South Shore launches summer with slew of activities

The South Shore Summer Series launches the season June 10-13 with a weekend of live music, culinary delights, paddle-wheeler race, concerts and competitions stretching across the shore from Camp Richardson Resort on the west to Zephyr Cove on the east.

Guy Fieri, Food Network superstar and host of NBC’s “Minute To Win It”, brings his “Rock ‘n’ Roll Culinary Tour” to Harrah’s Lake Tahoe’s South Shore Room June 11. Fieri describes his show as “cooking, music and all the things I can’t say or do on TV.”

Blue Öyster Cult, listed in VH1’s countdown as one of the greatest hard rock bands of all time and cited as a major influence by other acts such as Metallica, will perform in Harrah’s South Shore Room June 12.

The Ren Faire returns for two weekend in June at Camp Rich. Photo/Provided

The 50th anniversary of the opening of the original Playboy Club is June 10. To celebrate, Playboy has invited 50 venues in 50 cities to party with them simultaneously on the exact date the first Playboy Club opened in Chicago in 1960 . Vex Nightclub at Harrah’s Lake Tahoe is among the chosen elite. The search for the 50/50 Playboy Bunny title will conclude June 10 at Vex. Tickets are $10 in advance or $20 for men and $10 for women at the door.

Multi-talented world welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao will perform with his band and friends at Harrah’s Special Events Center June 12 at 7:30pm. Tickets are $49.50 to $199.50, available at Harrah’s or online.

The first stop of the X-Dance Action Sports Film Festival is June 10-12 and features the top international films on wakeboarding, surfing, mountain biking, skateboarding, snowboarding and skiing at Tahoe’s MontBleu casino. 968 Park Hotel will host the VIP Opening Night Party, to meet and greet the athletes, filmmakers and the godfather of action sports Warren Miller.

Mark Twain’s Wild West Weekend at Zephyr Cove Resort springs into action with frog jumping, poetry reading, interactive stories from Mark Twain, and a mini-triathlon for kids June 12-13. The event’s highlight is a Mark Twain Lecture Dinner that Saturday and includes a four-course meal with guest speakers Robert Stewart, author of “Aurora, Nevada’s Ghost City of Dawn,” and Robert Hirst, general editor and official curator of the Mark Twain Project and Papers. Tickets are $100.

The Great Lake Tahoe Sternwheeler Race churns the waters June 13 as the annual battle between Nevada’s M.S. Dixie II and California’s Tahoe Queen continues. The M.S.Dixie II leads the series 8-5. www.zephyrcove.com

The fifth annual South Shore Lake Tahoe Geocaching High Tech Treasure Hunt is June 12-13, with nearly 50 prizes stashed throughout the area waiting to be stalked by an anticipated 350-500 ambitious GPS-wielding trackers. Geocaching is an affordable family-friendly activity – it’s $20 to rent the GPS for the weekend.

The Valhalla Renaissance Faire, June 5-6 and 12-13, at Camp Richardson Resort brings to life the authentic pleasures and pageantry of an Elizabethan country fair.

The inaugural Great Lake Tahoe Chili Cook-off is sanctioned by the International Chili Society, along with live music and Craft Faire complement the weekend festivities held at MontBleu Resort Casino & Spa. Winners of this event are eligible to compete in next fall’s ICS World Championship Cook-off.

Take a step back through time and relive the adventures and rigors of the early pioneers as they forged their way west with the annual Highway 50 Wagon Train. The historical re-enactment of the Great Western Migration is June 5-13, ending in Placerville.

In celebration of its 150th Anniversary, the National Pony Express Association will conduct a re-ride of the Pony Express Trail, June 6-13. The 1,966 mile route follows the Pony Express National Historic Trail through California, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Nebraska, Colorado, Kansas and Missouri.

The Tahoe Derby Dames, Lake Tahoe’s only flat track roller derby league, play a demo bout at Bijou Park in South Tahoe for the Roller Derby June 12.

The 46th annual DeCelle Memorial Lake Tahoe Relay race, June 12, consists of 72 mile, seven-person running relay around Lake Tahoe. Each member runs 8-12 miles. This is a nonprofit event and proceeds benefit the local high school running programs.