LINCOLN PARK — The annual Great Parker Garage Sale takes place this weekend as a fundraiser for Francis Parker School, 330 W. Webster Ave.
Organizers are even now in the midst of the three-day process of setting up the bulk of the items in the school's main gymnasium, with furniture and electronic equipment in a smaller gym and a "designer boutique" of more high-end goods in the cafeteria.
With students still using the cafeteria Friday, that part comes last and means they'll likely be stocking tables until almost midnight. Then the sale runs from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday.
"We're absolutely wiped at the end of it," said Toni Hargis, one of the co-chairwomen of the sale. But it's worth it for the school, she added, as last year's event raised $60,000.
The sale has grown from when it was only in the cafeteria when it started in 1988. Items are collected at the school every Tuesday throughout the school year, and typically include clothing, electronics, sports equipment, art, furniture, housewares, linens and, again, those high-end "boutique" items, which last year included a purse that sold for $800.
Other things to do this weekend in Lincoln Park and Old Town include:
• The third annual Lincoln Park Wine Festival takes place from noon-4 p.m. Saturday and noon-5 p.m. Sunday at Jonquil Park, 1001 W. Wrightwood Ave. Some 80 varietals will be available for sampling. Art will be on display, and the Parkwest String Quartet will perform. Tickets are $50 a day to sample a dozen wines at 1.5 ounces, $75 for a VIP pass offering 17 samples including premium vintages. A portion of the proceeds goes to the Wrightwood Neighbors Association.
• Randy New Orleans residents say crawfish like to get their tails pinched and their heads sucked, because of the way they're eaten, and in that grand tradition McGee's, 950 W. Webster Ave., holds its 28th annual Headsucker's Ball Saturday with doors opening at 11 a.m. and the all-you-can-eat buffet commencing at noon. They're shipping in 2,500 pounds of crawfish for the occasion, and it runs until the last one is gone. Tickets are $30 and do not include alcohol, although Bud Light drafts will be $4 and Abita beers $5.
• Lincoln Park Zoo holds its annual Zoo-ologie fundraiser, this year called "A Midsummer Night's Roar," at 8 p.m. Saturday. Tickets are $135. It will also see the debut of DryHop Brewers' Ursus Mapletimus, a smoked maple imperial white ale dedicated to the zoo's honeymooning couple of polar bears, Kobe and Siku. It's the fourth year DryHop has cooked up a new brew for the zoo. DryHop Executive Chef Jeff Dysart will be serving Ursus Mapletimus paired with bourbon maple syrup ice cream with a vanilla-rye-whisky glaze, smoked sugar, blackberry and mint in a waffle cone.
• Goose Island holds it fourth annual Sunday Funday Battle of the Breweries Dodgeball Tournament from 2-6 p.m. Sunday at the Goose Island Barrel House, 603 N. Sacramento Blvd. Some 32 local breweries are expected to take part. Tickets are $25 and benefit the Special Olympics. Food trucks will be on site to give everyone a good food base to work on.
