Try This: Home & Garden Idea Fair; Hello Spring Community Fair

Green scene

The Home & Garden Idea Fair is 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday at the Clark County Event Center at the Fairgrounds, 17402 N.E. Delfel Road, Ridgefield, featuring 200 exhibitors specializing in home and garden improvement, as well as several nurseries. Tour model homes in the Energy Efficient Alternative Ways of Living area, see live demonstrations in the Power Zone, visit the EV Garage, Children’s Entrepreneur Market and Farmers Market. Admission is free, but donations to local food banks and Operation Warm Heart are welcome. Parking is $6 or catch the free shuttle from Fisher’s Landing or 99th Street transit stations. Get details at www.homeandgardenideafair.com.

Caffeine culture

The Vancouver Barracks Military Association presents “The U.S. Army’s Love Affair with Coffee,” at 6:30 p.m. today at O.O. Howard House, 750 Anderson St., Vancouver. Author and former local history teacher Jeff Dacus, a Marine Corps Reserve combat veteran, will discuss the origins of coffee drinking and the Army’s particular affection for this beverage, which began in the 1830s, when the Army gave soldiers a weekly ration of coffee and sugar. Over the decades, Army quartermasters searched for the cheapest yet still drinkable cup of coffee they could find. Register for this free program by emailing jddavis@rocketmail.com.

Choral classics

Touch of Class Chorale presents “Roots and Wings: Celebrating Our Musical Heritage.” The concert features folk songs (“Down to the River to Pray,” “Black is the Color of My True Love’s Hair”), classics from composers (Aaron Copland, John Rutter) and music in the Sacred Harp tradition (“Wondrous Love”). Concerts are 7 p.m. Saturday at Unitarian Universalist Church of Vancouver, 4511 E. 18th St., Vancouver; 7 p.m. May 3 at East Woods Presbyterian Church, 16210 N.E. 20th St., Vancouver; and 2 p.m. May 4 at Mill Plain United Methodist Church, 15804 S.E. Mill Plain Blvd., Vancouver. Tickets are $15 for adults, $10 for children 6-16 and free for children under 6. Learn more at touchofclasschorale.com.

Spring forward

Washougal’s Hello Spring Community Fair is noon to 2 p.m. Saturday at Hathaway Park, 732 25th St., Washougal. The Washougal School District’s Shoug Shack will provide free hot dog lunches. Kids can pick up a “passport to spring” and visit booths to answer multiple choice questions and get a stamp. After earning 10 stamps, kids can bring their passports to the City Hall booth for a prize.

Marches, Mercury and mist

The Westwinds Community Band presents “Melodic Adventures: A Tuneful Tour,” a free concert from 3 to 4 p.m. Saturday at Mill Plain United Methodist Church. The concert features marches by Sousa and Fillmore, a tribute to Henry Mancini, highlights from “The Music Man,” Gustav Holst’s Second Suite in F, and tunes that pay homage to Pacific Northwest weather. The band will also premiere “The Seal Lullaby,” based on Rudyard Kipling’s poem of the same name. Donations at the concert are welcome to support this all-volunteer group of local musicians.

… And more

For more details about these and other events — like the Vancouver Symphony’s Chamber Music Series presentation of Charlie Chaplin’s “The Kid,” Gorge Artists Open Studios Tour and free pipe organ concert at First Presbyterian Church — visit events.columbian.com.