Although Champaign-Urbana may be many miles from a big city, there are still plenty of options for students looking to have an eventful weekend. With homecoming events, numerous performances and outdoor activities taking place this weekend, students looking for fun weekend events are in luck.

Thursday, Oct. 24 – Sunday, Oct. 27

Visit The Pottery Place

Located at 1808 Round Barn Road, Champaign, The Pottery Place is a local business that allows its customers to paint their own pottery, which is then fired and glazed for them and ready to be used in a few days.

Visitors can choose from a variety of ceramic dishware items to paint, said Emily Knox, The Pottery Place employee and senior in Applied Health Sciences. The dishware includes pieces that may appeal to children, such as animal banks, animal boxes and cupcake boxes, as well as Hello Kitty-, Iron Man-, and Snoopy-themed items. There are also pieces that may be interesting to adults, such as gardenware and kitchen items such as salt and pepper shakers, coasters and ornaments. There are also seasonal items, including items for Halloween.

After visitors choose their desired pieces and colors, they can then begin painting. The workers are available to help with painting techniques, mess-ups or questions. The process typically takes about 1.5 to 2 hours, Knox said.

“Just having confidence in yourself and knowing that you can do it, because everyone can paint pottery,” she said. “It doesn’t matter who it is; it’ll look good when it comes out.”

Once the pieces are finished being painted, The Pottery Place then fires and glazes them, with most pieces taking four days to finish. They are then ready for pickup, and because they are food safe, they may be used or displayed as wished.

Visitors will pay a studio fee, which includes the price of sitting, paints and firing the piece, Knox said. The studio fee is $7 for adults and $5 for kids. However, an adult and child are $10 together. Then, there’s the price of the piece, which ranges from $1 to about $65, with the average price around $10-12.

The Pottery Place can also accommodate groups, Knox said, from birthday parties and bridal showers to ladies’ nights out. Many campus sororities have even visited, Knox said.

“So many people come here on first dates,” she said. “People have been engaged here. The people that come in just love the store. It’s a really friendly and comfortable environment.”

Saturday, Oct. 26

Nick Offerman’s American Ham Tour

If someone is looking for a few laughs this coming weekend, Nick Offerman, best known for his character Ron Swanson on NBC’s “Parks and Recreation,” is bringing his stand-up comedy series to the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts.

The show, which starts at 7:30 p.m., consists of Offerman’s tips for how to live a great life, and is broken up into 10 parts, said Heidi Feigin, Offerman’s talent agent at United Talent.

“It’s kind of just words to live by; it’s very humorous,” she said. “Some are anecdotal stories about his own life, others are funny songs. It has a real theme and it’s very connected; it’s not necessarily just a traditional stand-up show where somebody’s up at a mic telling joke, punch line, joke, punch line. It’s kind of a very thought-out show which is packed with laughs and everything else.”

While the tour began with just college destinations, it has since expanded to include shows open to the general public. It has sold out twice at Town Hall in New York City and has been to other cities including Chicago, Milwaukee and Philadelphia, Feigin said.

Offerman, who is a University alumnus, is doing the show as a fundraiser for Japan House, and all of the proceeds will be donated, Feigin said.

Tickets are $30 for the public and $10 for students. They can be purchased online at the Krannert Center’s website or in person at the Krannert Center.

Thursday, Oct. 24, 2013 – Sunday, Oct. 27, 2013

Visit Curtis Orchard

For those who want to enjoy the outdoors and get into the spirit of fall and Halloween, Curtis Orchard & Pumpkin Patch, located at 3902 S. Duncan Road in Champaign, offers many options.

For starters, there’s the pumpkin patch, with pumpkins priced at 39 cents per pound.

“We’ve got several varieties out there,” said Sarah Graham, Curtis Orchard employee. “A lot of them are already cut … but there are still several on the vine. So, it gives that family or good date experience where you can go and pick your own pumpkin out, and we have several varieties to choose from. If you don’t like the traditional, you can find pink and blue and white. There’s something for everyone out there.”

On Saturday, the Orchard will have live entertainment by The Prairie Dogs, a bluegrass group, and on Sunday, Denny K, a country musician, will perform.

“We started branching out and doing different entertainers to get a different feel every weekend,” Graham said. “We’ve gotten great reviews on it. With the festivities that we have on the weekend, we try to make every weekend a festival.”

Visitors can also enjoy a petting zoo where they can feed goats, a pony and chickens. There is also a 2-acre corn maze that people of all ages take on and that takes about 20 to 25 minutes, Graham said.

For those who get hungry, Curtis Orchard features the Flying Monkey Café, where visitors can find “a lot of good home-style food,” Graham said, including pulled pork, Italian beef, homemade soup, chili, grilled hot dogs and brats, salads, homemade au gratin potatoes, homemade apple sauce and green beans.

There is also a gift store with a variety of gifts for visitors of different ages.

With products from 80 different companies, options include homemade apple crisp donuts and pies, including apple, cherry, peach and pumpkin. All items are made every day; homemade cider, syrup, jam, home décor items and honey also made right on the farm.

Other activities visitors can enjoy are wagon rides, miniature golf, a giant 30-foot slide and more.

There is no admission fee and individual activity prices vary.

Julia can be reached at [email protected].