ART FEST: Located at the base of the Santa Catalina Mountains is an Epicurean feast for the senses called ArtFest '96. Billed as a "civic celebration of fine art, food and entertainment," the festival is like the Fourth Avenue Street Fair and Tucson Meet Yourself rolled into one sprawling sea of fun. ArtFest hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, March 16 and 17, at Rillito Park, River Road and First Avenue. Admission and parking are free. Downtown Saturday Night: The theme of the scene is definitely green in the Arts District tonight, with a Celtic music and dance festival from 7 to 10 p.m. in the Ronstadt Transit Center, featuring the Hot Desert Love Toads, Irish pipers, Morris dancers and others. Catacoustic Groove jazzes up Arizona Avenue south of Broadway starting at 7:30 p.m.; and Anna Duff and Stefan George perform the music of the isles on guitar and hammered dulcimer from 7 to 10 p.m. in Fourth Avenue's Winsett Park. Catch the late night movie, Le Samourai, at The Screening Room, 127 E. Congress St., after touring your favorite downtown galleries, shops and cafés. Call 624-9977 for event information. PADDY'S PARADE: Sister Charlotte Anne Swift and former Congressman Jim McNulty are this year's grand marshals in the peace-themed annual St. Patrick's Day Parade, starting at 11 a.m. Sunday, March 17, at 17th Street and Stone Avenue. Parade route winds around downtown Tucson to Armory Park on Sixth Avenue and 13th Street, where a day-long Irish music festival follows. Sixth Avenue will be closed to allow pedestrian traffic between Armory Park and the Children's Museum, where the Children's Fair gathers from noon to 6 p.m. All events are free. Call 620-6353 for information. HEMP, HEMP HOORAY: Dispel the myths surrounding the scapegoated Cannabis sativa fiber, commonly known as hemp, by participating in this day-long celebration of one of America's oldest and most misunderstood natural resources. Crucial Creation's, manufacturer of hemp apparel, sponsors today's sampling of hemp foods, guest speakers, fashion show and "hemp museum" display. Doors open at 6 p.m., with a screening of the documentary film The Hemp Revolution at 7 p.m., at the Buena Vista Theater, 251 S. Wilmot Road. Seven bucks at the door covers all. Call 682-0725 for information. DIVINE INTERVENTION: deTraci Regula discusses and signs copies of her practical reference guide to Goddess worship, Mysteries of Isis: Her Worship and Magick, at 1 p.m. Sunday, March 17, at Rainbow Moods bookstore, 3532 E. Grant Road. Call 326-9643 for information.

		© 1995-97 Tucson Weekly . Info Booth