The Cinciditarod is a wacky shopping cart race through the city. While physically attached to their grocery carts, teams push through a nearly five-mile course over the streets of downtown and Over-the-Rhine, picking up items on a grocery list and stopping at five mandatory checkpoints. Noon at Fountain Square.  

All that glitters, the stuff of fortune and fable, greed and gilded, is at the Cincinnati Museum Center's newest exhibit. 'Gold' presents the history, extraction and engineering of the globe's most valuable substance. Among the treasures stored deep within the bowels of the Union Terminal are the 26-pound Boot of Cortez, the Summitville Boulder, Spanish doubloons and an entire room plated with gold that visitors can walk through.  

The Northside Tavern hosts a party to benefit Save Our Strays (SOS) animal rescue. Local bands Buckra, Daughters & Sons, and Nathan Holscher & the Ohio 5 perform their standards as well as tracks from the new SOS album, Free Lap Dances Volume 5: Friends With Benefits. The event is free but CDs are $5. SOS is also hawking handmade beaded jewelry, knit clothing and cat toys.  

Locally, a march commemorating King’s work begins at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center at 10:45 a.m., proceeding to an 11:15 a.m. prayer service at Fountain Square. Participants can continue on to Music Hall for a memorial program at noon. The Music Hall event has performances by Bishop Todd O'Neal and Dr. Cathy Roma along with the voices of the Martin Luther King Chorale.  

The Cincinnati Art Museum houses an excellent collection of Rookwood Pottery in its Cincinnati Wing. The vivid, colorful glazes offer visitors a peek into our local heritage and shine with a vibrancy that’s as breathtaking today as it was when they were first produced. Tour CAM’s collection with a trained docent, who will offer context and details on Rookwood’s rich history Saturday at 2-3 p.m.  

BB Riverboats' New Year’s Eve cruise includes a three-entree buffet (Roast Sirloin, Seafood Pasta, Chicken Breast stuffed with Boursin and more), dessert (Chocolate Fondue and cake), entertainment, champagne at midnight, a late night snack buffet and party favors. Does it get more romantic than that?  

Blue Rock Tavern hosts spoken word performances by Abiyah (Hip Hop poetess), Nathan Singer (A Prayer Before Dawn author) and Shawn Abnoxious (Punk poet); readings by Jughead (of SS-20), Nick Barrows, Chuck Byrd and Betsy Young follow. Then it's music time. Punk is the sound of the night with the rebel yells of SS-20, Pike, The Serfs (a Celtic Punk fusion act), Loudmouth and F.R.A. 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving Eve.  

Chef Michael Peterson of NuVo Modern American Cuisine in Newport depends on other small local businesses. They do the things he can't, and working with them moves the money we spend eating at NuVo into their pockets and hopefully keeps rotating through local wallets. Plus, Peterson says, dealing with local farms and small vendors is relational instead of an anonymous transaction.   

It’s a farther drive than the Ohio Ren Fest, but well worth the time. Just north of Louisville, the Highland Renaissance Faire presents the Scotland of Robert the Bruce, or at least a satisfying facsimile. Explosive scientific performances, couples mud wrestling and the sword-swallowing sideshow freakiness by Cincinnati’s Travis Fessler are supporting fare for the main events — jousting competitions, equestrian acrobats and an audience with the king. 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays through July 19.  

The Rumpke Sanitary Landfill in Colerain Township, colloquially known as Mount Rumpke, is massive. This behemoth monument to our mass consumption and throwaway culture towers as the highest point in Hamilton County, yet it's just the part visible from U.S. Route 27.