Things will be looking Grimm at Fairytale Town for this year's Safe and Super Halloween. The fairytales of Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm will come to life for three nights of family fun on October 26, 27 and 28 from 5 to 9 p.m. Families will enjoy visiting Sleeping Beauty’s castle, walking through Little Red Riding Hood’s forest, and sneaking a peek at the Evil Queen’s Lair. Seventeen candy stations will be scattered throughout the park for trick-or-treaters to visit. The evening also features hands-on activities and a costume parade. Puppet Art Theater Company will perform “Goldilocks and the Three Sharks” in the Children’s Theater at 6, 7 and 8 p.m. Through the magic of blacklight, the audie

The ScholarShare Children's Book Festival returns for a 12th annual celebration of books, reading and childhood on September 29 and 30. The two-day Festival—the largest early childhood literacy event in the region—is free to the public, thanks to the generous support of ScholarShare College Savings Plan. The Festival features dynamic presentations from children's book authors and illustrators, storytelling performances, hands-on literacy activities, a book fair and information booths from literacy and arts organizations. “With our nursery rhyme and fairytale-themed park, Fairytale Town is the perfect place to engage children and encourage reading,” said Kathy Fleming, executive director

Fairytale Town will celebrate the completion of the Yellow Brick Road play set with two outdoor screenings of “The Wizard of Oz” on Friday, Aug. 31. The first screening at 7 p.m. will feature the classic movie plus arts and crafts activities for kids. A second screening at 10 p.m. will show the movie played along with the cult-favorite Pink Floyd album, “The Dark Side of the Moon.” Since 2009, thousands of families and individuals have immortalized their messages, dreams, special dates and memories on commemorative bricks along the Yellow Brick Road. Just as the Yellow Brick Road leads the way to Dorothy’s destination of the Emerald City in the classic movie, Fairytale Town’s Yellow Brick

Sacramento favorite Jackie Greene will return to Fairytale Town for a fourth annual benefit concert on Saturday, August 18. Taking place on the park’s Mother Goose Stage, the outdoor concert supports Fairytale Town’s education programs and park improvements. Gates will open at 6:30 p.m. and the concert will begin at 8 p.m. Tickets are on sale now at www.fairytaletown.org. Concert tickets are $30 when purchased in July and $35 in August, while supplies last. Seating will be intimate and limited, similar to an outdoor music festival. Blankets are encouraged; low stadium-style chairs with legs 10-inches tall or less will be permitted. Food and beverages will be available for purchase. Outsi

The Elly Award-winning Fairytale Town Troupers continue their fifth season with "Sinbad and Aladdin: The Arabian Knights!," an epic adventure filled with thrilling swordplay, monsters, mischief and magic. The show will be presented on Saturdays and Sundays, Jul. 14, 15, 21 and 22, at 12 and 1 p.m. “Sinbad & Aladdin: The Arabian Knights!” tells the lost tale of the heroic Captain Sinbad and his quest to free the beautiful Princess Scheherazade from the evil Sultan Natazz and his monstrous minions. Sinbad is joined by another famous hero—Aladdin—and together they search for a magical lamp to aide them in their adventure. "Sinbad and Aladdin: The Arabian Knights!" stars Elliott Herzer as Si

Performances, visual art shows and hands-on “funshops” will be featured at Very Special Arts Day on Saturday, July 14, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Hosted by Fairytale Town and sponsored by I Can Do That!, Very Special Arts Day will bring together children of all abilities—those with disabilities and those without—to interact through, create and enjoy the arts. The highlight of Very Special Arts Day will be performances by Act On!, a children’s theatre camp presented by I Can Do That and Fairytale Town. Visual arts creations by Very Special Arts students will be on display. There will also be several hands-on workshops, called funshops, where children will be able to make flying saucers, rhumba

Sacramento favorites and up-and-coming musicians will rock Fairytale Town’s Mother Goose Stage this summer. Mumbo Gumbo brings their signature danceable sound—a mixture spanning rock to soul, afropop to lush balladry and zydeco to country—to Fairytale Town for a live performance on Wednesday, Jul. 11. Gates open at 5:30 p.m., and the concert starts at 6 p.m. Tickets are $10 per person and go on sale in June. Members receive 2-for-1 admission, and children 12 and under are free. Blankets and chairs are welcome, food and drink will be available for purchase. Jackie Greene returns to Fairytale Town for a fourth annual benefit concert on Saturday, Aug. 18. The outdoor concert supports Fairyt

Celebrate Sacramento’s rich cultural diversity with a day of international dance and music performances at Fairytale Town on Saturday, Jul. 7, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. International Celebration features nonstop performances by regional groups showcasing dances from around the world on the park’s outdoor Mother Goose Stage. Performances include: African dance and drumming by Phoenix Drum and Dance Company; Aztec dance by Maquilli Tonatiuh; Chinese line dancing by Eastern Ways Martial Arts; traditional Indian dances by Bhaskars Arts Academy; Japanese folk dancing by Minyo Tanoshimi Kai; Mexican dancing by Folklorico Aztlan de Sacramento; Polynesian and Hawaiian dancing by Ka Pa Hula O Kalama;

From dusk till dawn, 200 individuals—including children, veterans, poets and teachers—will take to Fairytale Town’s outdoor Mother Goose Stage to present an all-night, nonstop reading of Homer’s great epic, “The Odyssey.” The park will open at 6:30 p.m., and the reading will start at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Jun. 22 and conclude around 7 a.m. on Saturday, Jun. 23. Participants will read aloud pre-assigned passages drawn from a translation by Robert Fagles. This reading is presented in partnership with the Readers of Homer, an organization-in-residence at Bard College in New York. The Readers of Homer is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit literary event company that produces all-day or all-night audience

A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Crystal Ice Cream Fantasy, Fairytale Town’s popular fairy-themed fundraiser and ice cream social, will return on Saturday, June 9, from 6 to 10 p.m. Inspired by Shakespeare’s famous play, this enchanting evening features nonstop entertainment for the whole family, including costumed performers, fanciful arts and crafts activities, live music, food and all the Crystal Ice Cream one can eat. Celtic-rock band Tempest will perform throughout the evening. Since forming in 1988, the band has won rave reviews for their musical hybrid of high-energy folk rock with Irish reels, Scottish ballads, Norwegian influences and other world music elements. Based in the San Fra

Farmer Brown will showcase Fairytale Town's friendly barnyard animals at the fifth annual Farms, Friends and Fairytales program on Saturday, May 19, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. This celebration of all-things agriculture features live sheep shearing, wool spinning, a mini-farmer’s market, hands-on art activities and more fun for the whole family. The highlight of the event will be a live old-fashioned sheep shearing. Fairytale Town's twin Babydoll sheep, Reading and Writing, will be sheared, and their wool will then be spun into yarn on a spinning wheel. Children and parents will also learn more about the daily lives of some of Fairytale Town’s rare and miniature animals. Multiple agriculture-

Fairytale Town's popular annual Puppet Festival will kick off its 16th season on May 3. During the eight-week series, four original puppet shows will be presented by Art Grueneberger's award-winning Puppet Art Theater Company. This year's lineup features artful and hilarious adaptations of four classic fairytales: "Little Red Riding Hood" from May 3 - 13; "The Three Billy Goats Gruff" from May 17 - 27; "Hansel & Gretel" from May 31 - June 10; and the premiere of "Cinderella" from June 14 - 30. "The Puppet Festival is an experience the whole family will enjoy, and it is a great opportunity to introduce live theater to children," said Kathy Fleming, executive director of Fairytale Town. P

Hop down the bunny trail with Peter Cottontail and celebrate spring with family and friends at Fairytale Town's annual Spring Eggstravaganza. The event is set for Saturday and Sunday, Apr. 7 and 8, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., and features egg hunts, puppet shows, hands-on art activities and photo opportunities with the big bunny himself. Egg hunts will be held promptly at 12, 1 and 2 p.m. each day, and guests are encouraged to arrive early and bring a basket for collecting eggs. The egg hunts are separated by age group: 3 and under, 4 to 6 and 7 to 12. Each child will return their eggs to Mr. McGregor's Garden to receive a small prize, no matter how few or how many eggs they find. Following

The Crocker Art Museum will welcome William U. Eiland, director of the Georgia Museum of Art, for a lecture on the imagery of Saint Sebastian and its cultural meanings for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender viewers on Thursday, Jan. 26, at 7 p.m. The lecture will be held in conjunction with the exhibition “Florence and the Baroque: Paintings from the Haukohl Family Collection,” an exhibition of paintings and sculptures from the largest privately-held collection of the period in the United States. Tickets are $6 for Museum members and $12 for nonmembers. Eiland’s lecture, titled “Slings and Arrows of Outrageous Fortune: Queering Saint Sebastian,” will focus on two paintings in the exh

The Crocker Art Museum will screen the Academy-Award-winning classic “Sunset Boulevard” on Thursday, Jan. 5, at 6:30 p.m. One of the greatest movies about Hollywood ever made, this film is at once film noir, dark comedy, high melodrama, and scathing satire. Tickets are $5 for Museum members and $10 for nonmembers, not including Museum admission. One of the most successful films of its era, “Time” described it as a story of "Hollywood at its worst told by Hollywood at its best." Gloria Swanson stars as a faded silent screen goddess who dreams of a box-office comeback. William Holden is Joe Gillis, a cynical small-time writer who becomes entangled in her deluded world. Film scholar Kristen

The Crocker Art Museum will host local indie darling Autumn Sky for a night of original folk and pop on Thursday, Dec. 15. Sky is an award-winning, multi-instrumentalist singer-songwriter from Sacramento. She will play songs from past releases and her soon-to-launch sophomore album, "The Hallelujah Chorus.” The concert will take place in the Museum’s Setzer Foundation Auditorium at 7 p.m. At 23 years old, Sky has been playing for Sacramento crowds for over six years and has garnered much local acclaim for her lively and engaging shows. Her unique style mixes pitch-perfect and deeply emotive vocals with indie and pop sensibilities. She released “Diminutive, Petite EP” in 2007, followed by

The Crocker Art Museum will present a multi-media exploration of water on Thursday, Dec 8, from 5 to 9 p.m. Inspired by the community exhibition “Liquid Assets,” Art Mix: Flow in Flux will feature a mini-film festival curated by the Sundance Film Festival's associate programmer Mike Plante, special water-based tours led by artists Enid Baxter Blader, Jenny Stark, and Nicole Antebi, a performance by the Spillit Quikkers, a local old-time string band, and interactive water-themed art with iPads. “Liquid Assets” is a unique installation exploring one of California’s most vital resources. Inspired by art from the Crocker's permanent collection, this exhibit features 21 works laid out as a spa

The Crocker Art Museum will present “Dreams,” the visually stunning film from Academy Award-winning director Akira Kurosawa, on Thursday, Dec. 1 at 6:30 p.m. Tickets include Museum admission and are $6 for museum members and $12 for nonmembers. Comprised of eight separate vignettes inspired from actual dreams of the world-renowned filmmaker, “Dreams” is a collection of fantastic and evocative stories, separate in narrative, but intertwined with themes of nature and spirituality, life and death, and peace and war. Born in early-20th-century Japan, Kurosawa made his international directorial debut in 1950 and went on to receive numerous accolades throughout Asia and the U.S., including an

Nearly 100 regional artists and craftspeople will offer their unique creations during this year’s annual Holiday Art & Craft Festival. Presented by the Crocker Art Museum and the Creative Arts League of Sacramento, the festival is held at the Scottish Rite Center, located across from the main entrance of California State University, Sacramento, at 6151 H Street. This year’s offerings will include jewelry, ceramics, paintings, gourmet food, holiday items and more. Impress your friends and family with local handmade gifts while supporting local artisans and the Crocker’s exhibitions and education programs. Attendees can also enjoy delicious treats by Ambrosia Catering. For those who want t

The fantastical world of Clayton Bailey will transform the Crocker Art Museum for Art Mix: Funk Lab on Thursday, November 10, from 5 to 9 p.m. Inspired by Bailey’s robot sculptures and pop ray guns fashioned from discarded aluminum, the evening features a pop ray gun shooting range, dancing to sci-fi film soundtracks, a series of live-action trailers by Scavenger Theatre, and robotic inventions from the University of California, Davis, including iMobot. “Clayton Bailey’s World of Wonders,” the first career-spanning retrospective featuring the work of the ceramist, sculptor, and self-proclaimed “mad scientist,” is currently on view at the Museum through January 15, 2012. Tickets for Funk