Toon Town

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We missed the Old-Fashioned Cartoon Festival at the historic Englewood (10917 Winner Road in Independence) last summer, which was way sad. Because of … um … all the kids we wish we could have taken. Yeah. That’s why. Lucky for us — and for the kids — the theater brings back the event for the first weekend of the new year. Each day of the festival offers a different ninety-minute program of vintage Warner Bros. and Paramount cartoons from the 1930s through the 1970s. In between are informative short films, so restless kids can go get popcorn while adults laugh their arses off. We’re looking forward to the animated past, present and future of steel, as portrayed by the U.S. Steel Corporation in 1958. Shows start at 11:30 a.m. Friday through Sunday. For information, call 816-836-8300.— Gina Kaufmann

Big Bugs

Caterpillars: more than meets the eye.

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Jessa Huebing has been drawing a large caterpillar since December 15, and she’s almost done. In fact, Saturday is the last day for Project InSECT, Huebing’s two-month residency of sorts at Union Station. The artist invites everyone to watch as her large-scale, chiaroscuro-style insect portrait evolves into a finished piece. Huebing’s pastel-on-paper study is so big that it conveys details people would otherwise see only under a microscope. Viewers might not be able to see the caterpillar metamorphose into a butterfly, but they can watch as what was once just a large piece of paper becomes a huge piece of bug art. Project InSECT is now open across from the Zephyr Room in the Theater District of Union Station from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. today through Saturday. For details, call 816-460-2020.— Michael Vennard

Sure Thing

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Ready to get your credit report back in order? Then put all your money on the Harlem Globetrotters. The Pitch‘s sports staff shirked its holiday shopping responsibilities in order to present readers with this locked-in sure thing of a wager. We’ve crunched numbers, studied the averages and watched a hell of a lot of game tapes (and even a couple of Scooby-Doo episodes), and we can confidently say that you should put it all on the Globetrotters beating the New York Nationals. Tip-off is at 3 p.m. at Kemper Arena, 1800 Genessee. The spread? You do the math. For tickets, call 816-931-3330.— Vennard