The respected Commonweal Theatre Company (208 Parkway Ave. N., 507/467-2525 or 800/657-7025, www.commonwealtheatre.org, $25) produces six shows throughout the year. During the summer the theater hosts the live radio broadcast of the Over the Back Fence musical variety show (7 p.m. Sun., $5); you can also listen in on KFIL (103.1 FM/1060 AM).

Also during the summer, live bands, blues and rock more often than not, play the patio at the Riverside on the Root (109 Parkway S., 507/467-3663, 11 a.m.–8 p.m. Sun.–Thurs., 11 a.m.–9 p.m. Fri.–Sat.) restaurant on Wednesday and Sunday nights. The public is always welcome at the monthly summer barn dances in the Sons of Norway Hall (200 Parkway S., 507/498-5452).

The artistic home of many local artists is the Cornucopia Art Center (103 Parkway Ave. N., 507/467-2446, www.lanesboroarts.org, 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Mon.–Thurs., 10 a.m.–7 p.m. Fri.–Sat., 11 a.m.–3 p.m. Sun.), where you will find single and group exhibitions, as well as a juried sales gallery filled with paintings, ceramics, textiles, and more.

Buffalo Bill Cody, a friend of David Powell, a famous Dakota doctor who lived in town, spent a great deal of time in Lanesboro in the years before and after forming his Wild West Show, and the town celebrates the connection by naming its biggest festival Buffalo Bill Days. The community blast has music, theater, canoe races, a parade, and lots of food the first weekend in August.

Art in the Park, every third Sunday in June, attracts nearly 100 vendors and thousands of buyers. Two weeks earlier is the wacky Rhubarb Festival (www.rhubarbfestival.org). There’s a standstill parade (www.standstillparade.org) the third Saturday in May in Whalen, four miles east of Lanesboro.