Your Weekend To Do List (6/5-6/7)

Theater, art, bugs to eat, opera to see, a performance from Ja Rule and a ton of music festival fun.

This year’s Bunbury Music Festival, the first since it was acquired by Columbus, Ohio’s PromoWest Productions, features an ambitious and diverse lineup. The event, running Friday through Sunday at Sawyer Point and Yeatman’s Cove along the riverfront, will draw plenty of fans to see headliners like The Black Keys, The Avett Brothers and Snoop Dogg. But there are once again plenty of other reasons to explore the festival’s stages this year. Click here to read about our picks for some of the "must see" acts performing at the 2015 Bunbury Music Festival. Through Sunday. $79-$349. 705 E. Pete Rose Way, Downtown, bunburyfestival.com.

Helmed by Collective Espresso owners Dave Hart and Dustin Miller, Collective CAC opened in March. When you walk into the lobby, Collective CAC is to the left of the museum welcome desk. The dining area is comprised of two large angular, birch-colored communal tables and a few smaller round tables with white modernist wingback chairs. The current menu features all-day breakfast, with sandwiches, salads and snacks available until 2 p.m. daily. But if you have a hankering for a cortado in the evening, the café offers light bites and coffee service until close — which isn’t until 9 p.m. Wednesday through Friday. Current exhibits include The Perfect Kiss, The Vesper Project, Self-Portrait as Light and Remember the Future. Contemporary Arts Center, 44 E. Sixth St., Downtown, contemporaryartscenter.org/visit/caf.

The Cincinnati Fringe Festival — running through June 6 — is celebrating 13 years of theater, creativity and fun. A total of 40 shows (selected by 24 jurors) will be presented during the 12 days of the 2015 Fringe, split almost exactly between shows generated by local creators and productions from elsewhere in the U.S., plus four international acts representing South Africa, Japan, Canada and the United Kingdom. Tickets for Cincinnati Fringe shows are $15 each; artists receive 50 percent of ticket and pass sales. Through June 6. Various venues in downtown and Over-the-Rhine. For a full schedule, visit cincyfringe.com.

SATURDAY 

It’s been more than a decade since the early 2000s, which means we’re allowed to start feeling nostalgic about it. And what better way to indulge that nostalgia than with a Ja Rule concert. Signed to the infamous Murder Inc. record label (now called The Inc.), Ja Rule spent most of the late ’90s embroiled in a feud with Fiddy and Eminem and is probably most well known as a featured artist on hits from other early-aughts staples like J.Lo, Christina Milian and Ashanti — let’s be real, we all know all of the words to “Mesmerize.” He’ll perform at Fountain Square Saturday with openers Trademark Aaron, Diamond Star Russell and Mayo. 7 p.m. start; Ja Rule at 10 p.m. Free. Fountain Square, Fifth and Vine streets, Downtown, myfountainsquare.com.

The Friends of the Public Library Main Library Book Sale returns Saturday for its 43rd annual event (through June 5), offering more than 50,000 used books from every category imaginable, with most prices between $1 and $4. Feel free to casually browse or go on a book-buying spree — there will most likely be something for everybody, whether you’re looking for Alice or Zhivago. Free. Main Library, 800 Vine St., Downtown, friends.cincinnatilibrary.org.

The Cincinnati Pops Orchestra begins its summer series with a special Broadway Sing-Along: Belt out your favorite Broadway hits by singing along to lyrics on the Riverbend Corbett Pavilion big screen with talented guest vocalists. Conductor John Morris Russell will lead the orchestra and audience in classics such as “Defying Gravity” from Wicked, “Dancing Queen” from Mamma Mia! and selections from Rocky Horror Picture Show. 8 p.m. Saturday. Tickets start at $20. Riverbend, 6295 Kellogg Ave., California, cincinnatipops.org.

Get out your finest lederhosen and celebrate Cincinnati’s cultural roots with German Day Weekend, which provides an immersive environment for attendees to experience a heritage still thriving today. The celebration, which turns 120 this year and raises funds for the German Heritage Museum, kicks off on Saturday, when a parade at Findlay Market will showcase traditional German dance and music. On Sunday you can chill at the Hofbräuhaus Newport brewery for authentic German fare and craft beer. Guten Appetit! 10:30 a.m. Saturday. Free. Findlay Market, 1801 Race St., Over-the-Rhine, gacl.com.

Created to showcase the multicultural richness of Price Hill, the Incline District Street Fair strives to bring the surrounding community together at an event held the first Saturday of every month (through September). The fair, held across the street from Holy Family School, will feature local food, live entertainment, craft beer and a variety of artisan vendors. All proceeds benefit the mission and ministry of Holy Family. 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday. Free. 3001 Price Ave., Price Hill, theinclinedistrictstreetfair.com.

Back in the 1950s, Lucy and Ricky Ricardo were a big TV hit on I Love Lucy. To experience the fun — and what TV was like 60 years ago — you should head to the Aronoff Center, where you’ll get a taste of what had America laughing. I Love Lucy Live on Stage recreates the filming of two episodes of the pioneering sitcom starring zany comedienne Lucille Ball and her real-life husband, Cuban band leader Desi Arnaz. Between segments of the show there’s interaction with the studio audience — aka everyone in the theater — plus live singers doing ads from the era. Through June 14. $29-$102. Aronoff Center, 650 Walnut St., Downtown, 513-621-2787, cincinnatiarts.org.

Working in monotype printmaking, collage and projection, Cincinnati-based artist Jen Warren will show a collection of artwork at artist/curator Paul Coors’ Brighton gallery, which focuses on her personal experiences living within a society in which queer women and other feminist voices are often silenced. According to the press release, because Warren lives within a society that continuously “others” her, creating art acts as a healing process for her. Opening reception: 7-11 p.m. Saturday. On view by appointment through June 19. Free. Ice Cream Factory, 2133 Central Ave., Brighton, [email protected]. 

The 12th annual BugFest pays tribute to all things arthropod. There will be hands-on activities, environmental information, insects as food and a forensic entomology display. 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Activities free in rotunda. Cincinnati Museum Center, 1301 Western Ave., Queensgate, cincymuseum.org.

Hit Broadway musical The Producers is the first show staged at Cincinnati Landmark Production’s new Warsaw Federal Incline Theater. It's the story of a pair of hucksters who raise a boatload of money to stage “the worst play ever written,” an extravagant musical they’re confident will fail (its title: Springtime for Hitler) enabling them to make off with the funds they’ve raised. Much to their surprise and dismay, it’s a wacky hit. Through June 21. 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays; 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays. Warsaw Federal Incline Theater, corner of West Eighth and Matson, East Price Hill, 513-241-6550, cincinnatilandmarkproductions.com.

The Cincinnati Opera goes live in Washington Park and kicks off their 95th anniversary with a free outdoor concert. Selections include opera and musical theater favorites performed by the stars of the 2015 season, the Cincinnati Opera Chorus and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. 7 p.m. Free. Washington Park, 1230 Elm St., Over-the-Rhine, cincinnatiopera.org.

Restaurants and food businesses from all over Northern Kentucky — 24 to be exact — will be swarming Monmouth Street, festival-style, eager to feed hungry people. Look for bites and drinks from the likes of Carabello Coffee, Dixie Chili, Green Derby, La Mexicana and more. Entertainment, including sidewalk sales, live music and family activities, will also be available, plus beer booths featuring domestic and craft beers of all sorts to wash down the food. 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Food prices vary. Monmouth Street, Newport, Ky., facebook.com/go2newport.

Lights. Camera. Hurry. Five hundred professional and amateur filmmakers in the region recently competed in the 48-Hour Film Project, an event that requires participants to write, film and edit a five-minute movie in only two days. You can watch the local films premiere Sunday at a series of screenings at the Thompson House in Newport, the perfect way to catch a little Cincinnati cinema. Then on July 8, at a Best Of Screening at the 20th Century Theater, the project will award the “City Winner.” The winning film will be held in competition with other winners from around the world, with a panel of international judges deciding the ultimate prize: a showcasing of the top 10 films at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival in 2016. Screenings 3, 5 and 7 p.m. Sunday. $10. Thompson House, 24 E. Third St., Newport, Ky., 48hourfilm.com/cincinnati.