Events
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Community Listing
Summer Bash – OPEN HOUSE
MoreExplore our classrooms, meet our instructors, and let your child try the same hands-on activities featured in our Fall programs.
Step inside The Future Innovators Academy and discover what makes learning here different. Every classroom becomes an interactive experience where kids can build, code, design, invent, and create while parents explore our Fall programs.
🎟️ STEM Passport Challenge
Every child will receive a STEM Passport at check-in.
Visit each activity station, collect a stamp, and return your completed passport to Check-In for a chance to win our STEM Swag Raffle!
No purchase necessary.
Explore Our Fall Programs
🤖 LEGO® Robotics
Build, code, and put your robot through fun engineering challenges.
🎮 Roblox Game Design
Create your own interactive game and learn the basics of coding in Roblox Studio.
⛏️ Minecraft Engineering & Coding
Design, solve challenges, and discover how Minecraft becomes a powerful learning tool.
⚡ Electronics & Circuits
Build simple electronic projects and make lights, buzzers, and sensors come to life.
🖨️ 3D Design & Printing
Design a custom creation and watch a 3D printer turn it into reality.
💻 Scratch & Micro:Bit
Explore beginner-friendly coding through hands-on challenges designed especially for younger innovators.
🔬 STEAM Explorations
Try hands-on science and engineering activities that build creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills.
🏆 FIRST Tech Challenge Robotics
Meet our competitive robotics teams, drive a real competition robot, and learn how students can get involved.
🎨 Face Painting & Balloon Twisting
Take a break from building and coding to enjoy colorful face painting and custom balloon creations.
👨👩👧 Parent Lounge
Relax with coffee, meet our team, and get answers to your questions about programs, scheduling, enrollment, and finding the right fit for your child.
Why Attend?
Kids learn best when they can poke, prod, build, code, experiment, and create in a safe and encouraging space.
This is your chance to experience FIA the way your child will—while exploring our classrooms, meeting our instructors, and discovering the program that is the best fit for your future innovator.
🎁 Special Event-Only Perks
Complete your STEM Passport for a chance to win our STEM Swag Raffle.
Learn more about our Fall 10-Week Skills Courses, Clubs, Labs, Studios, and No-School Day Camps.
Enroll during the event and receive up to 10% off select 10-Week Skills Courses.
Free to attend. RSVP encouraged. We can’t wait to welcome your family!
Other Things To Know: Adult Participation is required
Free to attend. RSVP encouraged. -
Free
Observer Editor
Drop-in Knitting: Spun
MoreEvery Sun.–Thurs. (different times). All invited to work on their knitting, crochet, weaving, and embroidery projects. 1–3 p.m. (Sun.) & 6–8 p.m. (Mon.–Thurs.), 401 N. Fourth Ave. Free. (734) 780–7867.
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Observer Editor
Sunday Fun Day: African American Cultural and Historial Museum of Washtenaw County
MoreA day to celebrate the museum, with free admission, museum tours, family-friendly games and activities, and local food trucks. 1-4 p.m. 3261 Lohr Rd. Free, donations welcome. (734) 761-1717, [email protected], aachm.org.
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Free
Observer Editor
Shape Note Singing: Ann Arbor Sacred Harp
MoreAll invited to join an afternoon of shape note, or sacred harp, singing, an early American form of communal hymn singing. Songbooks available, but singers are encouraged to bring their own. 1–4 p.m., the Ark, 316 S. Main. Free. (734) 478–3394, (734) 995–2519, [email protected].
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Free
Observer Editor
“Walking with Whales Tour”: U-M Museum of Natural History
MoreEvery Sun. Thirty-minute tour that uses the museum’s specimens to tell the story of prehistoric whales and dolphins, who had 4 limbs and walked on land. 1:30 p.m., 1105 North University. Free. Limited capacity. Sign up at the welcome desk. (734) 764–0478.
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Observer Editor
“Steamboat Bill, Jr.”: Michigan Theater
MoreFilm screenings every day. Tickets $11.75 unless otherwise noted (children under 12, students, seniors age 65 & older, and U.S. veterans, $9.75; Marquee Arts members, $8) in advance online (recommended) & at the door. For updated schedule, see marquee-arts.org/calendar.
Aug. 9: “Steamboat Bill, Jr.” (Charles Reisner & Buster Keaton, 1928). Silent comedy in which an awkward young man played by Keaton woos a rich young woman against the wishes of both their fathers. It includes one of Keaton’s most famous stunts: the facade of a house falls around him while he stands in the precise location of an open window. With live accompaniment from Michigan Theater organist Stephen Warner. Suggested donation $5 with preregistration at marquee-arts.org/calendar. 1:30 p.m.
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Observer Editor
“Emma’s Wedding(s)”: Purple Rose Theatre Company
MoreEvery Wed.–Sun., June 25–Aug. 30. (See review) Kate Thomsen directs longtime Purple Rose resident playwright Carey Crim’s comedy-drama about a group of old friends gathered to celebrate their friend Emma’s fourth wedding. Together, they revisit their memories of each of her previous three weddings to “the one.” Adult language and subject matter. 3 p.m. (Wed., Thurs., & Sat.), 8 p.m. (Fri. & Sat.), & 2 p.m. (Sun.). 137 Park St., Chelsea. Tickets $31.50–$52.50 in advance at purplerosetheatre.org, (734) 433–7673, & (if available) at the door. Discounts available.
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Observer Editor
“Athena”: Theatre Nova
MoreEvery Fri.–Sun., July 17–Aug. 9. (See review) Shelby R. Seeley directs Gracie Gardner’s play about two competitive teenage girl fencers training for the Junior Olympics. As they spar and navigate a tricky new friendship, each grows in both athletic ability and self-confidence. The New York Times calls it “hugely appealing and stealthily moving.” 3 p.m. (Sat.), 8 p.m. (Fri. & Sat.), & 2 p.m. (Sun.), 410 W. Huron St. Tickets $30 (age 65 & older, $25; students with ID, $15 at the door) in advance at theatrenova.org/season11 & (if available) at the door. (734) 635–8450.
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Observer Editor
“The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee”: Horizon Performing Arts
MoreAug. 6–9. Connor Thomas Rhoades directs local actors in William Finn and Rachel Sheinkin’s Tony-winning 2004 one-act musical comedy about 6 anxiously overachieving adolescents competing in a spelling bee run by 3 adults who have barely managed to escape childhood themselves. 7 p.m. (Thurs.–Sat.) & 1 p.m. (Sat. & Sun.), Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre, 911 North University. $23 (students & seniors, $21) at horizonpa.yapsody.com & at the door.
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Free
Observer Editor
Sunday Drop-in Tour: U-M Kelsey Museum of Archaeology
MoreAug. 9, 23, & 30. Docent-led tours exploring “Highlights of the Kelsey” (Aug. 9 & 30) and “Favorite Objects and Surprising Stories” (Aug. 23). 2–3 p.m., 434 S. State. Free. (734) 764–9304.
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Observer Editor
“Gutenberg! The Musical!”: Penny Seats Theatre
MoreAug. 7–22. Emily Wilson-Tobin directs local actors in Anthony King and Scott Brown’s 2-man musical about a pair of aspiring playwrights who perform all the parts in a run-through for potential backers of their new, hilariously ill-advised project—a big, splashy musical about printing press inventor Johannes Gutenberg. Adult themes. 8 p.m. (Thurs., Fri., & Sat.) & 2 p.m. (Sun.), Cahoots, 206 E. Huron St. Tickets $28 (seniors, $25 & students, $20) in advance at pennyseats.org & (if available) at the door.
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Nightspots
Steve Somers & Friends
MoreYpsi Alehouse 124 Pearl, #100, Ypsilanti, YpsilantiJazz & blues standards by an ensemble led by WCC jazz guitar instructor Somers.
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Free
Observer Editor
“Megafauna Mystery”: U-M Museum of Natural History Discovery Demos
MoreEvery Sat. & Sun. Hands-on 20-minute family-oriented demo for kids age 5 & up that uses museum specimens to explore paleontology and what can be learned from giant bones and fossils. 12:30 & 2:30 p.m., 1105 North University. Free. (734) 764–0478, ummnh.org.
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Observer Editor
“Lady Windermere’s Fan”: Loonlight Theatre
MoreAug. 6–9. Darla Hand directs local actors in an outdoor production of Oscar Wilde’s sharp 1892 comedy about the very proper Lady Windermere, who comes to believe her husband is having an affair, leading to gossip, misunderstandings, and drama. The production features live musical accompaniment, and is set in a garden-party atmosphere against the backdrop of the historic Dixboro schoolhouse. 7 p.m. (Thurs.), 7:30 p.m. (Fri. & Sat.), & 3 p.m. (Sun.), Dixboro Village Green, 5221 Church Rd. Tickets $15 at loonlighttheatre.com & (if available) at the gate. [email protected].
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Free
Observer Editor
“Ypsi Photo Walk”: Dzanc House
MorePhotographers of all skill levels with any kind of camera invited to walk together around Ypsi and take pictures. 3–4 p.m., 402 S. Huron St., Ypsi. Free. dzanchouse.org/all-events.
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Free
Observer Editor
“Drag Bingo”: Ann Arbor District Library
MoreAll invited to play a fun-filled round of bingo hosted by local drag queen Jadein Black. Prizes. 3–4 p.m., AADL Downtown, 4th fl. Free. (734) 327–4200.
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Free
Observer Editor
“Underwater Landscape in a Jar”: Ann Arbor District Library
MoreAdults & teens invited to hot glue animal figurines, fake plants, sea shells, and other tiny objects to create an underwater scene in a glass jar. 3–4:30 p.m., AADL Downtown, Secret Lab. Free. (734) 327–4200.
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Nightspots
Let’s Pretend
MoreHear.Say Brewing + Theater. 2350 W. Liberty.Jazz, country, and pop tunes by this local trio led by bassist Tim Berla and fronted by vocalist Naya Loftus.
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Free
Observer Editor
A2 Summer Streets Music Series: Main Street Area Association
MoreEvery Thurs.–Sun., June 4–Sept. 28. Local musicians TBA perform at several locations along Main downtown. Rain cancels. 4 p.m. Thurs.–Sun., S. Main between E. Washington & W. William. For the complete lineup, go to mainstreetannarbor.org/a2-summer-streets. Free.
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Observer Editor
“Only Yesterday”: Fathom Entertainment
More(734) 973–8424 (Cinemark), (734) 316–5500 (Emagine). Tickets $12.50 (except as noted) in advance at fathomentertainment.com/events & at the door. Cinemark (4100 Carpenter, Ypsi) & Emagine (1335 E. Michigan Ave., Saline).
Aug. 9 & 11: “Only Yesterday” (Isao Takahata, 1991). Dubbed (Tues.) & subtitled (Thurs.) screenings of this Japanese anime drama about an unmarried workaholic office worker who reminisces about her Tokyo childhood on a trip to the countryside. Tues. 4 & 6:45 p.m. (Cinemark) and 4 & 7 p.m. (Emagine). Thurs. 6:45 p.m. (Cinemark) & 7 p.m. (Emagine).