sterling.
The voice students will perform a selection of contemporary songs at 2 p.m., and the percussion and guitar and string students will take the stage at 4 p.m.
For more information, go to www.woodlawnartsacademy.com or call 815-626-4278.
Blues festival - Who says there isn’t healing power in the blues?
This musical fundraiser to benefit the PADS Homeless Shelter runs from 8 p.m. to midnight today at the Latin American Social Club, in Sterling.
Admission is $10, or $15 per couple. There will be door prizes, a 50/50 drawing, a raffle for Chicago White Sox tickets and a whole mess o’ blues.
For information, call Doris, 815-625-0787, or Bobbi, 815-622-7806.
Chadwick Days - An old-fashioned Main Street celebration awaits in Carroll County at the Chadwick Days festival, which runs today through Sunday.
There will be food, music and a beer garden.
Saturday events include villagewide garage sales starting at 8 a.m., an Antique Tractor Show on Main Street at 10 a.m. and a beanbag tournament (sign up between 11:30 and 12:30 p.m. on Main Street).
Sunday events include a 9:30 a.m. community worship at the water tower, a car show from noon to 4 p.m. and a firefighters’ water fight at 11 a.m.
Ashton Summer
Celebration - Ashton is ready for summer; how about you?
The 27th annual Summer Celebration offers all the best summer activities right downtown, beginning at noon Saturday.
The annual parade steps off at 4:30 p.m. Sunday at St. John’s Church, and fireworks start at dusk at the high school grounds.
For more information and a complete schedule, go to www.ashtonusa.com/summercelebration or call 815-453-2103.
Touch a truck - What kid doesn’t love a Tonka truck ... or a real, live, life-size version?
The Sterling Park District invites kids of all ages to come out and Touch a Truck, from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday in the Bethel Reformed Church parking lot at 230 E. 23rd St., across from the Duis Center.
On hand will be some of the many vehicles used by the park district, and the police and fire departments.
The event is free.
