Sea Lion Sound, with a transparent walk-through tunnel and an outdoor environment modeled after the rocky Pacific Northwest coastline, will be a terrific addition for St. Louis Zoo visitors and dwellers when it opens June 30. The 35-foot-long acrylic tunnel, which will allow the 11 resident California sea lions plus four harbor seals to swim over and around visitors, is the first in a North American zoo. “You will be surrounded by sea lions, and it’s an absolutely spectacular experience,” said Steve Bircher, the zoo’s curator of carnivores. “We believe it’s the only one like it in the U.S. …

  From action and adventure to romance and comedy, there is something for everyone in the 2012 summer season of shows at The Muny in Forest Park. Mike Isaacson, The Muny’s executive producer, said the cast and crew relish The Muny experience. “We’re very fortunate,” said Isaacson, who took over at the end of last season for longtime Muny executive producer Paul Blake. “It’s fun for a couple of reasons. Everybody here loves what they do, and loves being able to support these people. That generosity of spirit just sort of flows through everything we do, which is really great. The real key of …

If money is tight for a big trip this summer, you can still travel back in time to a 16th century France full of jousters, strolling minstrels, sword fights and more during the 14th annual St. Louis Renaissance Faire this weekend at Rotary Park in Wentzville. Bob Stanza, president of the Renaissance Faire’s board of directors, said the Faire offers equal parts education and entertainment, with some enthralling elements. “If they haven’t been there before, certainly they want to go see the jousting, because that’s something you’re typically not going to see (elsewhere),” he said. Unlike the TV…

With a top-notch array of musical performers, a tribute to veterans, and an emphasis on food and drink options a cut above most fairs, this weekend’s Ballwin Days celebration promises to be an experience to remember. Ballwin Days co-chairman Jim Lieber, who is instrumental in choosing the bands, is excited about this year’s offerings. “It’ll be fun,” he said. “Every year I think it’s better than the year before. We’ve got some great bands. We have an awesome lineup.” Local country-rock group the Well Hungarians kicks it off 7-11 tonight, with Night Moves, a Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet …

Editor's Note: Patch was informed Friday morning that Aloha Mi’sho has had a death in the family and cannot be at Fair U City this weekend. A packed musical roster featuring blues vocalist Kim Massie and American Idol alumni Nikko Smith and Aloha Mi’sho plus carnival rides and a classic car show highlight the second annual Fair U City Saturday through Monday at Heman Park. “I’m very pleased,” University City Mayor Shelley Welsch said. “I think we have a good mix and it will encourage people from around the region to come, which is what we hope because this carnival is really about building a …

Artists in a variety of styles from visual to vocal highlight the 25th annual Laumeier Art Fair today through Sunday at Laumeier Sculpture Park in Sunset Hills. The fair, which also offers a packed lineup of musical entertainers including vocalist Erin Bode and the group Farshid Etniko, has become a tradition to many area people. “It’s fantastic,” said Marie Oberkirsch, special events manager at Laumeier. “I was just reviewing one of our old binders from 1989, and it was just so much fun to see how the event has really grown. Just from my own experience, I know that there are a lot of …

When it comes to hot exhibits sure to get visitors fired up, the First Due Fire Museum at the St. Louis Mills in Hazelwood is sizzling. The museum was founded on May 10, 2004, by firefighters Eric Kiehl, Chester Jones and Steve Arnold as a way to promote fire safety education. “The goal for the museum was education,” Kiehl said. “Letting the public know what firefighters are all about – the type of work that we do, the type of equipment that we use, the gear that we wear – mainly it was an educational thing.” But there was another reason the three decided to open a museum packed with a …

Acoustic rock/current alternative group Stranger’s Almanac takes pride in being an atypical bar band. “Last time (we played) we got a lot of compliments on our particular song selection,” said band leader Chris Brokaw. “Like, ‘Wow, you guys do a really interesting version of that song,’ or ‘Wow, I love that song. I’ve never heard a band play that out.' That’s kind of what we’re going for.” Stranger’s Almanac features Brokaw on guitar and vocals, drummer,percussionist and backup vocalist Aaron Brokaw (Chris’s brother), Josh White playing guitar, mandolin and harmonica and adding vocals, …

Scottish-American culture and character will be on display through lively music and dance, unique athletic contests, fascinating storytelling and more during the 12th annual Missouri Tartan Day Festivities today through Sunday at Frontier Park in St. Charles. “It’s just a fantastic weekend,” said Tartan Day Chairman Vickie Struckmann. “Just come down and wander.” Tartan Day started as an observance of the April 6, 1320, Declaration of Arbroath, when Scots gained independence from English rule. “I look forward to this every year because it’s a wonderful thing to celebrate freedom and liberty …

Most people think about  the future while in college, but David Gerrold took it several steps further by envisioning the future and writing about it. While enrolled in a college screenwriting class in 1966, he contacted a new TV show called Star Trek and submitted several story ideas. One of them was “The Trouble With Tribbles,” which became one of the show’s most popular episodes ever and launched Gerrold’s career as a writer. “It was a career choice that grabbed me, rather than the other way around,” Gerrold said. Gerrold, who will appear at the St. Louis Science Center Friday night as part…

On Oct. 29, 1862, Rufus Vann and the other members of the First Kansas Colored Volunteers regiment made history at the Action of IslandMound as the first African Americans to fight as Union soldiers during theCivil War. Vann, who became a corporal in the Union Army after enlisting at age 46, is the focal point of “Resurrection 150,” a short play presented at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Missouri History Museum in Forest Park as part of the museum’s “The Civil War in Missouri” exhibition. The play commemorates the 150th anniversary of a skirmish between the First Kansas regiment and Confederate …

Cavalia, the equine and equestrian extravaganza being performed in St. Louis through April 8, combines all the flash and spectacle of a circus with the serenity and beauty of a walk in the woods. The show, called “A Magical Encounter Between Human and Horse,” explores humankind’s longstanding relationship with horses. Cavalia features 37 highly skilled riders, acrobats, aerialists, dancers and musicians and 49 magnificent horses. During the course of two hours, the horses gambol, trot and gallop across the expansive 160-foot-wide stage, sometimes free to wander, occasionally guided by a …

In one stride, visitors to the Sophia M. Sachs Butterfly House in Chesterfield go from a low humidity temperate zone to a steamy tropical jungle. A fairyland of dancing, vibrant colors – both butterflies and blooms – bursts on the inside of the Butterfly House’s 7,900-square-foot Tropical Conservatory. Blue Morphos, the sky blue stars of the March Morpho Mania exhibit, are seemingly everywhere, meandering up, down and sideways like performing marionettes, stopping to feed on nectar or rotting bananas, racing from brilliant pink variegated orchids to searing red hibiscus blooms and darting in …

With a 17-piece big band heavy on brass instruments, the Dave Dickey Big Band will deliver room-filling tunes during their Sunday performance in Kirkwood. “The band’s got a big sound,” band leader and trombone player Dave Dickey said. “They’re all professional guys, so they’re all very good soloists and players.” The performance will be 6-9 p.m. at the Kirkwood Station Brewing Company, which features a good restaurant and a great area for music. “It’s a big room – it’s fun,” he said. “They actually have a dance floor. We had a gig there last January, and so many people showed up, it was great…

Three days before the official opening for six new exhibitions at The Sheldon Art Galleries, art galleries director Olivia Lahs-Gonzales zipped through the exhibition space on a whirlwind tour. “These are pretty stunning,” Lahs-Gonzales said, looking at the large photographs of Tim Simmons. “He uses a (large format) four-by-five camera. They’re amazingly detailed — you can see every blade of grass.” Simmons and Steve Giovinco have photos in the “Edge of Darkness” exhibit. The photos contributed by Simmons are all shot in darkness or near darkness, with artificial light introduced to highlight…

In the entranceway to the Missouri History Museum, not too far from where a small herd of Asian elephants roam their enclosure at the St. Louis Zoo, an elephant-like creature sporting huge, curved tusks looms over visitors. This creature, a lifelike replica of a Columbian mammoth, stands 14-feet at the shoulder and looks like it could’ve won a tug-of-war with a couple of African elephants. It is part of the museum’s “Mammoths and Mastodons: Titans of the Ice Age” exhibit, which continues through April 15. These magnificent mammals, which inhabited North and Central America during the …

Actor Robert Picardo is known to Star Trek: Voyager fans as the holographic doctor, so will his appearance this weekend at the St. Louis Science Center be real or holo? “Since I can reconfigure the magnetic containment field that creates the illusion of my body, to either allow matter to pass through it or be stopped, you don’t really know," Picardo said by phone from Los Angeles, where he lives. "Just coming up and trying to pass your hands through my chest is no longer a sufficient test. Actually, now that I think about it, I suppose that it is. I don’t recommend it though.” During the …

The Saint Louis Zoo will give children something to smile about Sundays in January and February during Delta Dental Winter Zoo, from fun plays about keeping smiles healthy to games, activities and parades. “It’s always fun to come to the Saint Louis Zoo, but a lot of people don’t think about coming to the zoo in the wintertime,” said Ginny Westmoreland, the zoo’s director of marketing. “But it’s a great time to come out to the zoo, and we’ve developed this series of events leading up to Mardi Gras.” Every Sunday through Feb. 19, the Delta Dental Stage Show will be presented in The Living …

As a former joke writer for “The Tonight Show” legend Johnny Carson, Louie Katz knows the value of a good punch line. Now, as a standup comic 23 years later, Katz mines the vagaries of vegans and the dangers of dating for comedy gold and couldn’t be happier with his chosen profession. “It’s like an addiction,” he said of doing standup. “After a while I just can’t stop.” Katz, who has done standup on HBO, Comedy Central and shows including “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” and “Last Call with Carson Daly,” is the headliner today through Sunday at the St. Louis Funny Bone Comedy Club at Westport …

Walking into the showroom at the Kemp Auto Museum in Chesterfield is like stepping back in time to an era when cars were called roadsters and friends lounged in the rumble seat to get a little air. The museum has dozens of gleaming automobiles nestled side by side on a polished black tile showroom floor that reflects the cars’ images as if they were parked next to water. It opened in 2006 primarily to showcase an impressive collection of Mercedes-Benz vehicles. “This is the only automobile museum in the United States that features Mercedes-Benz automobiles,” museum curator Rodger Van Ness …