July 31–August 2in & around the Wisconsin Northwoods

The weekend's anchor, running Thursday through Sunday at Pioneer Park with free admission and free parking. Rides, animals, grandstand shows, fair food -- the whole thing. Friday's the wet day, so duck under the barns and buildings and save the midway for the weekend.

Second year for this one: twenty-plus hot-air balloons and an evening night glow at the Hodag grounds, Friday and Saturday, gates at 4. Ten dollars a person, kids free. Weather permitting the balloons are a genuinely magical thing to show the kids -- Saturday's the drier of the two nights.

Lakeside live music at Pipke Park in Presque Isle, Eric Mahler on the bill, roughly 5 to 7. A mellow Friday-evening option up north -- bring a chair and settle in by the water.

Straight-ahead Chicago blues with Westside Andy sitting in, at the Three Lakes Center for the Arts. Thirty-five dollars, ten for kids, and indoors -- a solid Friday night whatever the sky's doing.

Tomahawk's ski team puts on its free Saturday-night show off the shore at Deer Park -- pyramids, jumps, the works. They cancel for weather, so check their Facebook the day of before you pack the chairs.

The Saturday-morning farm and flea market in Tomahawk, from 8. Produce, makers, and the usual treasure-hunt tables -- an easy, cheap morning out.

Fair's final day lands on the one perfect-weather day of the weekend -- sunny and 80, barely a cloud. If Friday's rain scared you off, this is your window: free in, free to park, and the whole midway waiting. The best possible way to close out the weekend.