Weekend: Fun with Women's History Month and the great outdoors

It’s Women’s History Month, the most wondrous time of the year. Thirty-one days when the limelight is off men and the gals get a little spin in the boss’s chair.

They’ve come a long way, baby, at least in terms of cigarettes tailored to their needs. They even swept all the nominations in this year’s Oscars best actress and best supporting actress categories.

And now Women in History get theme rights to this evening’s First Fridays in Bixby Knolls music and arts fest along Atlantic Avenue twixt Bixby Road and San Antonio Drive.

Is this the greatest edition of First Fridays yet? No, it is not, but as our license plate holder says, “the worst First Fridays in Bixby Knolls is better than my best day at work.” It’s a pretty big license plate holder, but it gets the job done.

Highlights are a meet and greet with former State Sen. Betty Kaette, one of our all-time favorite politicians. The distaffers at Recreational Fitness will be dolled up as their favorite women in history; the Better Half Boutique will host a Rosie the Riveter coloring activity for kids (Rosie the Riveter being to Women’s History Month as George Washington Carver is to Black History Month); and EJ Malloy’s makes drinking fun again with a special menu of cocktails named after favorite women in history. The fun starts at about 6:30 p.m. and goes till 9:30, when the fun ends. Sorry.

Go fish!

Get out much? If you do, whether it’s to fish, hunt, putter around in a motorboat or just camp out at you local state park, there’s something for you to try or buy at the aual retu of the Fred Hall Show, going on now and continuing through Sunday at the Long Beach Convention Center.

It used to be just a nice little show called the Fred Hall Fishing and Tackle Show, but today it’s “the biggest fishing, hunting, boating, outdoor travel, outdoor recreational event of the year!” And they ain’t hardly lying.

It’s got literally everything. There’s even a guy there who sells worms, and then it goes all the way up to ferocious turbo-charged bass boats what gets you to where them lunkers are in a hurry before the Stephens boys git there.

Plus all maer of exhibits and fun, a dog-jumping competition, a family archery shooting range, casting lessons for the kids, diving demos, a trout fishin’ pond, rubber-duck races and cooking lessons.

Hours are 1 to 9 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Saturday; and 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday.

Admission is $16 for adults; kids under 16 get in free with a paying adult.