Advice for the discerning reveler

With a limited number of balmy weeks left in the calendar year, event organizers are squeezing in as many outdoor parties as possible. This weekend alone, the Sacramento area is celebrating honey, chickens, railroads and Chinese culture at four different festivals. To help you make an informed decision about your entertainment options, SN&R offers the following festival roundup:

Chinatown Mall Culture Fair

Pros: Lion dance, explosive martial-arts demonstrations and tasty harvest moon cakes.

Cons: Don’t get detained at the “Experience Angel Island Immigration Station” exhibition. The bathroom lines are long enough.

Sunday, September 19, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.; free. Chinatown Mall, located between Third and Fifth and I and J streets; www.yeefow.com.

Fifth annual Fair Oaks Chicken Festival

Pros: Live music by Mumbo Gumbo, microbrew tasting, a canned-food collection for the Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services and $5 unlimited carnival games and rides for the kids.

Cons: Fame gives the village chickens a sense of entitlement. Keep an eye on your lunch.

Saturday, September 18, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; free. Fair Oaks Village, 4150 Temescal Street in Fair Oaks; (916) 966-1036; www.fairoakspark.org.

Placer County Honey Festival

Pros: Corn bread baking contest, Thunderfoot Cloggers, plastic honey-bear car races and a delicious honey-pancake breakfast.

Cons: The inevitable blood-sugar crash might be exacerbated by the local wine booth, which sells three tastes for a dollar.

Sunday, September 19, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; free. Ronald L. Feist Park, 9180 Twin Schools Road in Granite Bay; www.pchoneyfestival.com.

Folsom Historic Railroad and Transportation Festival

Pros: Antique police vehicles, vintage streetcar rides and a rare opportunity to take a rail speeder down the tracks.

Cons: The absence of a bounce house might alert the kids that you’ve tricked them into doing something educational on a weekend.

Saturday and Sunday, September 18-19, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.; free. Historic Placerville SP Branchline, behind the Hampton Inn, 155 Placerville Road in Folsom; (916) 764-5110.