SATURDAY
Girls Day Out - Women in Sport 8am to 3pm, Foreshore Park and Nobby's Beach. Surfing, surf lifesaving, hockey, cheerleading, soccer, netball, rugby league and union, golf, roller derby, volleyball and AFL. Open to ages five to 16.
Warners Bay Markets 9am to 2pm, The Foreshore, Warners Bay.
Handmade in the Hunter Markets 9am to 2pm, Sobels Wines.
Glendale Farmers & Artisans Market 8am to 2pm, Stockland Glendale.
Young People's Theatre Open Day 9.30am to 11.30am, 26 Lindsay Street, Hamilton.
Warners Bay Community Garden Working Bee 9am to 1pm, Bunya Park, Eleebana.
2024 Diving NSW Country Championships 10am, Lambton Swim Centre. Also on Sunday.
Recycled Rockets and Salvage Spacecraft 10am to 1pm, Wallsend Library. All welcome.
Pulse Climbing Launch 10am to 3pm, 122 Garden Grove Parade Adamstown. Free entry, beginner workshops, food and prizes.
Mosaics for Kids Workshop 10.30am to 12.30pm, Hunter Region Botanic Gardens, Heatherbrae. Suitable for children 10 years and over, and adults. Cost $25. Bookings essential by phoning 4987 1655.
Lake Play in Colour 11.30am to 1pm, Sugar Valley Library Museum, kirantakamyari, 156 Portland Drive, Cameron Park. Colourise photos from the Lake Play exhibition using acrylic paint and your imagination. Bookings essential.
Fort Scratchley Gun Firing 1pm, to welcome cruise ship Seven Seas Explorer.
Auslan in the Park 1pm to 2.30pm, Newcastle Art Gallery. An Auslan interpreted guided tour through the works of art commissioned for the temporary street hoarding along Laman and Darby Streets.
Newcastle Museum Australia in Space. Potions and Pestilence. Also on Sunday.
Summer at the Wetlands - Guided Tour 10.30am, Hunter Wetlands Centre, Shortland. Also dip-netting, bird feeding, canoeing and more.
Beginners Ukulele Workshop 2.30pm, Cricketers Arms Hotel, Cooks Hill.
Hunter Valley Wildlife Park 8am to 4pm, 138 Lomas Lane, Nulkaba. Also on Sunday.
Lake Mac Festival 2024 5pm to 9pm (fireworks), Warners Bay Foreshore, Toronto Foreshore, Belmont - Brooks Parade Reserve (Pelican Twilight Markets, food, live music and more 3pm to 9pm), Speers Point Park.
Australian Deaf Games Closing Ceremony 4pm to 9pm, Multi-Arts Pavilion (Art Centre), 96 Creek Reserve Road, Speers Point.
Christmas Lights Spectacular 5.30pm, Hunter Valley Gardens. Also on Sunday.
Public Skate Session 11.30am, 2.15pm, 7pm, Hunter Ice Skating Stadium, Warners Bay.
Summer Sundowners 4pm to 8pm, The Rooftop, Westfield Kotara. Earp Distillery bar, live music and garden games. An 18+ event. Also on Sunday.
Richard O'Brien's Rocky Horror Show 2pm and 7.30pm, Civic Theatre, Newcastle.
Newcastle Comedy Showcase with Nick Cody 7.30pm, The Playhouse, Newcastle. Presented by Newcastle Comedy Festival.
SUNDAY
Lake Mac Festival - Community Breakfast 7.30am to 10.30am, Rathmines Park and Rathmines Theatre. Yoga; Westlakes Concert Band performance; Toronto Croquet Club demonstration; Bicycle Busker; author Outback Jess with a special Lake Mac Fest 'Spotto' activity; free kids craft corner, Canoe Academy - kids come and try activity; old school games including egg and spoon races, three-legged races; free face painting; live music and more.
Toronto Lions Markets 8am to 1pm, Lions Park, Main Road, Toronto.
The Valley Markets 9am to 2pm, Miller Park Hotel, Branxton.
Newcastle City Farmers Market 7am to 1pm, Newcastle Showground.
Jewells Twilight Markets 2pm to 7pm, cnr Ntaba and Dalrymple roads, Jewells.
City of Newcastle Summer Bash 9am to 6pm, No 1 Sportsground, Parry Street, Newcastle. Newcastle District Cricket's premier T20 competition featuring 15 teams from Newcastle, Maitland and the Hunter Valley.
Bush Tukka with Oz Tukka + Crop Swap 9am to noon, Landcare and Sustainable Living Centre, umali barai-ku, 80 Toronto Road, Booragul.
Helloworld Travel & Cruise Expo 10am, NEX Newcastle Exhibition & Convention Centre.
Richard O'Brien's Rocky Horror Show 1pm and 6pm, Civic Theatre, Newcastle.
Newcastle Summer Festival: Family Foodies 4pm to 10pm, Wallsend Park.
MUSIC
Issa Mane and The Blues in Force, Who is Arcadia Saturday, 5pm, The Royal Oak Hotel, Mayfield.
Gay Anthems Night Saturday, 7pm, Bernie's Bar.
Paul Dempsey Saturday, 7pm, The Hard Aches 8pm, King Street Hotel.
The Appointments, Cat Piss, Mac Tango Saturday, 8pm, The Stag & Hunter Hotel.
ART
The Lock-Up Arts in the Yard Saturday, 10am to noon. The Dance of the Remediators, by Heidi Axelsen and Hugo Moline.
Timeless Textiles Sights, Sounds & Textures connecting the Hunter Wetlands to Music and Fibres.
Susana Enriquez's Studio, 54 Perkins Street, The Hill Black and Blue, by Lily Ray.
Belmont Library On The Edge, by Newcastle Creative Embroiderers and Textile Artists Inc.
Hunter Wetlands Centre Five Years, by Stu Murphy.
Charlestown Library Come Fly With Me, by Amanda Turner.
Newcastle Local History Library More Than Coal - Exploring Significant Natural History of the Lower Hunter Valley and Creative Ways to Love It, by Bronwyn Grieve.
Museum of Art and Culture yapang Rauschenberg and Johns: Significant Others. Shifter, by Marian Drew, Monika Morgenstern, Rebecca Najdowski, Ioulia Panoutsopoulos. Guided tour Sunday, 11am.
Multi-Arts Pavilion, mima Strawberry Feather Star, by Jen Denzin. Valley of a Thousand Plants, by Joel Zika. Portrait as Phoenix, by Michelle Gearin. Art in Your Community: HEAD2ART.
Newcastle Art Gallery Intertwined, by Dylan Mooney. Sleep Rhythms, by Izabela Pluta.
Wupa@Wanaruah Aboriginal Art Exhibition and Trail Hunter Valley Resort, Drayton Family Wines, Rydges Pokolbin, Mecure Hunter Valley Gardens, Mercer Wines, Mecure Newcastle Airport.
Lighthouse Arts Newcastle House of Stories.
Lovett Gallery More Than Sport - History, Culture and Connection in Deaf and Hard of Hearing Communities Exhibition.
Maitland Regional Art Gallery Sleep My Horse ... 5 August 1956, by Noel McKenna. Operation Art. Touching and Turning, by Cherine Fahd. The Between, by Deidre But-Husaim. Myth Making, by Kate Rohde and Troy Emery. Free Art Sunday.
Port Stephens Community Art Centre Life in The Bay and Mosaics.
