5 Things to Do: Market on Mill to open, Morel Fest to return in the Illinois Valley

Here are five things to do this weekend:

Market on Mill opens/Lemonade Day: Utica officials will cut the ribbon at 9:30 a.m. Saturday at the Market on Mill, the village’s outdoor retail plaza. After that ribbon-cutting, a second ribbon-cutting will be at 9:45 a.m. to mark the opening of the Lemonade Day Youth Market, which will be open from 10 a.m. to noon. The Market on Mill will be open for business from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., with children’s games and other activities from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Morel Fest: The event will return Saturday to the Jordan Block, 100 Main St., in downtown Ottawa. The event includes a Morel Market, vendor booths and a guided mushroom hunt. The festival’s schedule is as follows: 7:30 a.m., hunt and Morel Market sign-in; 8 to 8:30 a.m., Morel University; 8:45 a.m., buses depart for guided hunt; 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Morel Market (morel mushrooms only); 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., vendor market; 9 to 11:30 a.m., guided hunt; 12:30 p.m., awards ceremony.

A Dazzling Finale: The Illinois Valley Symphony Orchestra will present its 75th anniversary season finale concert, “A Dazzling Finale,” at 7 p.m. Saturday in the Dr. Mary Margaret Weeg Cultural Centre at Illinois Valley Community College. The performance marks the final concert for music director and conductor Daniel Sommerville, who will retire after the season. The evening’s program opens with Johann Strauss’ “Voices of Spring” waltz. The concert also will feature rising star violinist Anton Carus, winner of the International Louis Spohr Competition for Young Violinists in Germany. Carus will perform Jean Sibelius’s “Violin Concerto.” The program concludes with Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s “Symphony No. 5.” Tickets ($20 general admission, $5 for college students with ID, and free for students in kindergarten through 12th grades) and additional information are available at www.ivso.org.

MOMsemble: Festival 56/Princeton Theater Group will present The Michigan MOMsemble Celebrates Mother’s Day at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Founded by Festival 56’s own Laura Brigham and performing together since 2016, The Michigan MOMsemble, is a group of talented mothers from the Great Lakes Bay region of Michigan who share stories and songs altered to parody everyday parental joys and struggles. The MOMsemble mission is to help parents laugh about their frustrations, so that their kids might make it to adulthood. Both performances are at the Grace Theater, 316 S. Main St. in Princeton. Tickets cost $25 and are available online at festival56.com or by calling the box office at 815-879-5656.

Earth Day celebration: A collective of nature enthusiasts, conservation educators and woodland guides will come together from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at Nell’s Woodland, 2000 Alexis Ave., to celebrate Earth Day. There will be activities, educational programming and hikes. If Nell’s Woodland’s parking lot fills, there will be a shuttle provided at no cost from Ottawa Warehouse Bargains at 101 W. Etna Road. The shuttles will be available every 30 minutes.

Would you like your event highlighted in this weekly feature? The first step is submitting your events to the Illinois Valley’s community calendar at shawlocal.com/illinois-valley/local-events.