Fun things to do this week in Thurston County

June 28

Celebrate a Northwest jazz great

Snappy, scatting singer Greta Matassa has long been a mainstay of the Northwest jazz scene. She’s been compared to the likes of Ella Fitzgerald, Rosemary Clooney and Nancy Wilson — and earned a spot in the Earshot Jazz Hall of Fame in 2014. “If Greta Matassa is not a jazz star outside of the Seattle area, it’s only because Matassa hasn’t performed much outside of the Seattle area,” Marty Hughley of The Oregonian wrote in 2005. Fortunately for local jazz fans, Matassa does venture to Olympia every once in a while — including Friday, when she’ll perform with John Stowell and Clipper Anderson at 7:30 p.m. at New Traditions Fair Trade Café, 300 Fifth Ave. SW, Olympia. Tickets are $20, $12 for students and those with low incomes. Find out more at 360-705-2819 or traditionsfairtrade.com.

June 28

Celebrate nature’s glory — indoors

Yes, outdoorsy types, you’re probably planning to hike or kayak or jump on a paddleboard, even if it rains (likely, forecasters say). But the Olympia Film Society has high hopes that you’ll go to the movies instead. On Friday, the society and the Portland nonprofit Pacific Rivers present the Wild and Scenic Film Festival, an evening of short films that spotlight the beauty of wild places and aim to inspire activism. Local filmmaker Shane Anderson, whose “Run Wild Run Free: 50 Years of Wild & Scenic Rivers” is one of the featured films, will be on hand for a post-film discussion. Doors open at 5 p.m. and screenings start at 6 at the Capitol Theater, 206 Fifth Ave. SE, Olympia. Tickets are $20, $15 for film-society members. Learn more at 360-754-6670 or olympiafilmsociety.org.

June 28-July 21

Celebrate Shakespeare

This summer, South Sound is home to a bountiful Bard buffet of three free outdoor productions of Shakespeare’s plays. Get your blankets and picnic baskets ready; the first two open this weekend:

• Animal Fire Theatre Co.’s “The Merry Wives of Windsor,” in which a pair of sassy women give a harassing man a comical comeuppance, gets rolling with shows at 7 p.m. Friday through Sunday in Priest Point Park, 2600 East Bay Drive NE, Olympia. (Longtime Fire fans, note that the show is in a different — and quieter — spot this year; signs in the park will point the way.) Performances, all in the park, continue through July 21. Admission is free. Find out more at https://animalfiretheatre.com/.

• Goldfinch Productions’ “As You Like It,” in which the pursuit of true love involves plotting, scheming and gender-bending, starts its journey with a performance at 4:30 p.m. Sunday in Yelm City Park, 115 Mosman Ave. SE, Yelm. The new company’s peripatetic production continues with performances at 7 p.m. July 5-7 in LBA Park, 3333 Morse-Merryman Road SE, Olympia, and 7 p.m. July 11-13 in Sunrise Park, 505 Bing St NW, Olympia. Admission is free, but donations are encouraged. Learn more at goldfinchproductions.com.

June 28-30

Celebrate classic jazz

America’s Classic Jazz Festival is underway this weekend on the campus of Saint Martin’s University in Lacey, and it’s safe to say that the joint is jumpin’. The Greater Olympia Dixieland Jazz Society’s 28th annual festival draws in loads of out-of-town revelers, many of whom bring their recreational vehicles so they can stay on site for a weekend of music, dance and parasol parades. Among the featured bands this year is Uptown Lowdown, which performed at the second festival way back in 1992. The tunes continue through Sunday at the university’s Marcus Pavilion, 5300 Pacific Ave. SE, Lacey. Passes are $25-$105. Get details at olyjazz.com.

June 29

Celebrate summer’s juiciness

The folks at the Olympia Farmers Market are bursting with excitement about the market’s annual Berry Harvest Celebration. This berry jubilee, happening from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, includes short workshops on pollinators, soil and berry growing, along with entertainment by children’s theater program Apple Tree Productions at 10 a.m. and swing standards by How Short Jazz from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. And, of course, there’ll be shortcake for sale along with berries, berry plants and much more. If you haven’t been to the market in a while, you might want to sample the wine (including berry wine) that is now available there. The berry bounty will abound from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the market, 700 Capitol Way S., Olympia. Admission is free. Learn more at olympiafarmersmarket.com or 360-352-9096.

June 30

Celebrate ‘The Light Inside You’

You can celebrate the light inside you any time, of course — though you might not be reminded to do so unless you regularly attend yoga. But Sunday is the time to celebrate “The Light Inside You,” the latest album from Waterwitch, headed up by Olympia singer-songwriter Elizabeth Hummel. The album — “about transformation, transitions, healing, the survival of our species and love,” Hummel writes on Bandcamp — includes a song for the late David Bowie, one about mythology’s Prometheus and a few about the simple joys of being alive. Listen to Hummel and company at 7:30 p.m. Sunday at Octapas Café, 414 Fourth Ave. E., Olympia. The show is free. Find out more at octapascafe.com or 360-878-9333.

July 3

Celebrate with a merry band

Although “band” might not be a big enough word to encompass Portland’s wild and wacky MarchFourth. The group’s website prefers such terms as “force” and “sonic explosion,” although the experience goes way beyond the sonic, encompassing dance, acrobatics, stilt-walking and more. The extraordinary ensemble launches the Olympia Downtown Association’s free Music in the Park series at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Port Plaza, 701 Columbia St. NW, Olympia. Find out more at downtownolympia.org, and check out the band’s antics at marchfourthband.com.

This story was originally published June 26, 2019 at 4:26 PM.