Kate Pancero

Get out there and play. Line up your four-legged, finned, feathered and scaled family members and march over to Oak Park this Saturday for the Downtown Oak Park Pet Parade. All animals—including the stuffed variety—can march along the parade route with their human family members.

Get out there and play. Watch the sky over Lake Michigan light up at the 52nd Annual Venetian Night, Saturday, with this year’s theme, “Hollywood on the Lake.”

Get out there and play. If you have a horse lover in your family, take them to a majestic show that celebrates the bond between humans and horses. Cavalia, a multimedia experience designed by one of the co-founders of Cirque du Soleil, is a mesmerizing show full of edge-of-your-seat acrobatic stunts and a beautiful demonstration of equine ability. A few of the acts involve a show of unbridled horses demonstrating dressage techniques—think ballet for horses—with their handlers. This show is beautiful.

Get out there and play. It’s a bird, it’s a plane! It’s the 10th annual South Shore Air Show. From noon-4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, watch one of the nation’s largest over-water air shows from the shores of Lake Michigan in Gary, Ind. Expect to see the U.S. Army Golden Knights Parachute Team, a Sea Harrier F/A2, L-39, a F-18 Super Hornet, a F-16, The Lima Lima Flight Team, plus plenty of aerobatic demonstrations.

Get out and play. Let the rockets’ red glare light up your family’s July 4 weekend. We’ve rounded up fireworks displays around the city and suburbs this weekend in our calendar.

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Get out there and play. Spend your weekend with the youngest members of your favorite zoo’s family. Lincoln Park and Brookfield zoos have had a bountiful spring with many little bundles of joy now on display.

Get out there and play. Even if your family doesn’t hail from Scotland, you can still celebrate like a great Scot at the Scottish Festival & Highland Games in Oak Brook. Spend your weekend with folks in kilts, bagpipers and big burly men tossing telephone poles as far as they can.

Get out there and play. Bring your appetite this weekend for your family’s fill of ribs at this year’s Rib Fest. The street festival, which originally started as a block party, now averages 65,000 pounds of ribs yearly. But with 25 bands—including Indie, Rock and Alt Country—and a Kids Square, this celebration is more than just ribs.

Get out there and play. Take your family out to the Poplar Grove Airport for some high-flying, old-fashioned fun. This weekend, the airport, located at 11619 Route 76, hosts World War II-era aircraft and military vehicles during the Army Wings and Wheels Air Show.