Things to Do in Pontiac

Fueled by the passion of winemaker and obsessive-compulsive grape-stomper Lisa Berry, Vintner's Cellar offers several wines fermented in Royal Oak. During your tasting, you'll get to sample five different wines from a diverse range of red, white, fruit, and specialty libations. You'll also get to snack on cheese, crackers, grapes, and crackery grapecheese creations while soaking in the lively décor of intermingling dark and vivid tones like a sponge tuxedo. The wine tasting is good for two people, so buddy up or carefully wheel a frenemy's bed to the cellar before he or she wakes up.

The 17th-annual festival boasts an impressive lineup of esteemed musicians and emerging artists performing work from the classical chamber repertoire as well as contemporary compositions. The festival’s theme this year is “The Poet Speaks,” and the June 12 performance features the music and poetry of Lera Auerbach in a piano, cello, and soprano trio, as well as the Haydn Piano Trio in C Major and Schumann’s Piano Quartet in E-flat Major. Forty-five minutes prior to the concert, which begins at 8 p.m., Auerbach will present an educational prelude about her music and writing.

Andiamo Novi combines the eloquence of upscale Italian cuisine with the spontaneity of live entertainment. Dinner in the Andiamo Novi restaurant starts around 8:30 p.m., and pasta-covetous guests can choose any entree from the dinner-show menu. Order the farfalle con bocconcini di pollo to find chicken tenderloin scintillatingly cloaked within bowtie pasta with wild mushrooms, or set course for seafood with the pesce bianco alla Sicilianna, a thinly breaded whitefish sautéed in olive oil. After they've filled up on Italian cuisine, diners can head to the upstairs theater for an evening of golden wits and guffaws, courtesy of the restaurant's Late Night Comedy Series. Each show lasts about 80 minutes and features a changing lineup of comics provided by Heffron Talent International. Even humor skeptics who proclaimed comedy dead when president/ventriloquist William McKinley was assassinated by his anarchist dummy should find ample opportunity to chuckle.

At Whirlyball Novi, teams in motorized cars call whirlybugs spin and bump their way through one-hour bouts of a competitive wiffle-ball game that combines aspects of basketball, hockey, and jai alai. Bright red and yellow whirlybugs, powered by electricity and the tears of the defeated, race across a 4,000-square-foot court as their drivers toss balls to each other with plastic scoops. Referees keep track of each team's score as friends look on from the comfortable leather couches of the lounge. After matches, teams sip on drinks from the bar, feast on one of several meal packages, or continue calling each other "liver-licking kumkwats" over games of pool.

Scrapbook Emporium serves as a home base for scrapbooking hobbyists, supplying raw materials and regularly hosting classes and get-togethers. In front, shelves are stuffed with materials including vibrant papers, page kits, and Cricut accouterments, including a large savings section and resale area for bargain finds. A schedule of scrapbooking classes molds nascent scrapbookers into masters, while crop nights allow hobbyists to socialize as they add new pages to albums. Scrapbook leagues facilitate nights of friendly competition as team members race through assembly, earning points for completed pages or number of memories given physical form.

Avon Players has been a cultural and civic mainstay of the City of Rochester Hills before it was even known as City of Rochester Hills. Founded in what was then known as the Avon Township, the non-profit theater group has spread its contagious "Let's put on a show!" spirit throughout Southeast Michigan since 1947. With a wealth of local talent onstage and behind the scenes, Avon Players mount an average of five elaborately produced shows a year, all featuring special effects, live orchestras, lavish sets, and dazzling lighting. In addition to entertaining the community with a variety of Broadway musicals, British comedies, and award-winning dramas, the Players also mount youth theater productions, which teach budding thespians the craft and how to cook thrown tomatoes into a mean marinara sauce.