Compiled by writer Shannon Fiecke

On the Web: for a full list of farmers markets and a directory of locally grown food, see www.minnesotagrown.com.

Shakopee

Most Holy Redeemer Church of Montgomery, 206 Vine Ave. W., celebrates its faith and heritage Sunday, Sept. 28 with its Fall Festival and Polka Mass on the parish grounds in Montgomery.

By Mathias Baden

So it’s come down to this: Five players all of whom are assured they will win some money. And the kid.

The title refers to 4:48 a.m., the darkest hour before dawn, and the theme is suicidal despair and psychosis, a state in which the normal boundaries between waking life and dream life, between the self and others, collapse. The play is composed of monologues and dialogues whose content includes exchanges between patients and therapists, notes about grief, mental anguish and psychological distress, caustic accounts of therapeutic use of drugs and diary entries.
Time: 8 p.m. Aug. 29-31 and Sept. 1, 4-7
Cost: Adults $15; students senior and Fringe button holders $12

By Unsie Zuege

Wow!

The hottest live music and dance scene in the Twin Cities is on the Main Stage at the Chanhassen Dinner Theatres. Its current musical revue “Swing” transforms the dinner theatre into a jazzy, swinging nightclub with fantastic Swing-era songs and scatting, a sizzling jazz band, and exuberant, dynamic dancing.

With music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by Hugh Wheeler, “A Little Night Music” is a study in deciding what one truly desires in life. A newlywed lawyer with a very young wife sees an old flame and his romantic interest in her is rekindled. However, she is having an affair with a jealous, married, military man. Complicating matters is the lawyer’s son, who is in love with his stepmother. The play culminates with them all at a country estate for the weekend, where they must choose whether or not to seize the moment and be honest about with whom they are in love.

2008 - 2009 Federal Duck Stamp, Minnesota artist Joseph Hautman

The Midwest has a long tradition of wildlife conservation, waterfowl hunting and arts appreciation. These traditions will come together this October as Minnesota plays host—for the first time—to the Federal Duck Stamp Art Contest, sponsored by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

By Rob Lawson

Nearly four years ago Andrea Sisco Pike and Connie Anderson created a book review and author interview site called Armchair Interviews. It was a side project for both women, a Web site devoted to great books with little emphasis on turning a profit. But its reputation and reach has expanded, and Sisco Pike recently sold her first mystery manuscript to a publisher. She agreed to answer a few questions about the business of books with Southwest Newspapers’ intern Rob Lawson.

Q: How has Armchair Interviews been going?

Andrea Sisco Pike recently sold her first mystery novel to a publisher. The book is due out in 2009. But that's now all she's done. The Eden Prairie, Minn./Arizona writer also has another novel in the works.

Q: What is the name of your YA fantasy?
A: The working title is "Glitter and Gillyflowers: Memoirs of a Teenage Faerie Godmother in Training." However, in today's YA market, the title is not edgy enough and the Glitter and Gillyflowers (my favorite) is not going to stay. Actually we're currently doing a survey on new title possibilities.