Spotobe Top 10: March 31

The Spotobe Top 10 are the 10 events viewed most by Spotobe readers in the last seven days. Enjoy:

1. Easter Basket Bonanza: Monday, April 5 at the Hershey Story, Hershey
2. Dauphin County Music & Wine Festival: June 12–13 at Fort Hunter Mansion, Harrisburg
3. Easter Bunny Train: April 2–4 at the Strasburg Railroad, Strasburg
4. Springtime in the Park: April 2–4, 10–11 at Hersheypark, Hershey
5. Down the Rabbit Hole: the Bizarre Worlds of Salvador Dali: May 6–August 10 at Susquehanna Art Museum, Harrisburg
6. Taste of Lancaster County: Sunday, April 11 at the Lancaster Convention Center, Lancaster
7. Wetlands Festival: Saturday, April 24 at Wildwood Park, Harrisburg
8. Volunteer Work Day and Wildwood Clean-Up: Saturday, April 10 at Wildwood Park, Harrisburg
9. Garden Faire: Sunday, May 2 at Fort Hunter Mansion, Harrisburg
10. Harrisburg Kennel Club Dog Show: Saturday, April 17 at the PA Farm Show Complex, Harrisburg

Helping Haiti

There's not a whole lot going on this weekend. Unlike Christmas or Halloween or other big holidays, Easter doesn't really spawn too many events other than egg hunts, and people generally don't plan events on Good Friday or Easter Sunday. It looks like it's going to be a good weekend to get outside and take a hike or even — ugh — do some yard work. But if you're looking for something to do on Friday night, The Creative House of Lancaster is hosting Lancaster for Haiti at the Lancaster Convention Center, and it supports a very worthy cause.

This Weekend: A Bear of a Weekend

Hopefully, you receive The Spotlist, Spotobe's bi-weekly newsletter. If you don't, surf on over to the homepage and sign yourself up. If you do, you should be aware that the Whitaker Center's new draw, Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition opens this weekend. I wasn't in the area when a similar exhibition came through in 2005, and people from the Whitaker Center assure me that this one is much bigger and better anyway. I'm excited about seeing this. It's one of many great ongoing events happening right now when you consider the State Museum's Tusks! Ice Age Mammoths and Mastadons and the three excellent art exhibitions we talked about earlier this week. Not your thing? Here are some other suggestions for this weekend:

Three Can’t Miss Art Exhibits

I love the Philadelphia Museum of Art. One of the most amazing art collections in the country—hell, the world—is two hours down the road and most people don't even notice. That bugged me for a long time, until I realized that I was guilty of the same kind of thinking. There are a bunch of great art institutions right here in Central Pennsylvania and they bring in some major work. Sure, not every exhibit is world class, but if you stay on top of what's happening, you can catch some real gems. In my opinion, there are three such gems showing locally right now, so if you're looking for something out of the ordinary, check out any of the exhibitions listed after the jump.

This Weekend: Welcome, This Is a Farmhouse

So the big news in this neck of the woods today is that Phish is coming to Hersheypark Stadium this summer. My fascination with jam bands like Phish, the Dave Matthews Band and Dispatch began to wane after I graduated from college, but there's no denying that it's a brand of music that is a lot of fun to experience in concert. Even though I didn't even purchase the latest Phish or Dave Matthews Band albums, I suspect I could still have a lot of fun drinking a few beers and belting out the classics on a summer evening. Given the increasing segmentation of the music industry, I sometimes wonder how long the era of massive stadium concerts will be able to hang on—it seems like an absolutely absurd business model—but I have to say, thus far the people at Hershey have done a fine job booking for this summer.

Dave Matthews Band is always a hit. Bon Jovi will probably appeal to a certain audience. Kings of Leon are a bit different than what Hershey usually books at the stadium (granted Only by the Night came out in 2008). Phish is a huge steal and the Bamboozle Roadshow is the first noteworthy "festival tour" to come to the Stadium in the last few years. So Bravo! Those concerts are all a few months away though. Here's what's happening this weekend:

Spotobe Top 10: March 17

The Spotobe Top 10 are the 10 events viewed most by Spotobe readers in the last seven days. Enjoy:

1. Downtown After Dark St. Patty's Day Bar Crawl: Wednesday, March 17 at the Downtown After Dark bars, Harrisburg
2. Dauphin County Egg Hunt: Sunday, March 28 at Fort Hunter Mansion, Harrisburg
3. Tusks! Ice Age Mammoths & Mastodons: Through May 2 at the State Museum of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg
4. Harrisburg Kennel Club Dog Show: Saturday, April 17 at the PA Farm Show Complex, Harrisburg
5. Harrisburg Stampede vs. Erie RiverRats: Saturday, April 3 at the PA Farm Show Compex, Harrisburg
6. Wetlands Festival: Saturday, April 24 at Wildwood Park, Harrisburg
7. Mechanicsburg Earth Day Festival: Saturday, April 24 in downtown Mechanicsburg
8. Race For Vinny's Kids: Sunday, March 21 on City Island, Harrisburg
9. Brewfest at Mount Hope: Saturday, May 15 at Mount Hope Estate & Winery, Manheim
10. Taste of Pennsylvania Music & Wine Festival Saturday, May 22 at the York Fairgrounds, York

A Perfect St. Patrick’s Day

My freshman year at Penn State, Saint Patrick's day was a tanning-bed sunny beauty in the upper 70's. At the time it might have been the best day of my life. Frat house furniture on a front lawn choked with people and a literal throne of beer in the lounge? A green shirt, a green hat, some shades and plenty of free food? What more could a young Nittany Lion ask for? Wantonly reckless behavior becomes more and more problematic the older you get, but if the weather forecast comes through like they're suggesting it might, it might be worth cutting loose for this St. Patrick's Day. At least a little.

It seems like bars around the area have toned down plans a little bit from last year, but nice weather is a game changer. Suddenly, it's not as important to enjoy a few pints in an true Irish pub. Frankly, enjoying those pints outside is far better. Also, St. Patrick's day is the perfect time to honor a fallen friend, the Harp and Fiddle in York which closed last year. That's one option down, but there are plenty of other establishments in the area that are purportedly Irish pubs, so what follows is a list with opening times and any other special events going down.

Happy Birthday to Us

We hate talking about our age as much as the next person, but Spotobe turns two today. Two! In web years that makes us the equivalent of Bilbo Baggins. It's been been a long strange journey to get to this point, and let me assure you; Spotobe is not going away any time soon. Everyone that has contributed to the site over the course of its life hopes that you have found it a valuable resource and that it has convinced you to attend even one event that you wouldn't have known about otherwise.

Over the course of those two years, we have posted on the Spotoblog 352 times. We'd like to think that many of the posts have been informative and that plenty of them have been funny. Yes, some of them have been dumb too. In those two years we've gone to concerts, taken photos, held contests, reviewed movies and pointed out the absurdity that sometimes accompanies life in Central Pennsylvania. After the jump, we've collected some of our favorites. Enjoy!

This Weekend: Piano Men (and Women)

In an attempt to break the record for number of renditions of "Chopsticks" played in a four month period, the City of Lancaster, Music for Everyone and the Society of Design have teamed up to create a very cool public art project called Keys to the City. According to LancasterOnline.com, beginning on May 21st, the sidewalks of downtown Lancaster will be festooned with as many as 20 decorated pianos that passerby are welcome to sit down and play. Lancaster is a city that clearly gets it, and the collaboration necessary to make this quirky little project happen is yet another example of that. There's something especially rousing about an impromptu piano sing-along. I distinctly remember not one, but two such gatherings breaking out in the aftermath of my wedding reception, one of which took place on an almost certainly off-limits baby grand. It will be interesting to see how all of the pianos end up being decorated, and they should add some interesting flavor to First Fridays and Music Fridays in Lancaster during the warmer months. As for this weekend, here are some suggestions:  

Spotobe Top 10: March 10

1. Harrisburg St. Patrick's Day Parade: Saturday, March 20 in downtown Harrisburg
3. UnCork York Tour de Tanks: Weekends in March at the UnCork York Wineries
4. York St. Patrick's Day Parade: Saturday, March 13 in downtown York
5. Harrisburg Kennel Club Dog Show: Saturday, April 17 at the PA Farm Show Complex, Harrisburg
6. The Hold Steady: Friday, April 16 at Appalachian Brewing Company, Harrisburg
7. Spring Folk Coffeehouse: Saturday, March 13 at Fort Hunter Mansion, Harrisburg
8. Alice in Wonderland An IMAX 3D Experience: Through March 25 at the Whitaker Center, Harrisburg
9. Murder at Mount Hope: Friday's and Saturday's in March at Mount Hope Estate & Winery, Manheim
10. Tales for Saint Patrick's Day: Friday, March 12 at Fort Hunter Mansion, Harrisburg   Full Article »