It’s September, which means before you know it, we will all be wearing snow boots, winter parkas, and mittens.

Let’s hold on to summer a bit longer by enjoying all St. Louis has to offer this weekend – well, at least the top 5.

1. Art Fair St. Louis

The Saint Louis Art Fair (SLAF) is a free, three-day celebration of the visual and performing arts. The Art Fair will be held on September 5, 6 & 7 2014 in Clayton’s central business district. The main focus is an easy-access juried exhibition of gallery quality fine art and craft with exhibiting artist. The Art Fair presents live performances, hands on activities for children, and showcases some of St. Louis’ top restaurants.  

Find a list of the performances here and download the entire program here.

Location: 7818 Forsyth Blvd, Clayton, MO 63105

2. Schlafly Art Outside

Now in its 11th year, Schlafly Art Outside is a three-day-long (September 5, 6 & 7 2014) juried alternative art fair featuring art from over 50 artists based here in the St. Louis area. Come and show your support for local art and local beer.  Art Outside is not an ordinary fair, but one that features quality art, music, and plenty of tasty food and drink from Schlafly Beer. Hosted at the brewery’s Bottleworks location in Maplewood, Missouri, Art Outside draws approximately 15,000 visitors each year.

Click here to check out the Outside artist’s gallery and here to see a full list of performances.

Location: 7260 Southwest Ave, St Louis, MO 63143

3. Contemporary Art Museum’s Kick Off of the Fall Season with Mel Chin, Mark Flood, and Carla Klein

Get up close and personal with the work of three exceptional artists as the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis opens its fall exhibition. Houston conceptual artist Mel Chin presents Rematch, an in-depth, fascinating selection of his unclassifiable, multimedia work, which has popped up in the most unlikely of places, including toxic landfills, demolished houses and the Melrose Place TV show. Also hailing from Houston, artist Mark Flood‘s Another Painting series injects capitalism’s foremost corporate logos with a healthy dash of wry irony, and his “imperative stencil series” is a satirical take on consumerism and corporate messaging. Dutch painter Carla Klein‘s aqueous blue-gray palette overtakes the Museum’s sixty-foot-long project wall with a series of desolate, large-scale “non-places” landscapes. All three exhibits open with a free reception from 7 to 9 p.m. Friday, September 5, at Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis. Chin’s work remains up through Saturday, December 20. Flood and Klein’s art is on display through Saturday, January 3, 2015. The gallery is open Wednesday through Saturday, and admission is free courtesy of the Gateway Foundation.

Location: 3750 Washington Blvd, St Louis, MO 63108

4. City of Chesterfield Movies Under the Stars: “The Lego Movie”

What better way to spend a summer evening than watching a movie…under the stars! Bring the family for this great event that is returning for its fifth year. There is a combination of fixed seating and lawn seating . If you would like to stretch out on the lawn then don’t forget your blankets. You may bring your own refreshments (please, no glass bottles) and the concession stand will be open! All movies begin at dusk.

Friday, Sept. 5, Movies Under the Stars presents “The Lego Movie,” which is a 2014 computer animated adventure comedy film directed and co-written by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, and starring the voices of Chris Pratt, Will Ferrell, Elizabeth Banks, Will Arnett, Nick Offerman, Alison Brie, Charlie Day, Liam Neeson, and Morgan Freeman. It is the first film produced by Warner Animation Group. Based on the Lego line of construction toys, the film tells the story of Emmet (Pratt), an ordinary Lego mini-figure prophesied to save the universe from the tyrannical Lord Business (Ferrell).

Location*:

Take Highway 40/64 West to the second Chesterfield Parkway exit (exit 19A). Turn right at the end of the exit ramp. Make your first left at the light onto Swingley Ridge Road. Take the first right into the City Hall parking lot.

From the west (St. Charles County, etc.)

Take Highway 40/64 East to the first Chesterfield Parkway exit (exit 19A). Turn left at the end of the exit ramp. Make your first left at the light onto the Chesterfield Parkway. Take a left at the second light onto Swingley Ridge Road, and then take the first right into the City Hall parking lot.

*Google Maps and MapQuest has the lists the incorrect address.

5. LouFest

From the RFT Best of St. Louis 2013: One would be hard-pressed to attempt to justify any other local festival’s placement above this year’s LouFest — the sheer size and scope of the event easily place it in the top spot. The homegrown festival, founded by St. Louisan Brian Cohen, teamed up this year with C3 Presents, a promotion company best known for putting on Lollapalooza and Austin City Limits. The partnership resulted in an affair that was expanded in every way: More stages, bigger bands and bigger crowds pushed the event over the top, coming to life as the destination festival it is meant to be.

Some of the performances this year include: Outkast, Arctic Monkeys, Cake, Grouplove, Matt & Kim, the 1975, and many more.

See the full lineup here.

Location: Forest Park, St. Louis

Christina Chastain
Marketing and Strategic Partnerships Coordinator