Chill Out This Weekend With An Ice Performance At The Eagles

It’s been hot. And thoughts are naturally turning toward the Winter Olympics.

Well, maybe not naturally. But doesn’t a spin on the ice sound great right about now?

You can watch more than 140 members of the Lilac Figure Skating Club in a two-hour performance at Eagles Ice Arena tonight (7:30) or Saturday (2 and 7 p.m.).

The production, “Celebrate Broadway,” is similar to Ice Capades and will feature Johnnie Bevan, a national champion skater.

Seating is limited at each show to 1,000 people. Tickets are $4 to $6 and are available at the arena. Call 489-9295 for more information.

Another hot-weather draw

Boat races in the Tri-Cities usually mark the end of summer, but Richland is getting a jump on things this year by hosting the opening round of the 1995 Budweiser Jet Sports Tour in Howard Amon Park.

The tour is a 10-event national series featuring 12 racing classes with competition for closed course, slalom and freestyle championships. Chris MacClugage, one of the stars on the tour, is making the switch to the Runabout class and will contend with ‘94 champion Bo Dupriest and Minoru Kanamori, the reigning World Champion.

For those on the beach, it’s just a lot of fun in the sun.

The racing is all day Saturday and Sunday. Admission and parking are free to the public.

Mix on the trail

Break out the bikes, the rollerblades or just the walking shoes for Saturday’s third annual Trail Benefit Day, sponsored by The Friends of the Centennial Trail.

There will be a whir of activity on the trail from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., including fun runs ranging from 5 to 18 miles, a 10-kilometer walk, canoeing and a family bike ride. After the exercise, brunch will be served to everyone who registered.

The hope is to emphasize the trail as a shared-use community asset. Proceeds go to maintain the trail.

Registration is $15 and includes brunch, a T-shirt and a one-year membership to the Friends of the Centennial Trail. The family rate is $25 for brunch, two T-shirts and membership. Additional shirts are $7.

You can register at the event, at the booth at the Marriott Courtyard Hotel.

More exercise

This is for the hardcore: The 11th Annual Ritzville Biathlon begins at 10 a.m. Saturday with a 11.5-mile bike race and ends with a 3.1-mile run.

Up for it? Individuals compete in 10 age groups, teams compete in three age groups. Awards are given for men’s, women’s and team categories.

You can register the day of the race beginning at 8:30 a.m. at the Ritzville High School gym. It’s $17 per person, or $34 for a team. You get a T-shirt for your trouble.

And don’t show up without a helmet. You can’t participate without one.

Open up

Three galleries around the region will host opening receptions for new exhibits this month. Here’s the scoop:

The University of Idaho Prichard Art Gallery hosts an exhibition of recent works by artists Melissa Lang, Paul Lee and Chris Watts through July 15. The reception is tonight from 5 to 8.

Nearly 50 artists will be featured in the 1995 Columbia Basin Art Invitational at the Adam East Museum and Art Center (in Moses Lake) beginning today and continuing through July 1. The public is invited to an artists’ reception tonight from 7 to 9.

The Corbin Art Center is featuring portraits by Marian Flahavin and sculptures by Dorothy Fowler June 6 through July 8 in the Daniel Corbin Gallery. The opening reception is Sunday from 2 to 6.

Miscellaneous

The Trinity School Cow Plop is Saturday from 1 to 5 p.m. on the school’s “pasture,” 1306 W. Montgomery.

This is an inventive way to raise money. Bettors pay $3 for a 2-by-2 foot square, hoping one of two cows (Bessie and Annabelle) will do her business on that square. There’s facepainting, games, a dart throw, barbecue and more. Call 327-9369 for more information.

The Cascades Trio, a piano, violin and cello ensemble, will perform 7:30 p.m. Saturday at McNally Hall at the Holy Names Music Center at Fort Wright. The trio will play works of Haydn, Beethoven and Franc.

Admission is free; donations are accepted.

The Harrington Opera House Society is opening the doors of the historic 1904 opera house for a book signing by Nona Hengen and two afternoons of music by Arthur and Tom Zepp from 1 to 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

Tickets are $15 per person. Call 253-4411 or 725-0395 for tickets or more information.

Eastern Washington University presents its Spring Choral Concert at 3 p.m. Sunday in the Music Building Recital Hall on Eastern’s Cheney campus.

General admission is $5; seniors and non-EWU students are $3. EWU students are admitted free.

Next week

EWU’s Symphony Orchestra presents its final concert of the school year at 8 p.m. Tuesday in the Music Building Recital Hall. General admission is $5; seniors and nonEWU students are $3. EWU students are admitted free.

The final program in the 1994/95 Senior Lecture Series is 11 a.m. Wednesday at the Cheney Cowles Museum. Judy Grollmus, the museum’s education coordinator, will speak about the upcoming exhibit called “Rivers and Dams: Promises, Progress and Perils.”

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: Getting out Turn your attention to the birds this weekend, or at least to your back yard. The fifth annual Open Yard Bird Fair will be held 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. It’s sponsored by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Backyard Wildlife Sanctuary Program and will be at the home of Backyard Wildlife Sanctuary managers Gerry and Ron Krueger, 11415 E. Krueger Lane. There will be guided tours of the gardens as well as free information packets and Fish and Wildlife and Audubon Society personnel available to answer questions. To get there, drive north to Pleasant Prairie from the intersection of Argonne and Bigelow Gulch Road and follow the signs.