Need plans? This weekend offers comedy, fair fun and music from sacred to Sean-nós

Molly Gilmore
Updated ·3 min read

Comic with cred

Standup star Kyle Kinane, performing Friday, April 14, in Olympia, has a lengthy list of comedy credits including including appearances on “Late Night With Conan O’Brien” and “The Tonight Show” and three solo specials on Comedy Central.. Among his fans is Olympia’s own Sam Miller, who’s hosting Kinane’s show, at 8 p.m. at the Capitol Theater, 206 Fifth Ave. SE, Olympia. “”Kyle has been hilarious for a really long time,” Miller told The Olympian. “This is the best comedy show that’s come to Olympia in a very long time.” In his new special, “Shocks and Struts,” Kinane — who jokes that he looks like someone “who should be at home plotting to kidnap a Democratic governor” — discusses the horrors of hotels, the joys of cruise ships, his devotion to Chipotle, and his fear of visiting the Holocaust Museum. (Sample bit: “The majority of people that go to the Holocaust Museum are on field trips, which I find a tad ironic. Somebody was like, “We got this Holocaust Museum; how are we going to get people in here?’ And it was like, ‘We could transport them in against their will.’ ”) Tickets for the show, which also features Alyssa Yeoman, are $25 and $30.

Spring is where?

The crazy weather has us doubting it, but spring is, technically, here. One sign: the Spring Fair, in its opening weekend at the Washington State Fair Events Center, 110 Ninth Ave. SW, Puyallup. Attractions range from art shows and live music to monster trucks, and from fair history displays to diving dogs and racing pigs. Indeed, cute animals — including pygmy goats, miniature horses and baby piglets — are a major feature of the fair, happening from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, April 14, 15, 21 and 22; from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sundays, April 16 and 23; and from 2 to 10 p.m. Thursday, April 20. Tickets are $10-$14, with free admission for children 5 and younger, and free admission for youth 18 and younger on Thursday.

Pigs race for treats at The Spring Fair in Puyallup.
Pigs race for treats at The Spring Fair in Puyallup.

Celebrate Irish culture

You can learn about — or just enjoy — the arts and culture of Ireland at the Sean-nós Northwest Traditional Irish Weekend, happening Friday through Sunday, April 14-16, at The Evergreen State College, 2700 Evergreen Pkwy. NW, Olympia. Sean-nós means “in the old way,” and the festival focuses on Irish music, dance, language and culture. You don’t have to be registered for the full event to attend the concert at 7 p.m. Saturday, April 15, in Evergreen’s Communications Building. Tickets are $15-$25, with children under 12 admitted free. And there’ll be free sessions each evening at New Traditions, 300 Fifth Ave. SW, Olympia. Proof of COVID vaccination or a negative test taken within 24 hours is required to attend festival events.

Among the other musical events happening this weekend:

• Masterworks Choral Ensemble’s “Mozart’s Requiem” at 7:30 p.m. April 15 at The Washington Center for the Performing Arts, 512 Washington St. SE, Olympia. Tickets are $12-$24.

• Emerald City Music’s “Gardens and Galaxies,” with WindSync, which will perform a world-premiere quintet by Grammy nominee Nathalie Joachim, at 7:30 p.m. April 15 at the Minnaert Center for the Arts at South Puget Sound Community College, 2011 Mottman Road SW, Olympia. Tickets are $10-$40.

WindSync will perform a world-premiere quintet by Grammy-nominated composer Nathalie Joachim, shown here, during Emerald City Music’s “Gardens and Galaxies” this weekend at SPSCC’s Minnaert Center for the Arts.
WindSync will perform a world-premiere quintet by Grammy-nominated composer Nathalie Joachim, shown here, during Emerald City Music’s “Gardens and Galaxies” this weekend at SPSCC’s Minnaert Center for the Arts.

Freelance writer Molly Gilmore is thinking about those old Irish Spring commercials. She talks about what’s happening in Olympia and beyond with 95.3 KGY-FM’s Michael Stein from 3 to 4 p.m. Fridays.