FRIDAY

Cromulent Shakespeare Company: Love's Labour's Lost Date/Time:Fri., June 27, 7:00pm, Riverside Park

Price: free

Cromulent Shakespeare Company: Love's Labour's Lost

The Cromulent Shakespeare Company continues its 10-year tradition of putting on live outdoor theater with the story of King Ferdinand and his men. The king and his men vow to stay away from the ladies in lieu of intellectual pursuits (it is an anachronism, of course, that they thought they couldn't combine the two), when a neighboring princess and her attendants arrive and, well, distract them. It's a fun comedy, with a nearly 20-person cast, and you can sit under the early summer sky and avail yourself of whatever refreshments you deem appropriate. -- Quinton Skinner

Uptown Pride Block Party, Bryant Lake Bowl, 6 p.m.

As the people of Uptown know, there's some major construction happening yet again this summer around Lyndale Avenue and Lake Street. Our dire need for wider, fancier sidewalks and left-hand turn lanes aside, torn-up roads and orange cones won't stop Bryant-Lake Bowl from throwing an outdoor block party. Pride, acceptance, and community are the causes for celebration, with a portion of the proceeds going to OutFront Minnesota. There'll be a local artist flea market and organic food, and the North Star Rollergirls and participants from past years of the hip-hop festival B Girl Be will be on hand to entertain all. Live music includes transgender do****entary subject Venus DeMars, who will be performing with her rock group, All the Pretty Horses; Black Blondie; Tina Schlieske; and Foxy Tann. Those looking to keep the shindig going can check out the after party featuring ****s Do Drag and ****topia for BLB-style cabaret. -- Jessica Armbruster

SATURDAY AND SUNDAY

Twin Cities Pride Festival: Pride in Concert Date/Time:Sat., June 28, 6:00pm

Price: $8/$10

Twin Cities Pride Festival: Pride in Concert

The Twin Cities Pride Festival has some of the best entertainment of the summer, with a headline concert showcasing local bands Sick of Sarah and Sunshine Behavior, and national musicians En Vogue and Deborah Cox. Smaller stages will host everything from transvoice classical singing to drag contests to Aztec dancing, all with the backdrop of beautiful Loring Pond.

Pride also boasts the biggest parade in Minneapolis. In past years, rugby teams, politicians and political groups, drag kings and queens, stilt walkers, bagpipers, the Gay Men's Chorus, nudists, and burlesque revues joined together to wind their way down Hennepin Avenue to the cheers of over 100,000 onlookers. The usual festival fare will be available to the parched and starved: Fresh-squeezed lemonade, funnel cakes, hot dogs, hamburgers, and for us boozehounds, a $5 beer garden. If moving to California to tie the knot isn't an option, show up on Sunday with your partner to participate in a mass commitment ceremony that hopefully, in future years, will hold legal weight. The biggest attraction at Pride, though, isn't in the schedule. It's hanging out at a weekend-long festival with folks who couldn't care less which stripe of the rainbow flag you call your own. Go to www.tcpride.org for complete schedule. -- Ward Rubrecht

All weekend

U.S. Women's Open

The last time the U.S. Women's Open was held in Minnesota, Roots ruled the tube, and Elvis was found dead on the can the same year. The tournament was a historic one for golf; it set a new record for total prize money for a women's golf event at $75,000. Thirty-one years later, the Open is back in Minnesota with a different kind of history being made. Annika Sorenstam, the retiring Swedish marvel who has dominated women's golf for the past 14 years, will play her final Open this year. Sorenstam, who has won 72 tournaments during her career, is playing so well this season that fans must be wondering what future impact she could have had on the LPGA's history books. So far in 2008, she has won three and finished in the top ten in eight of the eleven tournaments in which she has played. At Interlachen Country Club this weekend, Sorenstam will be looking for her fourth Open victory. She'll face strong competition from the tour's no. 1 player, Lorena Ochoa, who has six wins in ten tournaments this season, and rookie star Yani Tseng, who earned her first tour victory earlier this season. Regardless of Sorenstam's performance at the Open, it's one of the most important stops on her farewell tour. For tickets call 877.281.OPEN or visit www.uswomensopen.com. -- Ben Palosaari

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Jeff Shaw

Web Editor, City Pages

www.citypages.com