SATURDAY 9/29

EQUIFRIENDS--If you're looking to volunteer but don't know whether to commit your time to animals or the mentally ill, fret not! Consider the EquiFriends Therapeutic Equestrian Program for People with Disabilities. You could help the instructors teach therapeutic and sport riding, vaulting, drill team, competition routines, physical and occupational therapy, and horse-facilitated mental health therapy. Today is the last day of their volunteer training drive. EquiFriends Therapeutic Equestrian Center, P.O. Box 856, Snohomish; call (425) 337-1137 to arrange for a training session.

TRICKSTERS CARNIVAL & SLIDE SHOW--DazyMay Productions is putting together a carnival that collides nostalgic oddities and today's freaks. As a carnival nod to the past, the entertainment includes a trained-pony act, bearded ladies, drunken sailors, Tamara the Trapeze Lady, and the Strongest Woman in the World. For the modern carnival, a few bands will play, and DJ Luying will spin house, hiphop, techno, and her own blend of "house reggae," and strippers will dance along with the rest of the crowd. Wildrose, 1021 E Pike St, 324-9210, 10 pm, $10.

SUNDAY 9/30

DOLLHOUSE MINIATURE SHOW--These are the largest dollhouses and scale miniatures in the Pacific Northwest. Almost a hundred vendors will be selling their collectibles for what the press release calls "the second-largest hobby in the United States." They don't say what the largest group of hobbyists in the U.S. is, but from the looks of it, you don't need to know, because Hobby World Exhibits--the organizer of this event--is about to take them out. Flag Pavilion at Seattle Center, Sat Sept 29 from 10 am to 5 pm, Sun Sept 30 from 11 am to 4 pm, call (360) 671-3217 for more information.

COMPOST BINS--The Seattle Tilth Association, in concert with Seattle Public Utilities, is promoting the use of compost bins by selling them dirt cheap. (Get it? I kill myself sometimes.) The two latest and greatest models are the Earth Machine and the Garden Gourmet. Don't miss out on the dirt! Magnuson Park, 7400 Sand Point Way NE, 10 am and 3 pm, free.

MOVE FOR MENTAL HEALTH--This is Seattle's first ever 5K run/walk to raise awareness about mental illness, and considering what brilliant things run/walks have done for AIDS, cancer, and other maladies of the human body, this will be a smashing success. At least you know the newscasters will be out there, reporting "from the field." Seward Park, 5900 Lake Washington Blvd, 8:30 am; call the Washington Advocates for the Mentally Ill at 1-800-782-WAMI for more information.

WEDNESDAY 10/3

FREE ICE CREAM--Cold Stone Creamery pushes its latest product, "The Wedge," by offering it for free. Wedges of Mudslide Pie (double dutch chocolate), Cafe Latte (coffee ice cream, Torroncino, chocolate chips, roasted almonds, and cinnamon), and White Chocolate Raspberry (self-explanatory) are served on an Oreo cookie pie crust. Tomorrow it'll cost you a pretty penny, I'm sure, but today, from 4 to 7 pm, pig out till you barf, just like old times. There are three Cold Stone Creameries in the greater Seattle area, in Bellevue, Sammamish, and Woodinville; go to www.coldstonecreamery.com for details.