The 16th annual Gourmet Food Auction will be on Friday evening at Wedgewood Cove Golf Club in Albert Lea.

The auction is a fundraiser for the Albert Lea-Freeborn County Chamber of Commerce and the Big Island Rendezvous Education Days.

Funds go toward community projects of the chamber and for bringing in re-enactors for students to experience, as well as subsidizing classes that would otherwise be unable to experience the Big Island Rendezvous Education Days.

During the event, food will be served by many local individuals and restaurants for people to sample. There will also be both silent and live auctions throughout the evening.

Tickets are $20 each or two for $35. A table of 10 may be purchased for $160. To make reservations call the chamber office at 373-3938. The event begins at 5 p.m.

The Gourmet Food Auction has raised more than $60,000 throughout the years, with more than $12,000 raised at last year’s event alone.

The following is a roundup of other events taking place this weekend:

 

Friday

• The Albert Lea Art Center All-Member Show will be open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 226 W. Clark St.

The “Going Places” art exhibit will be open from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Freeborn County Arts Initiative, 224 S. Broadway.

• An American Red Cross blood drive will be from 1 to 6 p.m. at Hollandale Reformed Church in Hollandale.

• A benefit for Sawyer Rose Ackland will be from 4 to 7 p.m. at Trinity Lutheran Church, 501 S. Washington Ave. The benefit includes a spaghetti dinner, a bake sale and a silent auction.

Suggested donation is $7 per plate.

Sawyer Rose Ackland, the daughter of Cindy Johnson and John Ackland, was diagnosed with infantile hemangiopericytoma on Oct. 2 after the removal of what was thought to have been an epidermal cyst.

On Oct. 4, she suffered a seizure, a high fever and a high heart rate and was airlifted to St. Marys Hospital.

On Oct. 30 she had a second operation, which found more tumors and cells that had widely spread.

The benefit will assist the child’s family with past and future costs associated with medical treatments.

Donations may be sent to Produce State Bank, c/o Sawyer Ackland Benefit.

• The Albert Lea Youth Hockey Association Burger Night will be from 5:30 to 8 p.m. at Green Lea Golf Course, 101 E. Richway Dr. Cost is $7.50 per basket.

 

Saturday

• The Albert Lea Art Center All-Member Show will be open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 226 W. Clark St.

• A Fit for Kids event for children 5 and under and their parents will take place from 10 to 11:30 a.m. at Northbridge Mall. Get muscles working and chase away the winter ho-hums with this fun parent-child activity. Each week brings a new theme: Parachute play, an obstacle course, ball play and yoga adventures.

• Giacomo Puccini’s final opera set in China will be broadcast live from the Metropolitan Opera on Saturday to the Marion Ross Performing Arts Center.

This performance will feature dramatic soprano Nina Stemme in her first Met performance as the titular ice princess, Princess Turandot,  and Anita Hartig, singing the role of the angelic slave girl Liù. Marco Berti sings Calàf, the suitor who risks his head for Turandot’s hand. Alexander Tsymbalyuk sings the role of the disguised King of Tartary, Timur. Paolo Carignani conducts Franco Zeffirelli’s visually stunning 1987 production.

Turandot is a story of a proud, chase and vengeful  daughter of an emperor who will marry any suitor of royal blood who can answer her three riddles. If they fail, they are beheaded. Twenty-six have failed already. If they succeed in answering the riddles, not only will they win the princess but also the throne of China.

Turandot is Puccini’s final opera that was unfinished at the time of his death in 1924. His music appeals to the people with lovely, sensuous melody, easy to follow plots, mastery of the stage, sentimentality, skilled orchestration, and movement.

Running time for the opera is three hours and 30 minutes.

An opera talk, “Meet the Met,” will occur in the theater at 11:30 a.m. prior to the opera start at 11:55 a.m. Information on the singers and the opera will be given.

General tickets for each opera are $20 for adults and $12 for students under 30. A “5 Opera Flex Ticket” is available for $90.

• The “Going Places” art exhibit will be open from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Freeborn County Arts Initiative, 224 S. Broadway

 

Sunday

• The Honor Guard Benefit Breakfast will be from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the American Legion, 142 N. Broadway. Menu includes pancakes, sausage, fruit cup, potatoes and scrambled eggs, juice and coffee.

Cost is $7.50. Proceeds benefit the honor guard.

• The Arc of Freeborn County will host a Belgian waffles breakfast from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at First Lutheran Church, 301 W. Clark St. in Albert Lea.

Cost is $8 for adults. $6 for children ages 6 to 12, and free for children ages 5 and under.

Proceeds go to help programs for people with developmental disabilities.

Tickets are available at the Albert Lea Convention & Visitors Bureau.