SATURDAY
Living Smart Festival 9am to 3pm, Speers Point Park. Free shuttle buses running from Glendale, Cockle Creek, Croudace Bay, Warners Bay, Toronto and Fennell Bay.
Wollombi Valley Sculpture Festival Various locations, Wollombi and Laguna. Until September 29.
Warners Bay Markets 9am to 1pm, The Esplanade, Warners Bay.
Bulga Bicentennial Celebrations 9am, Bulga Recreation Ground.
Canoe Adventure Day 9.30am, Hunter Wetlands Centre, Shortland.
Glendale Farmers & Artisan Market 8am to 2pm, Stockland Glendale.
Hunter Wine Country Markets 9am to 2pm, De Bortoli Wines, Lovedale.
Handmade in the Hunter Markets 9am to 2pm, Sobels Wines, Pokolbin. Also on Sunday.
Stroud Rodeo 9am onwards, Cowper Street, Stroud.
African Djembe Drumming Workshop 1.45pm. Introductory African Dance Workshop 3.30pm, Garden Suburb Community Centre.
Cardiff RSL Sub Branch Cake Stall 9am to 3pm, Cardiff Aldi.
Lake Macquarie Field Archers - Try Archery Day 9am to noon, 25 Archery Road, Wakefield.
Pop-Up Op Shop 9am to 1pm, Hunter Christian Church, Highfields.
Clans on the Coast Celtic Highland Festival 9.30am to 3.30pm, Lakeside Sports Complex, Raymond Terrace.
Dungog Pedalfest A fundraiser for Rotary Dungog.
Swansea SES Unit Community Open Day 10am to 2pm, Swansea RSL.
$2 Fun Day Noon to 7pm, Maitland Showground.
Justices of the Peace Community Stand 10am to 1pm, Westfield Shopping Centre, Kotara, near Woolworths.
Lake Macquarie Family History Group Inc Meeting 10am to 4pm, Marmong Point Community Hall.
Maitland Region 2024 Garden Ramble 9am to 4pm, various locations.
Newcastle Spring Racing Carnival - Charlestown Square Ladies Day 10.30am, Newcastle Racecourse.
Linuwel School Spring Fair 10am to 3pm, 133 Morpeth Road, East Maitland.
The Hunter Transplant Research Foundation's Glow Walk 1pm to 3.30pm, Newcastle Breakwall, Nobbys Beach.
Romeo & Juliet: A Reimagining 2pm and 7pm, The Playhouse, Newcastle.
2024 Newcastle Poetry Prize Award Ceremony 4.30pm, Q Building, University of Newcastle, Callaghan Campus.
Richard Lindesay Live 5.30pm, Royal Exchange, Newcastle.
The Tap Pack 7.30pm, Civic Theatre, Newcastle.
Saturday Night Showcase 7.30pm, Newcastle Comedy Club.
Wollombi Ghost Tour 7pm, Wollombi Museum. Bookings essential.
Travelling North 7.30pm, Newcastle Theatre Company, Lambton. Also on Sunday at 2pm.
SUNDAY
Sunday Muster Artisan Markets 9am to 2pm, 1 Weakley Drive, Thornton.
Adamstown Lions Markets 7am to noon, cnr Brunker and Glebe roads, Adamstown.
Newcastle City Farmers Markets 7am to 1pm, Newcastle Showground.
Pre-Loved Designer Fashion Market 9.30am to 1pm, Upper Level 141 King Street, Newcastle.
The Valley Markets 10am to 2pm, Townhead Park, Singleton.
Emma Memma Boop & Twirl 10am and noon, Civic Theatre, Newcastle.
Taste of the Hunter Valley 11am to 7pm, The Station, Newcastle.
Boards & Beers Workshop: Decked Out 3pm, Dullboy's Social Club, Warners Bay. Bookings essential.
MUSIC
Queenie, ChaiChester, Ella Day Saturday, 8pm, The Stag & Hunter Hotel, Mayfield.
Regikay, Nina Romeru, Mishayla, Genie Loci, Chloe Saturday, 7.30pm, Hamilton Station Hotel.
Never Ending 80s versus 90s Saturday, 8.30pm, Flamingos Live.
Lake Macquarie Music Society presents Festival of the Choirs Sunday, 2pm, Warners Bay Theatre.
Punjabi Virsa Sunday, 5pm, The Great Hall, University of Newcastle, Callaghan Campus.
Live on the Lake: Jon Stevens, Jamie Martens, Boney Rivers Sunday, 4.30pm, Toronto Hotel.
The Grunge Show Sunday, 8.30pm, Flamingos Live
Strapped In, Snitch Trial, Body Melt Sunday, 7pm, Hamilton Station Hotel.
ART
The Creator Incubator Alchemy of Light, by Jane Lander, until September 29. Opening night Saturday, 6pm, at The Big Space.
The Lock-Up Khaled Sabsabi; peacefender x TUNZ, until November 24.
LEDA Gallery Test Studio, by Lavinia Coluccio, until October 2.
The Owens Collective Arcadia, by Prudence De Marchi, ends Sunday.
Straitjacket Still Lies, by Kara Wood; Histories, by Bianca Vern-Barnett, until October 6.
Back to Back Galleries Reflecting on Margaret Olley Exhibition, final weekend.
Teahouse Newcastle The Neverland's Water, until September 29.
Multi-Arts Pavilion (MAP mima) Emerge, by PluginHUMAN; Wildlife, by James Price; MOTHER LOAD, by Hannah Brontë.
Performance Arts Culture Cessnock (PACC) Philip Quirk's The Eisteddfods, until October 20.
Wester Gallery Out-Of-Towners, by Hal Whitney, Tahlia Undarlegt, Patrick Oates, Bridget Stehli, Sally Bourke, Benedict dos Remedios, Nina Radonja, until September 28.
Fireshed Gallery Wollombi Small Sculptures, until September 29.
Museum of Art and Culture MAC yapang Including YOU, Including ME, Including US; Two Girls From Amoonguna; Alternating the Cube, until October 13.
University Gallery 50 Years 50 Stories Exhibition, until September 28.
Lighthouse Arts Heroine.
Maitland Regional Art Gallery Hold. Old Stories New Magic. Mother Lode. Memory Collective (Part One). Small Museum. Lineage: A Visual Continuum. A Garden of Parallel Paths. Power: The Future is Here.
Newcastle Museum A Place Called Hollywood, until February 2.