Saturday In The Sunset: Swordplay, Shakespeare and Golden Gate Park Cleanup

Ready to start thinking about the weekend? Here's a heads-up for weekend events to help you get through the final throes of the work week. Come Saturday, you'll be able time-travel from medieval times to the Elizabethan era, or explore a new exhibit at the de Young that turns found objects into maps that peer into San Francisco's heart and soul.

To start with, join the Alvord Lake Task Force from 9am to noon to spruce up the eastern entrance to Golden Gate Park. Light refreshments will be provided for volunteers who’ll take on a “wide range of gardening tasks.” Long pants, layers and closed-toe shoes are advised.

Volunteers will meet up at Stanyan & Haight; to RSVP, send a note to [email protected]. (For background on the history of the Alvord Lake Bridge to get you inspired, go here.)

Belegarth Medieval Combat Society

Next, join the hordes at the Grey Haven Practice in Hellman Hollow at 11am, where members of the Belegarth Medieval Combat Society will practice their swordsmanship (foam rubber only).

According to organizers, Belegarth “is a live-action battlegame organization devoted to simulating Dark Age and medieval combat.” The battle commences at 11am; costumes are encouraged, but not required.

If the Elizabethan area is more your speed, Incarnation Episcopal Church is staging a production of Shakespeare’s "As You Like It” at 2pm on Saturday. As part of the San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, this abridged 55-minute production will be followed by an audience Q & A.

Admission is $15 for the general public, $12 for seniors and students. Incarnation Episcopal is located at 1750 29th Ave.

via de Young Museum

On Saturday from 3pm-5pm, The de Young Museum is hosting a reception for Artist-in-Residence Lauren Bartone to promote A City in Maps, her art project that focuses “on how San Francisco, Golden Gate Park, and the de Young Museum can be represented through a repurposing of discarded paper trash."

Bartone uses found material to create experimental maps that explore and reveal “the diverse and layered social experience” of visitors. The reception will be held at the de Young’s Kimball Education Gallery/Artist Studio and will include light refreshments. The museum’s $10 general admission fee will get you in, and also afford you a view of the city from the observation tower.

Good luck getting through your Friday, readers, and we'll see you on the other end.