Things to do this weekend in the Capital Region

Every week, we scour event calendars to find the things that are especially worth your time and attention, and we share them here. Check out our Hudson Valley list too.

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April 19-21

Celebrate Earth Day … by cleaning up your community and meeting your neighbors. We have a list of events taking place on Saturday and beyond. Find out more.

Grab a beer: The Glens Falls Brewfest, which will be held Saturday at Cool Insuring Arena, will feature over 40 craft brewers and live music to benefit the Feeder Canal Alliance. Find out more.

Go out to eat: There’s still time to take advantage of Hudson Valley Restaurant Week through Sunday. Learn more.

Have fun at local breweries: 

• Wolf Hollow Brewing Co. in Glenville is hosting Whispering Willow Wildcare on Sunday for Birds 'N Brews. Learn about the animals they care for and grab some food from Two For The Road and Plated Palette. Get details.
• Join Schenectady Pride on Friday at Great Flats Brewing for Tabletop Gaming Night. Learn more.
• Roll your own sushi at Fort Orange Brewing Co. in Albany on Saturday. Make your reservation.
• Tonight is Tie-Dye Thursday at Frog Alley Brewing Co. in Schenectady. Choose your hoodie size when you buy your ticket, and they’ll provide supplies, live music and the rest. Learn more.
• Got a favorite Taylor Swift era? Dress up and head to Bound by Fate Brewing in Schuylerville for a listening party for her latest album, “The Tortured Poets Department,” on Friday. Get details.

Got a good set of pipes? Come show them off at Franklin Alley Social Club’s Karaoke Competition on Friday in Troy. Find out more.

Feel like a kid again: The Refuge in Troy, which offers Creative Expressions for Kids events, is getting all the crafting supplies out for a Creative Expressions for Adults event on Saturday. Bring your own cannabis for a 420 celebration in the courtyard. Find out more.

Need a new book? New to you, anyway? You may find it at the following:

• The Chapman Museum in Glens Falls is hosting a book sale on Friday and Saturday with local authors on-site. Get details. 
• Bring your own bag to Crandall Public Library in Saratoga Springs on Friday and Saturday so you can stuff it with finds from their spring book sale. Learn more.
• Collar City Pride, partnering with 518 Queer Book Club and Bae Goals, presents the Big Queer Book Swap on Sunday at the YWCA of the Greater Capital Region in Troy. Find out more.
• Don’t let them end up in a landfill. FREE books will be available for you to take home in the parking lot of the William K. Sanford Town Library in Colonie on Saturday. Find out more.

Need other stuff? Come check out Schenectady’s Biggest Pop-Up Market at Via Port Rotterdam Mall on Saturday. There will be food, crafts, vintage clothes, books and much more. Get details.

Go to the theater: Here’s an assortment of options this weekend.

• There are still tickets available for the Broadway classic, “Chicago,” which will be performed at Proctors on Friday and Saturday. Find out more. 
• Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs is presenting “Where Are You Going, Little Horse?” starting on Friday. The play “blends puppetry, shadow imagery, and music to tell a timeless tale of freedom, choice, and consumerism.” Find out more.
• Home Made Theater presents “The Humans,” a play with “equal parts humor and hurt,” where “as darkness falls outside the ramshackle pre-war duplex, eerie things start to go bump in the night.” The show starts Friday and runs through April 28 at Dee Sarno Theater in Saratoga Springs. Get tickets.
• No train trip required. Visit Regal Cinemas at Colonie Center or Crossgates Mall on Saturday and catch a live in HD performance from the Metropolitan Opera of Puccini’s “La Rondine.” Find out more.

Take a tour: Here’s a chance to take in some sights in Saratoga Springs before it’s flooded with racing fans later this year.

• Tonight, the Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation is hosting an in-depth look at the history and uses of 69 Caroline St., which is now The Saratoga Joinery. Reserve your spot.
• Grab your walking shoes and head to the Saratoga Springs Heritage Area Visitors Center on Saturday for Grand, Gilded and Glorious: A Saratoga Stroll, a 90-minute guided tour sharing the “legends and lore of Saratoga’s splendor.” Learn more.

Listen to some music: 

• Tickets are still available for Neon Trees at Empire Live in Albany on Sunday. Buy them here.
• Local musicians will take center stage on Sunday during the Capital Region Thomas Edison Music Awards, or The Eddies, at Proctors. Get tickets.
• Capital Region Classical will be back this Sunday at Union College with pianist Paul Lewis playing Schubert sonatas. Learn more.

Looking ahead 

Eat, drink and be merry: Here are a few food and drink-centric events coming up this spring. 

• The Capital Wine Festival, featuring unlimited samples of New York state wines and spirits, will be held at the Albany Capital Center on April 27. Get tickets.
• Who has the best wings in Glens Falls? Find out on April 27 during the Glens Falls Wing Fest. View list of participants.
• On April 28, Bootleggers on Broadway in Troy is hosting a Taylor Swift-themed drag brunch. Find out more.
• Coray Kitchen in Delmar is hosting Community at Coray: Edible Flowers, an event featuring small plates, specialty drinks and conversation on April 29. Guests will be able to try a “range of unique edible flowers fresh from Nine Mile Farm in cocktails, mocktails, and small bites.” Find out more.
• Celebrate “Star Wars” Day on May 4 with a costume contest and free ice cream samples at Boozy Moo Headquarters in Voorheesville. Find out more.
• Thanks to Susie Davidson Powell and her newsletter, The Food Life (for Times Union subscribers), we know The River Grill Patio (in photo above) at The Stewart House in Athens opens May 23. Learn more and check the ferry schedule.
• And thanks to Steve Barnes, food columnist and writer of the Table Hopping newsletter, we know there will be a launch of a new Italian-style pilsner called Thoroughbreds that will help support the backstretch workers at Saratoga Race Course. The launch will take place on May 1 at an event, which will also include small bites and celebrity jockey bartenders, at Forno Bistro in Saratoga Springs. Learn more.

Mother’s Day is right around the corner: Find something unique for mom at the Mother’s Day Pop-Up Market at Aria’s Emporium in Cohoes on May 11. Explore gifts of wine, Caribbean delicacies, clothing, jewelry, holistic wellness products and more. Get details.

There’s so much more: View our roundup for more concerts and shows coming to the area in 2024.