Your weekend arts forecast: Fast cars and speedy swine

Here in St. Pete, our weekend leisure calendar features the Firestone Grand Prix. Across the bay in Tampa, the Hollywood Racing Pigs are top of the bill at the Florida State Fair.

Who will you put your money on?

There are 11 races in this year’s genetically-modified Grand Prix (view the “Covid Protocols” here), a 1.8 mile motorsports extravaganza downtown along the bayfront (you can’t miss it) Friday through Sunday. Tickets and all information can be found here. This Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg is the second round of the 2021 NTT INDYCAR SERIES schedule.

And the Florida State Fair is back, starting today and going through May 1 at the fairgrounds in east Tampa. There are no big-name musical acts for 2021, but the entertainment lineup does include that perennial crowd favorite, the Hollywood Racing Pigs. How ’bout them pigs?

Hey, it’s a state fair – a big midway (with aisles spaced farther apart for safe social distancing), agriculture, food that’s probably not healthy for you and all the rest. Masks are required (you’ll be turned away at the gate if you aren’t wearing one). Everything you need to know is here.

The other stuff

The latest edition of Palladium Live! brings the first couple of St. Petersburg jazz, Nate Najar and Daniela Soledade, into our homes (virtually) with a band that includes multi-instrumentalist (keyboard, harmonica and percussion) Patrick Bettison, Joe Porter on bass, Jean Bolduc on drums, Alvon Griffin on percussion and cellist Yves Dharamraj. Get on it here.

At Jobsite Theater, the adaptation of Shakespeare’s Henry V continues this weekend; it’s been held over through May 2 (info here). And the freeFall production of Leonard Bernstein’s New York is still packing in those drive-in theater fans; it’s onstage through May 9 (info here).

Friday’s Dave Mason show was canceled at the last minute, but Clearwater’s Capitol Theatre still has the great ‘70s band Orleans onstage Saturday; here’s our interview with guitarist John Hall from earlier in the week.­

Butterfly’s Flight is a narrated concert adaptation of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, performed this weekend by singers from Opera Tampa, on the Riverwalk Stage behind the David A. Straz Center. Details here.

The Master Chorale of Tampa Bay is releasing the virtual concert American Voices Saturday; here’s our advance story, which includes info on how the streaming thing works.

At the Museum of Fine Arts St. Petersburg, photographic images from the museum collection are going on exhibition Saturday. From Margins to Mainstays: Highlights from the Photography Collection includes work created by artists whose careers and personal lives were sidelined, ignored or impacted by their gender, race, sexuality or nationality. More on this Friday in the Catalyst.

Nate Najar y Daniela Soledade