March has brought much joy to our community, including unseasonably warm weather and Austin High boy’s basketball team going to the State Tournament for the first time in 30 years.

The Austin Area Commission for the Arts would like to continue spreading the joy with two fantastic events. Friday, March 30, we will present Lou and Peter Berryman in partnership with the Austin Public Library. Lou and Peter have been performing together for more than 35 years, and have appeared on Garrison Keillor’s “A Prairie Home Companion.”

This event is free and was funded in part or in whole with money from Minnesota’s Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund. For more information about Lou and Peter, visit their website at louandpeter.com. The following evening, on March 31, we will present two St. Cloud-based bands, The Fabulous Armadillos and Collective Unconscious, as they combine talents to perform The Eagles’ greatest hits in “Takin’ It to the Limit.”

The Fabulous Armadillos have become one of the most popular acts in Central Minnesota, and Collective Unconscious has packed houses throughout Minnesota with their jam-based acoustic and electric music. This show has already fostered much buzz around Austin, and even greater Minnesota. When Lynn Gottwalt, the Traffic Manager at Itineraries Midwest magazine in St. Cloud, saw that we are presenting these bands at the Paramount in Austin, she sent an email to say, “These guys are fantastic. Especially if you or anyone you know is an Eagles fan — you will be thrilled with this concert. I have seen the show … and I can’t say enough good about them. This is well worth the $15.”

For more information about the bands visit fabulousarmadillos.com and collectiveunconscious.net. Tickets can be purchased online at paramounttheatre.org or by calling 434-0934.