Some Detroiters regard DALLY IN THE ALLEY as the first sign of autumn in the city’s Cass Corridor. Others see it as a chance to extend summer festival season by a week. Either way, the neighborhood celebration and the inventive posters created each year to promote it have become Detroit institutions over the years. Held since 1977 on the first Saturday after Labor Day, the all-day Dally features local music on multiple stages, food vendors, and artists and artisans selling everything from jewelry to crafts to T-shirts. More than 30 musical acts are on board for this year’s festival, and the eclectic lineup includes Mr. Drew, WIG Detroit, Mexican Knives, Alexyn Wundrland, Fyiah and Telephon9. Food vendors include the Nosh Pit, Majestic Café, Union Street and Detroit Shrimp and Fish. Dally in the Alley is presented by the North Cass Community Union, and proceeds from the event are used for neighborhood improvement projects.

11 a.m.-11 p.m. Saturday, in the Cass Corridor between Forest & Hancock and Second Avenue & Anthony Wayne, Detroit. https://dallyinthealley.com/. Free.

“More arts, more apples and more music.” That’s what organizers are promising for the 53rd edition of the ART & APPLES FESTIVAL, opening Friday at Rochester Municipal Park. The welcome-to-autumn fine-art fair at the 30-acre park features the work nearly 300 artists from across the U.S. and food vendors offering everything from nuts to wood-fired pizzas to apple sweet treats like pies, crepes and fritters. New this year are cider and doughnuts from Blake Farms Apple Orchard in Armada. The festival includes an art zone for the kiddies and an entertainment lineup that includes the Sheila Landis Trio (jazz and top 40), Denise Davis & the Motor City Sensations (Motown hits) and the Legend Brothers, a tribute act that performs hits by everyone from Elvis to the Rat Pack. Art & Apples is presented by the Paint Creek Center for the Arts.

4-7:30 p.m. Friday, 9 a.m.-7:30 p.m. Saturday, 9 a.m.- 4 p.m., Rochester Municipal Park, downtown Rochester.http://www.pccart.org/festival/. $5 suggested donation.

Celebrations of all things Irish know no season in metro Detroit. For the third year in a row, Berkley is ushering in autumn with the COUNTY OAKLAND IRISH FEST on Friday night and Saturday. Artisans and vendors will line 12 Mile Road between Wakefield and Tyler, and live music and Irish dancing will be showcased on two stages. Among the acts performing: Finvarra’s Wren, Bill Grogan’s Goat and the Codgers. Kiddies can make crafts and embark on a scavenger hunt from the children’s tent (11 a.m.-7 p.m. Saturday), and kilt-wearing men can enter a best legs contest. Saturday morning’s Celtic Warrior Run, which includes 5K and 1-mile events, starts and finishes at the festival beer tent at 12 Mile and Robina. You can register at https://celticwarriorrun.com/.

5-11:30 p.m. Friday, 11 a.m.-11:30 p.m. Saturday, downtown Berkley.https://countyoaklandirishfest.org/.



The 10th edition of the Northville Art Houses’s “WEST OF CENTER JURIED ALL-MEDIA EXHIBTION” opens Friday for a three-week run. The featured works — everything from paintings and drawings to digital art and video — take a fresh approach to traditional art forms. Expect boldness and striking imagery. The 38 works from 28 artists were juried by Jeff Cancelosi, head of the exhibitions committee at the Detroit Artists Market. He’ll be on hand to give a juror’s talk during the opening reception starting at 6 p.m. Friday.

Regular hours: noon-5 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, noon-4 p.m. Saturday, Northville Art House. 248-344-0497.http://northvillearthouse.org/.

Ada Lovelace, an English writer and mathematician and the daughter of amorous poet Lord Byron, died in 1852, yet she’s credited today with writing the first computer program. If that premise intrigues you, you’ll want to check out “ADA AND THE ENGINE,” the season-opening production at Trenton’s Open Book Theatre. The 2015 drama is by up-and-coming young playwright Lauren Gunderson, whose “Emilie: La Marquise Du Chatelet Defends Her Life Tonight,” about a celebrated 18th-Century physicist, was staged last season by Open Book. “Ada dreams of the future. She sees it, and unfortunately never gets to live it,” says Krista Schafer Ewbank, who’s directing the Open Book production. Ewbank promises to deliver a play “full of love, longing, dysfunctional family dynamics and some biting British wit.”

Opens at 8 p.m. Friday and continues through Oct. 6, Open Book Theatre, Trenton. 734-288-7753.http://openbooktheatrecompany.net/. $25, $20 seniors, $15 students, $30 on opening night.

After 29 years at the Jewish Community Center in West Bloomfield, JEWISH ENSEMBLE THEATRE has found a new home. The location remains a secret for now, but all will be revealed Thursday night at the company’s annual gala at Temple Israel. JET will also reveal its lineup for the 2018-19 season at the event, a fund-raiser for its youth outreach programs. Enlivening the proceedings will be the Capitol Steps, the venerable political satire troupe best known in these parts for its Fourth of July visits to Ann Arbor. Its latest CD, “Make America Grin Again,” has some comic fun with Stormy Daniels, North Korea, Hillary Clinton and Vice President Mike Pence.

6-9 p.m. Thursday, Temple Israel, West Bloomfield. 248-788-2900.https://www.jettheatre.org/. $75 (includes dessert), $35 for ages 35 and younger. Patron tickets, $180, include strolling dinner, dessert and premium seating for the Capitol Steps.

PAUL ZENIAN, active in the world of art since the 1960s, is showcasing his wide-ranging body of work in an exhibit to benefit the Dearborn Community Arts Council and the city’s Padzieski Art Gallery. The New York City native began his career as a physicist before he began pursuing art at Detroit’s Society of Arts and Crafts, Wayne State University and the University of Michigan. His work is included in various local, regional and national collections. Zenian has worked as an art instructor at U-M and Washtenaw Community College, and his sculpture “Gateless Gateway” graces the plaza at WCC. A large percentage of sales from the current exhibit will benefit the DCAC and the Padzieski gallery.

Opening reception is 6-8 p.m. Friday, Padzieski Art Gallery in the Ford Community & Performing Arts Center, Dearborn. Regular gallery hours are noon-6 p.m. Tuesday-Friday. 313-943-3095.http://dcacarts.org/.

Eager to learn about a part of Detroit known as Little Venice? Curious to see an unusual office once used by Jimmy Hoffa? Intrigued by the idea of visiting a vault filled with the cremated remains of once-prominent city residents or a vacant shop that helped launch the careers of some of Detroit’s hip-hop stars? If so, you’re a good fit for Saturday’s DETROIT: YOU’RE SO UNUSUAL BUS TOUR. Presented by Detoit Tours, the five-hour sojourn bypasses familiar attractions like the Spirit of Detroit and the Joe Louis fist and ventures out into the city’s neighborhoods to explore some unfamiliar sites that are cool, curious and downright creepy. The tour will be conducted by local historian Marion Miele Christiansen.

Bus departs at noon Saturday from the Eastern Market office at the corner of Russell and Wilkins streets in Detroit. 313-757-1283.https://citytourdetroit.com/. $55.

— Greg Crawford, Detroit Free Press