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You can go fast, or just bop and fiddle around with entertainment offerings on this weekend before the Fourth:
— Clubs that are just opening or have recently opened can opt to open with events particular to them, in Saturday’s case the E-Rat-Icate Cancer Cruise, which starts at Not Justa Bar in Bayport and travels throughout the day through the scenic St. Croix and Mississippi River Valleys, down to Wabasha, Minn. and back. The event, which benefits the fight against adult and childhood cancer, has among its more than a dozen regional co-sponsors the just opening Big Guys BBQ Roadhouse north of Hudson. The cruise honors the lives of former Valley residents Donald Johnson and Mike Quast. At 8 a.m. is registration and breakfast at Not Justa Bar, followed by the cruise itself — which can include rat rods, hot rods, bikes, classics and customs — at 10 a.m.
— The Tin Pan Alley Cats, founded by Doug Johnson who is a professor emeritus of art at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls, plays 8 p.m. to closing on Friday, June 26 at Juniors in River Falls. The group offers “swinging jazz music from western Wisconsin” that includes trumpet and tenor sax, as well as the styles of Bossa, blues and be-bop.
— Even though this is not a county fair or street dance, which the country-leaning band Smokescreen says are their favorite venue types, they will be bringing the “fiddle into overdrive” when they play the Smilin’ Moose on Friday night. And that fiddle-playin’ band is more than just tapping into Charlie Daniels, based on their play list, they may even kick it with some Metallica!

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