The Caravan du Nord, sponsored by 89.3 The Current, is coming back to Austin this Saturday with a familiar face.

Reina del Cid highlights this annual tour after swinging through in 2015 with the Caravan.

This year, the stop is the first of a six-city series that includes stops in Faribault, Detroit Lakes, Red Wing, Moohead and Mankato.

This annual event, an ongoing project of the Minnesota Music Coalition, has presented more than 200 artists during its time.

The Caravan will be opened with Mary Sullivan and Whalen & the Willows.

Tickets are $10 and are now on sale. Show stars at 7:30 p.m.

For more information, visit www.austinareaarts.org

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Annual Fall Used Book Sale

Looking for your next read, then swing by the Austin Public LIbrary from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday for the Friends of the Austin Public Library’s annual book sale. The book sale will also run through Saturday, again 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Money raised from this sale goes to benefit the library and its programs.

For more information, call 1-507-433-2391.

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Bruins in town

The Austin Bruins open up their home schedule Friday and Saturday night when they host the Aberdeen Wings at 7 p.m. each night.

For more information, visit www.austinbruins.com.

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Schedule of Events

Friday

• Annual Fall Used Book Sale, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Austin Public Library. The Friends of the Austin Public Library host this annual fundraising event, with the proceeds benefiting the Austin Public Library and supporting its mission to connect people with resources that foster literacy, equity and community in a safe, comfortable space.

• “Wilson’s Girl: Unpacking the Beef in a Minnesota Town,” 7 p.m. at Austin West Cafeteria, Riveland Community College. In this world premiere, local Minnesota playwright Eva Barr adapts Cheri Register’s 2001 memoir about coming of age in Albert Lea during the 1959 Wilson’s meatpacking plant strike. The play spans the inciting moments of the strike to the violence and divisiveness that resulted, but it is Register’s personal awakening to the meaning of class in her life as the daughter of a blue collar worker that provides the universal hook. As Register’s grandfather might have put it, class is one of those “disquieting” subjects that applies to us all. In a first for Riverland Theatre, this play will be performed in nontraditional spaces on both the Austin and Albert Lea campuses. Tickets at www.riverland.edu/tickets.

Saturday

• Austin Masonic Lodge All-You-Can-Eat Pancake Feed, 9 a.m. to noon. All you can eat pancakes, bacon, sausage, juice, milk and coffee for only $5, with proceeds benefiting the Austin High School choirs.

• Austin Audubon Bird Seed Festival, 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Jay C. Hormel Nature Center. The Austin Audubon is hosting its first Bird Seed Festival at the Nature Center. Audubon volunteers will host activities all over the property for kids and families to experience together in this fun filled, festival/fundraiser. Don’t forget to buy your bird seed for the upcoming winter. Sponsored by Austin Audubon.  For more information, go to www.hormelnaturecenter.org or call 507-437-7519.

• Annual Fall Used Book Sale, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Austin Public Library. For more information, call 507-433-2391.

• “Wilson’s Girl: Unpacking the Beef in a Minnesota Town,” 7 p.m. at Austin West Cafeteria, Riveland Community College. Tickets at www.riverland.edu/tickets.

• Austin Bruins vs. Aberdeen Wings, 7 p.m. at Riverside Arena. Home opening game for our Bruins – Go, Bruins!  Tickets available at Hy-Vee, Holiday Inn, Games People Play, Jim’s Marketplace and Riverside Arena. For more information, go to www.austinbruins.com.

• Caravan du Nord – Reina del Cid, 7:30 p.m. at the Historic Paramount Theatre. Rocking at the intersection of lyrical storytelling and catchy riffs. Sponsored by 89.3 the Current. Tickets $10, on sale now. For more information or for tickets, go to www.austinareaarts.org or call 507-434-0934.

• Sola Fide Observatory Viewing, 8 p.m. at Sola Fide Observatory. Come out and discover fascinating facts about the night sky during our free observatory open house hours. For more information, call 507-437-7519 or email info@hormelnaturecenter.org.