Three-day weekend, and the leftover tropical moisture means the afternoons are a coin flip.

So the plan is built backwards from one thing that happens after dark: Saturday's drone show over the ballpark, the last home game night of the year.

There's also a $5 lake beach with no rip current and a BBQ joint on 301 that's been smoking since 2003.

Monday is Labor Day, no school, and the Bishop shuts Monday through Wednesday for cleaning, so the museum is a Saturday idea, not a Monday one.

This is a Saturday plan, and it ends late, so nobody naps in the car on the way down.

Start: the Village of the Arts Art Walk, 12th St W and 12th Ave W in Bradenton, about 30 minutes down 301 and across the river.

It only happens the first weekend of the month, and this is the first weekend.

Saturday hours are 11 to 4, it's free, and it's self-guided, which means you walk 36 acres of painted cottages and go in whichever doors are open.

Park on the side streets, walk the shade side of the block, and let the kids pick one thing under $20 to bring home.

Lunch: the Art Walk runs food and live music along with the galleries, so eat there and don't overthink it.

One warning for anyone who hasn't been since 2024: the taco shack everybody remembers closed that October, so don't go looking for it.

Then: you have two choices for the 1-to-4 heat window.

Choice one is The Bishop, 201 10th St W, up 10th St toward the river, open till 5 Saturday, with the manatee tank and the planetarium inside the ticket.

It's $25 an adult and $16 a kid, so a family of four is $82, and we'd rather say that plainly than have you find out at the desk.

Free street parking on 10th St W out front is good for three hours.

Choice two costs nothing: drive home, everybody naps, and you come back at 4:45.

Pick two if you have a kid under six, because the night runs long.

Dinner and the show: Marauders vs. Lakeland at LECOM Park, 1611 9th St W, a few blocks south of the Village.

Gates open at 5, first pitch 6:30, and when the last out lands, stay in your seat — the drone show runs over the field after the game.

It's Fan Appreciation Night too, so they're giving prizes away all game.

Three things the ballpark won't tell you until you're standing there: it's cashless, so bring a card; one sealed water bottle per person gets in; and Saturday parking is $5 in the outfield lot on 9th St W or $10 in the home plate lot.

Kids two and under are free on a lap, and everybody older pays the adult price.

Eat dinner in the stands, because that's the whole point of a ballpark.

This is the last Saturday night of baseball in Manatee County until spring training, and it has drones.

Get in the car, kids. Dad has a plan.

Wednesday's Marauders game got rained out, so Friday at LECOM Park is now a doubleheader: two seven-inning games, gates at 4:30, first pitch at 5, game two about 40 minutes after game one ends.

Friday's promo has every ticket at $9.41 and kids running the bases afterward, though the doubleheader got added Wednesday night, so confirm the promo held when you buy.

Parking is $5 in the outfield lot on Friday, and the ballpark is cashless.

If you only have one ballpark night in you this weekend, save it for Saturday's drone show, above.

The Village of the Arts opens its Art Walk Friday from 6 to 9:30 p.m., free, about 30 minutes.

Friday is the grown-up version with music and food; Saturday's 11-to-4 walk is the one with kids in it.

The Florida Railroad Museum, 12210 83rd St E right here in Parrish, runs the Willow Express at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

Ninety minutes round trip, rain or shine, with a stop at the Willow station to poke around the old cars.

Pumpkin Patch Express is already up on the museum's site for fall, so this is one of the last plain-old rides before the costumes start.

Ticket office runs Wednesday through Sunday, 10 to 4, at (941) 776-0906.

Marauders and Lakeland close the 2026 season Sunday at noon, and Sunday parking is free.

Noon is the little-kid game: home by 3:30, nobody's overtired, and you can say you saw the last pitch of the year.

Bring canned food for the F.E.L.T. drive at Guest Relations any game this week and they hand you a prize for it.

Tuesday was the deadline for the discounted i9 Sports rate, and it's gone.

The fall season still starts Sept 26 and runs seven Saturdays through Nov 7 — flag football, soccer, instructional baseball, and volleyball, PreK3 on up.

Registration is still open as of this week, and the price is now whatever the live page says, not the number you saw in August.

Call 941-312-2400 and ask two things: the current price for your kid's sport, and which park that sport plays at, because soccer lists at Tom Bennett Park and some sports don't.

No tryouts, no drafts, everybody plays.

Buffalo Creek Little League's fall ball is sold out with a waiting list, same story as last month, and it's still the phone, (830) 556-1805, not the website.

Here's the bigger picture: the county's $80 million indoor sports complex in Lakewood Ranch, the one with four hockey rinks, got put on hold Aug 25 after neighbors packed the commission chambers.

Commissioners want a different site picked by December.

That's a Lakewood Ranch fight, but every field the county doesn't build is another Parrish kid on a waiting list, so we're watching it.

Parrish Community plays at Bayshore in Bradenton, 7 p.m. Friday, about 30 minutes, and it's an away gate, so tickets are through GoFan like always.

Next home game is Friday, Sept 11 against Palm Harbor University, 7 p.m. at 7505 Ft Hamer Rd.

And a calendar note for the whole house: Monday is Labor Day, no school, no practice unless your coach says otherwise.

The Gulf beaches have an elevated rip-current risk this week from leftover storm swell, so here's the beach that doesn't.

Lake Manatee State Park, 20007 SR-64 E, about 30 minutes: down 301, east on 64, past the last subdivision.

$5 a car, open 8 a.m. to sunset, 365 days.

The swimming beach sits in the day-use area, there's no lifeguard, and the restroom with showers is right next to it, which is the detail that makes this work with a toddler.

The picnic area is under big oaks by the water, so there's real shade, and there's a playground.

Two things to know before you load the roof rack: no canoe or kayak rentals here, and boat motors have to be under 20 horsepower.

And no, you will not see a manatee — the dam that made the lake keeps them out, so the name is all you get.

Go at 8 when the gate opens, swim till the clouds build, eat in the oaks.

Park phone is 941-741-3028.

C and K Smokehouse, 12119 US-301 in Parrish, about 5 minutes, and it has been there since 2003.

Family-run: Carl works the smoker, Kimberly runs the room.

Ribs and pulled pork are the two things people come back for, and the family boxes — chicken, ribs, pork, big sides — are the move when you're feeding a crowd.

Our take: get it to go and eat it under the oaks at Lake Manatee, because a rack of ribs travels better than most things on 301.

Hours on paper are Tuesday through Saturday, 11 to 7, closed Sunday and Monday.

Those hours drift week to week, so call (941) 776-1440 before you get your hopes up.

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Ribs in the cooler, a $5 lake, and drones over a ballpark — the three-day weekend is handled.

Until next week — stay gritty, stay healthy, and keep Parrish strong.

— Greg.