Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, June 8, 1990                   TAG: 9006080637
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: E-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JOE KENNEDY
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

TIPOFF

Jim Fowler of television's "Wild Kingdom" will speak in the amphitheater at the mountaintop zoo Saturday afternoon at 1 and 3. Dr. John Becker, executive director of the International Society for Endangered Cats, will speak Sunday afternoon at 2.

Food, music, crafts and educational displays and programs will be featured, as well.

Free buses will run from Victory Stadium to the zoo, where parking is limited. Ordinarily open at 10 a.m., the zoo will open at 8 Saturday morning so visitors can see the animals when they are active and being fed.

Admission is $2.75 for adults, $1.75 for children younger than 12. Children younger than 2 are admitted free. Twenty-five cents of each admission will be donated to the World Wildlife Fund.

For information, call 343-3241.\

OPENING THE POPS: The Roanoke Symphony begins its latest Picnic with the Pops warm-weather series with a concert Saturday evening at 6:30 at the Salem Civic Center.

Harry Ellis Dickson, associate conductor laureate of the Boston Pops, will conduct.

C&P Telephone is underwriting the event. Ticket information is available at 375-3004.\

FESTIVAL COUNTRY: Blacksburg's Historic Festival will be Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Smithfield Plantation. It will feature activities and craft demonstrations representing 18th- and 19th-century life in the area, plus a tour of historic homes in the Ellett and North Fork valleys.

Puppet shows, storytelling and other activities will be presented, too.

For information, call 961-1135.

The Eagle Rock Festival begins with a saw-cutting contest for non-professionals at 8 Saturday morning and continues all day with a horse pull, a tractor pull and other exotica. The parade will be at 6 that night, a street dance from 8 to midnight and fireworks at 10 p.m. Plus lots more.\

ON THE MOVE: The American Dance Theater's "Lost Luggage" will be presented tonight and Saturday night at 8 at Lime Kiln Theater near Lexington.

It's part of the theater's American Movement Festival. It includes music from Duke Ellington, Bobby McFerrin and Marvin Gaye, among others, and features dancers Michael Kessler and Melinda Jackson, who just happen to have been winners on television's "Star Search."

Tickets are $12.

The Bobs, an a capella group from San Francisco, will perform at the Kiln Sunday night at 8. Tickets are $14.

Hammer dulcimer player John McCutcheon will play at Lime Kiln Wednesday night at 8. The Wednesday concerts are held on the lawn, so bring a blanket or chair, or sit on the grass.

Tickets are $12.

For information about these events call 463-7088.

ACTING OUT: Sundays in the Park with the Acting Company of Roanoke starts its fourth season Sunday evening at 6 at the Highland Park amphitheater with a cast reading of Tom Cole's "Medal of Honor Rag."

The play concerns a Vietnam veteran's reaction to winning the Congressional Medal of Honor.

A blanket and a picnic basket, preferably filled with food, are recommended to make the experience complete.

By the way, the Acting Company's production of "Baby with the Bathwater" winds up tonight and Saturday night at the Iroquois Club in Roanoke with shows at 8 o'clock.\

LIFE'S A BEACH: "Hot Fun in the Summertime IX," the annual beach music festival from the Patrick County Jaycees, takes place Saturday from noon to 8 at Wayside Park in Stuart.

The Chairmen of the Board and the Cornelius Brothers and Sister Rose are among the bands scheduled to perform.

Tickets are $12.50 in advance and $15 at the gate. For information call 694-6012.