This weekend’s summer fun includes LoveOly, Pet Parade and an outdoor movie

Puppies and kittens and bands

LoveOly SummerFest, created to welcome people back downtown after pandemic closures, has become a summer fixture. In its third year, the festival has morphed from a recurring Saturday afternoon event to one three-day party, happening this year from Friday through Sunday, June 23-25. The bigger SummerFest is packed with live music, art and kids’ activities, including the Pet Parade, missing since 2019. Now organized by the Hands On Children’s Museum, the parade of decked-out children and teens (16 and younger) plus dogs, cats, birds, etc., begins at 11:30 a.m. Saturday. Among the bands performing are Jason Webley and Blitzen Trapper on Friday and Terror/Cactus and Cave Singers on Saturday. Also on tap are a street market, food trucks, a beer garden, a Smash Bros tournament on Saturday and a Diva Drag Brunch show on Sunday. It’s all happening at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and Washington Street.

Films al fresco

Outdoor summer movie season begins Friday, June 23, when the Port of Olympia’s Movies at the Marina screens the 2011 animated Western “Rango.” The film concerns a lizard (voiced by Johnny Depp) charged with the duty of cleaning up a town called Dirt. And the late Roger Ebert gave it a rave review, noting its all-ages appeal. “This is an inspired comic Western, deserving comparison with ‘Blazing Saddles,’ from which it borrows a lot of farts,” he wrote. “The more movies you’ve seen, the more you may like it.” The free film will start at 9:30 p.m. south of the marina office, 1022 Marine Drive NE, Olympia. Concessions will be available beginning at 8 p.m. The people at the port suggest dressing in layers and bringing chairs and blankets.

Richman returns

Singer-songwriter Jonathan Richman — beloved by the counterculture and best known generally as the guy singing in a tree in 1998’s “There’s Something About Mary” — has long been a favorite in Olympia. But what with one thing and another (COVID being one of those things), it’s been a long time since he’s played here. In 2021, someone pretending to be Richman offered to play at the LoveOly SummerFest; the scam was discovered the day before the concert was to happen, and Richman responded to the news with a vow to return. He was next scheduled to play at the Olympia Film Society’s Capitol Theater in March, but that tour wound up being canceled. On Saturday, June 24, Richman finally returns, and he’s bringing along drummer Tommy Larkin, his collaborator on “Mary.” The duo will take the stage at 8 p.m. at the Capitol Theater, 206 Fifth Ave. SE, Olympia. Doors open at 7, and tickets are $25, $20 for film society members.

Freelance writer Molly Gilmore talks about what’s happening in Olympia and beyond with 95.3 KGY-FM’s Michael Stein from 3 to 4 p.m. Fridays.