Father’s Day is June 16, so make sure you get out there and show Dad (or the Dad-like guy in your life) a good time this weekend. There’s lots going on the next few days: stuff to do with Pops, and plenty to check out on your own once Dad starts talking about how wrecked the government is and how tough he had it when he was a kid (sorry, Dad, but it gets old). Newport’s Italianfest runs Friday-Sunday on the Levee. Food is obviously a highlight at this annual fest; expect plenty of pizza, pasta, cannoli and gelato from area restaurants. There will also be live music, cooking and eating contests, rides and games and a photo exhibit of Italians that settled in Newport generations ago. Admission is free; go here for hours and more info.Cincinnati Opera’s summer season kicks off with Mozart’s comic drama, Don Giovanni. The opener’s second showing is Saturday. Read our full Opera season preview here. Jungle Jim’s is known for being the go-to grocery store for exotic types of meats, fancy cheeses, rare candy and produce from around the world, but it also has an extensive beer selection. Friday and Saturday, Jim’s hosts an International Beer Fest featuring 350 beers from 100 breweries across the globe. Tickets are $40 for Friday, $45 for Saturday, $15 for designated drivers and can be purchased at the store’s beer and wine department while they last (online sales have ended). The City Flea takes over Washington Park Saturday. Browse furniture, clothing, housewares, accessories and other vintage, antique, local and handmade goodies, plus food from local vendors and food trucks from 10 a.m.- 4 p.m. Does your father love pork? Of course he does, this is America! Bring Dad to Covington for MainStrasse Village’s “Original” Goettafest Friday-Sunday. Find ample versions of the sausagey Cincinnati stable along with plenty of beer, music, shopping and other festival favorites. Go here for details. For more stuff to do this weekend, check out our To Do picks full calendar and Rick Pender’s Stage Door for weekend theater offerings.More to look forward to: Peep our Summer Guide, tucked into this week's issue, for all sorts of seasonal goodness to keep you busy all summer long. And be sure to get tickets to next Wednesday's Margarita Madness celebration at Newport on the Levee. Admission is $20 in advance ($25 at the Levee, if there are still tickets available) and includes ample tequila and margarita samples, summery bites from area restaurants and live music and DJs, all from 5:30-9 p.m. June 19. Get tickets and more info here.

Screech is going to be at Boogie Nights. The ‘90s TV geek-turned-porn star Dustin Diamond will make an appearance at Hollywood Casino’s night club Friday. Cover is $10 cover, but admission is free if you dress like Kelly Kapowski, Lisa Turtle, Jessie Spano or any of your favorite Saved By the Bell characters. Doors open at 9 p.m. Get ready to dance like you’re so excited… The Mutual UFO Network (MUFON, real thing) hosts an international symposium this weekend at the Northern Kentucky Convention Center. If you have seen an unexplainable object in the sky, are interested in the idea of intelligent extraterrestrial life or just love a good conspiracy theory, here’s an opportunity to share your stories and learn more about UFOs. Speakers include a nuclear physicist, an abduction researcher, an aerospace engineer and many others in the field. Additionally, researchers at MUFON will announce a major discovery, presenting credible evidence for UFOs. Register here and see what it’s all about, Friday-Sunday in Covington (Spoiler Alert: ticket prices are kinda steep). Remember Wiedemann beer? George Widemann founded the company in 1870 with a brewery on Columbia Street in Newport, Ky., making the Bohemian-style beer synonymous with Northern Kentucky. The brewery closed in 1983, but the brand has recently been reclaimed and the new owners are debuting Wiedemann’s Special Lager Friday night. Swing by Pompilio’s, another Newport landmark, at 5 p.m. for a celebration and the inaugural keg-tapping at 5:30 p.m. Washington Park hasn’t even been open for a month and already it’s become a city hub, bringing tons of Cincinnatians and visitors together. On Friday, four of the city’s prominent performance organizations will also come together for a concert and show unlike any we’ve seen in the park thus far. The performance will include Cincinnati Ballet dancers, the Cincinnati Pops, Cincinnati Opera soloists and the May Festival Chorus, with conductor John Morris Russell. Bring lawn chairs and blankets and get comfy on the Civic Lawn. The show begins at 7:30 p.m. Hamilton County Park District has teamed up with edible Ohio Valley Magazine to present the first Ohio Valley Greenmarket, a weekend-long festival celebrating local eats and agriculture and healthy, sustainable food practices. Special events include a pig roast Friday at Winton Woods; a workshop and lecture on green floral design Saturday; and Sunday’s big greenmarket at Glenwood Gardens, featuring a farmers market, cooking and gardening demos, speakers and activities for kids. “Back to School” might have been out of your vocabulary for a few years, but there are local kids whose summers are coming to an end and they are still in need of adequate supplies. So, once again, PROJECTMILL presents Back to School_MF this Saturday. In addition to fun art installations and dance music, MFers are asked to bring donations for area students. Think standard school supplies like pencils, notebooks, markers, crayons, backpacks, and other goodies you couldn’t go without when you were in school. Lisa Frank Trapper Keepers optional. The free dance party is 10 p.m.-1:45 a.m. at Northside Tavern. Ongoing events this weekend include: the World’s Longest Yard Sale 8 a.m.-4 p.m. daily through Sunday at MainStrasse Village; Glier’s Goettafest at Newport on the Levee every day through Sunday; more recommended arts, theater and event picks here. And be sure to stop by the square tonight for the MidPoint Indie Summer Series with Bear Hands, Lightning Love and Fort Lead, 7-11 p.m.!

Those lucky enough to snag a ticket to Cincinnati Opera’s sold-out run of Maria de Beunos Aires get to see a rare performance, which opens tonight. Cincinnati Opera and concert:nova team up for the first time to present the story of an a woman in Argentina who becomes the embodiment of Tango. If you didn’t get tickets in time, check out our preview to learn the backstory of this CO production. Reggae Wednesday continues on Fountain Square from 7-10 p.m. The Ark Band, a Columbus-based St. Lucian reggae group, performs tonight. Looking for a fun spot to grab dinner or drinks tonight? Mosey on down to Django Western Tacos, Northside’s newest watering hole. Taco options range from chicken to beef tongue to squash and peppers and can be ordered premade or DIY assembly. Django also offers larger traditional Southwest dishes and tasty cocktails. Peep our profile for more tasty morsels. Django Western Tacos is open until midnight tonight. Bandstand Bluegrass is just one of the new weekly free music nights at Washington Park. Each Wednesday, a new band takes the stage — check out The Comet Bluegrass Allstars tonight, 7-9 p.m. Over on the Civic Lawn of Washington Park, Cincinnati Sports Kickball League takes over. Last week’s game rained out, so this is your first chance to check out the ballers in action. Games are each Wednesday from 6 p.m. ‘til dusk. If you want to do your after-work drinking outdoors with a local cover band and thousands of others at Yeatman’s Cove, tonight it your last chance to do so! Party in the Park wraps up tonight with Naked Karate Girls from 5-10 p.m. Enjoy half-priced drinks until 6:30 p.m. American entertainer, dubbed “the man who owned Broadway,” George M. Cohan is the focus of Cincinnati Landmark Production’s latest show. George M!, onstage at Showboat Majestic, features good choreography and showtune classics like “Yankee Doodle Dandy.” Tickets to tonight’s 8 p.m. performance are $17-$18. Read our full review here.

It’s a weekend of last chances, as several shows that have been entertaining audiences wind up their runs just before Independence Day. Let’s start with The Second City 2: Less Pride … More Pork. If you haven’t yet caught this evening of poking fun at our local foibles and sacred cows, you have only until Saturday. The cast of five from Chicago’s legendary comedy troupe has been tickling local funny bones since late April, drawing their material from bottomless well of our beliefs and behaviors. Even if you saw the show a month or two ago, you’ll be entertained by a return visit. Improv is the fuel for the evening, and every night they’re up to new tricks to entertain audiences. By the way, that includes involving a few folks in attendance, so be prepared. Box office: 513-421-3888. Sunday winds up Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati’s revival of the Tony Award-winning musical next to normal. (Review here.) The story of a woman struggling with schizophrenia and how it affects her family is even better than it was back in September. The show uses the power of a brilliant Rock score to enhance the impact of this painful story. ETC has reassembled most of its superb cast from last fall, including Jessica Hendy in the central role. Her beleaguered husband is now played by Bruce Cromer, who you might know as Ebenezer Scrooge in the Playhouse’s annual A Christmas Carol. His character’s relationship with Hendy’s makes their struggles all the more deeply felt. Box office: 513-421-3555. Last Sunday I had some good laughs at the classic comedy Arsenic and Old Lace on the Showboat Majestic. It’s an old chestnut (it was a hit in 1944), but it’s one of the funniest shows you’re likely to see, about a pair of off-kilter elderly maiden aunts who keep their rather normal nephew astonished and scrambling to keep them in line. The kind-hearted women take in boarders, quiet elderly men who are “all alone in the world,” and polish them off with elderberry wine laced with arsenic. They convince another nephew, who believes he’s Teddy Roosevelt, to bury them in the basement by telling him they’re Panama Canal works who are victims of yellow fever. A great show for the whole family. Box office: 513-241-6550. Also winding up this weekend is Cincinnati Shakespeare Company’s production of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged). This rambunctious show mentions of all the Bard’s works — although many are completely unrecognizable, thanks the three buffoonish guys who undertake the task. Order your tickets online where you’ll find an automatic buy-one, get-one offer. Website: www.cincyshakes.com. Cincinnati Opera is offering Porgy & Bess for the first time ever, with a performances on Saturday evening (as well as July 6 and 8). (Preview here.) Is it an opera or a musical? Judge for yourself (and read about it in my Curtain Call column in next week’s issue of CityBeat). It’s at Music Hall, with lots of seats, but as always, a limited run. This is one you shouldn’t miss. I saw it Thursday night, and the leading performers are great: Measha Brueggergosman is a conflicted Bess, Jonathan Lemalu conveys Porgy’s dignified but depressed life, Gordon Hawkins is the brutal Crown, and Steven Cole steals the show as the animated, irreverent Sporting Life. And pay attention to the chorus — it’s a wonderful ensemble. Box office: 513-241-2742. Each week in Stage Door, Rick Pender offers theater tips for the weekend, often with a few pieces of theater news.