Yakima Valley weekend picks: Cultural Unity Fair, '90s rock band and spring carnival

The annual Cultural Unity Fair in Wapato, a listening party at the Yakima Valley Museum and a concert headlined by the rock band Green Jelly make up a diverse set of event offerings this week in the Yakima Valley.

Here's a closer look:

Cultural Unity Fair

Wapato Middle School’s Cultural Unity Fair is celebrating 41 years this year.

The annual event features a menu of cultural and popular foods and will be from 4:30-7 p.m. on Thursday, March 28, at Wapato Middle School, 1309 Kateri Lane.

The Cultural Unity Fair began in 1982 to celebrate Yakima Valley’s diverse and rich cultures and to combat the negative perceptions of the Wapato community at the time, a news release stated.

Indian fry bread, salmon, pansit, lumpia, tacos, cheese zombies and many other items will be available.

Tickets cost $8 for adults and $6 for seniors and children. Advance purchases can be made at the Wapato Middle School office from 7:30 a.m.-3 p.m. daily or online at www.wmscuf.com.

The Culture Unity Fair website, www.wmscuf.com, also features a collection of YouTube videos of past performances and a photo slideshow.

Spring Break Carnival

Make your way to State Fair Park, 1301 S. Fair Ave., for the Spring Break Carnival, featuring carnival rides and games and fair food March 29 through April 7.

Pay-one-price wristbands cost $30 each, per person for one day only. Each wristband also includes two carnival games.

Individual tickets cost 50 cents each, 120 tickets for $50 and 250 tickets for $100. Rides take between seven and nine tickets and games take between one and 10 tickets.

Entry and parking are free.

Songs over Sagebrush

The Yakima Valley Museum, 2105 Tieton Drive, is hosting We are Neighbors/Somos Vecinos listening parties for “Songs over Sagebrush: the creative lives and poetry of Japanese women on the Yakama Reservation,” from 6-8 p.m. Friday.

The listening parties are connected to the museum’s exhibit, “Land of Joy and Sorrow: Japanese Pioneers in the Yakima Valley,” and will feature a workshop with poet traci kato-kiriyama.

Kato-kiriyama is the author of “Navigating With(out) Instruments” and is an award-winning artist from Los Angles and is recognized for their work as a writer, performer, theater deviser, cultural producer and community organizer.

Kato-kiriyama, along with author and local historian Dr. Yesenia Navarrete Hunter and poets A Hunter and Michaela DodsonDance, will read some of their works.

The event is free and open to the public. Guests are asked to register on the event page at www.yvmuseum.org.

Green Jelly

Comedy rock band Green Jelly will perform from 7-11 p.m. Friday at Bearded Monkey Music, 1802 W. Nob Hill.

It’s the 30th anniversary of Green Jelly’s hit song “Three Little Pigs,” yhne.ws/3littlepigs.

Also on the concert’s bill are Thinky Flesh, Headless Pez, Skwerll's Sideshow and Yakima’s own Bad Habit.

Tickets cost $20 and can be purchased at yhne.ws/greenjellytickets. The concert is all ages but extremely uncensored.

YVM Speaker Series

The Yakima Valley Museum’s speaker series presents, “100 Peaks, One Season” by Jeff Hashimoto from 7:30-8:45 p.m. on Saturday.

Climbers Hashimoto and Ernest Beck completed the Bulger List challenge in one season. The Bulger List challenge consists of climbers scaling the 100 highest mountains in Washington state. Hashimoto and Beck are just the third and fourth climbers to complete the challenge in a single season.

Hashimoto is a high school science teacher and coach at Ellensburg High School. He has been climbing mountains for almost 40 years.

Tickets for Hashimoto’s presentation cost $5 and can be purchased at www.yvmuseum.org.

More Easter events

Easter is Sunday. Here's an update on events in the Yakima Valley:

• Easter Egg Roll, 1-2 p.m. Saturday, Farmgirl Pickings, 2515 Main St., Union Gap. Egg roll, games and Easter fun. Bring the kids.

• Easter brunch, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday, Willow Café and Market, 3512 Tieton Drive, Suite 100. Coloring and crafts for kids and egg dyeing options.

• Easter EGGstraviganza, 11 a.m. Saturday, Christian Life Center, 716 N. 40th Ave. Easter celebration for the whole family, food, egg hunt, prizes and more.

• Easter Egg Hunt, 1 p.m. Saturday, Harrah City Park, Harrah Road and Branch Road. Age groups 2-4, 5-6, 7-8 and 9-10, 2,000 eggs and prize baskets for those who find a golden egg.

• Easter brunch, 9 a.m.-noon Sunday, Freehand Cellars, 420 Windy Point Drive, Wapato. Once-a-month brunch featuring an array of menu options. No reservations needed.

• Easter at Stone, 8:30, 9:45 and 11 a.m. Sunday, Yakima campus, 3303 Englewood Ave.; Selah Campus, 497 N. Wenas Road; and Lower Valley Campus, 913 Vantage Valley Parkway, Zillah. Easter gatherings featuring Easter activities for kids.