The STA-BIL Nationals are not so much a race as the ultimate suburban fantasy. Imagine yourself relaxing in a hammock, waving encouragingly as your teenager zooms around the lawn on the world’s fastest mower. The Dixie Chopper, with its 150-horsepower jet engine, tops out at 65 m.p.h. and can mow an entire football field in 14.2 minutes. Forty-five similarly souped-up (but blade-less) mowers are scheduled to drag at the Rockford “On the Waterfront” festival. The fifth annual STA-BIL Nationals — named “Worst New Sport of 1992” by Parade magazine — will donate proceeds to fight Lou Gehrig’s Disease (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis). The race, at the $8 festival ($6 for kids), runs from 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Saturday. Call 847-729-7363.
– Steve Knopper
LOVE OF LABOR
Don’t worry: A celebration of labor doesn’t mean giant computer-terminal statues or rousing songs about paper clips. Just the usual inspirational doo-wop hymns and patriotic ditties. The new “Laborfest,” an all-day event sponsored by the Chicago Federation of Labor, opens with patriotic music, then runs through a rally with short speeches, a Navy Pier Pops Orchestra performance and a show by the the cast of “Forever Plaid.” It begins at 10 a.m. Monday at Navy Pier and lasts until 5 p.m. Call 312-222-1000.
– Steve Knopper
THOU SHALT . . . WATCH TV
Listen up, cinephiles. It’s your last chance to see the truly amazing “Decalogue,” the late Krzysztof Kieslowski’s 10-part series of short films based on The Ten Commandments. Recognized by many film critics as an international masterpiece, these films are not on videotape, so get your TV-watching self over to the Film Center of the Art Institute this weekend to see them on the big screen. Phone 312-443-3733 for details.
– John Petrakis
STEP BY STEP
Steppin’: A stylized two-step gracefully performed with attitude.
Steppers: Persons performing this dance.
Combine the two, add some music and large cash prizes and you have the seventh annual World’s Largest Steppers Contest. The contest, presented by WVAZ-FM 102.7, will be emceed by radio Hall of Famer Herb Kent and radio personalities John Monds and Bonnie DeShong. It will be held Friday in the Sheraton Hotel’s Grand Ballroom, 301 E. North Water St. Doors open at 6 p.m. Tickets are $20 and can be purchased through Ticketmaster, 312-559-1212; for information, call 312-360-9060.
– Shirley Henderson
