Weekend Flyer: NWA Pride Festival, Juneteenth events, Fayetteville Roots, and more

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It’s going to be a weekend for celebrations in Fayetteville. Prepare your party pants.

The NWA Pride Festival and parade are taking place on Saturday, but the festivities get underway on Friday night with a Light Up the Lot party at Maxine’s Tap Room featuring music by DJ Kiera Maserati, barbecue by Girls Gone BBQ, and a light up dance floor. On Saturday, the NWA Pride Festival kicks off at 11 a.m. with performers, activities, and more. The Trans March starts at noon, there’s a pub crawl at 2 p.m., and the annual NWA Pride Parade is set to begin at 5 p.m. Here’s more info about the festivities.

Also beginning Friday night is the Fayetteville Roots on the Avenue festival, taking place outside the Fayetteville Roots HQ on the square. Friday night’s lineup includes legendary performer Iris Dement and Canadian songwriter Ana Egge. On Saturday, Leyla McCalla, Lauren Napier and Joy Clark will perform, and Sunday’s headliners include Bonny Light Horseman (featuring Hadestown writer Anais Mitchell, Eric D. Johnson of Fruit Bats, and Josh Kaufman of a ton of bands), Jett Holden, and Joy Clark. Here’s ticket info.

Sunday is Juneteenth, and there are several celebrations to commemorate the occasion in NWA this weekend. The largest is probably the Freedom Festival event in downtown Springdale organized by several local groups. The event will include live music performances by Montell Jordan, Morris Day and the Time, Lamar Campbell, Mr. Sipp, and Jukeboxx Party Band, food, a vendor fair, and more. There are also Juneteenth-related events at Crystal Bridges and Kingfish this weekend. Details on all of the above, with links to more info, can be found in our post from earlier this week.

George’s has a weekend chock full of music as well, including local legends Earl & Them kicking things off for happy hour on Friday night, with Dave Aude, DJ Soul Free, Still Will and Big Rick to perform later on. On Saturday, George’s will be the host of the Glitterville late night NWA Party.

How about a show? There are chances to see TheatreSquared’s new show Miss You Like Hell this weekend, and UA Theatre will perform their version of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing.

Up north, Backstreet Boys will perform at the Walmart AMP Friday night with Australian singer Delta Goodrem. Also up north, the Bentonville Bike Festival is happening at various places around the city.

There’s so much more below. Cheers to a really awesome weekend, everyone.

Friday, June 17

Saturday, June 18

Sunday, June 19