At 7:30 on Friday night, a Motown band sets up in the Great Hall of an art museum in West Palm Beach and plays until 9 while everyone else wanders the galleries with a drink in hand. Larry Johnson has sung lead on tour with four different former lead singers of The Temptations, and his group has been playing together for eleven years. Getting in the door costs $10. Then, if you live in Palm Beach County, you can walk back into that same museum free the very next morning with nothing but your ID.

That is the spine of the weekend. Bagels before it, a burger after it, and a comic from Jimmy Kimmel Live closing it out on Saturday night in west Boca.

Friday Night at the Norton

Art After Dark happens every Friday at the Norton Museum of Art, but August 28 is the End of Summer Celebration, which is the one with the band. Doors are open 5 to 10 PM at 1450 S. Dixie Highway. Admission is $10 for adults and seniors, $5 for students, and free for members, which is roughly the price of two coffees for five hours of a museum at night.

The rest of the night runs on the museum's standing Friday schedule. Docent-led tours go at 5:30 and 7, and you can choose between Highlights of the Collection or Recognition of Art by Women: In Retrospect. Open Studio runs 6 to 9 in Classroom 2, where a teaching artist walks you through an actual project, materials included, no experience required and no extra charge. The Restaurant at the Norton is open with cocktails and a view of the Sculpture Garden if you want to make a full night of it.

Saturday Is the Free One

Palm Beach County residents get into the Norton free every Saturday through September 5. Bring a valid ID to the Reception Desk and that is the whole process. Saturday hours are 10 AM to 5 PM, and the last tickets go out thirty minutes before close. General admission is normally $18, so if you have been putting this off all summer, August 29 is one of the last Saturdays it costs nothing.

Where to Eat Around It

Sour Seed Bagels sits at 325 Fern Street in West Palm Beach, about eight minutes from the museum, and it is a takeout window with a handful of outdoor tables rather than a cafe you can settle into. The bagels are naturally fermented sourdough, flatter and crispier than the yeasty kind, with a real tang in the dough. A bagel with cream cheese is $6, butter and flaky sea salt is $5.50, and the breakfast sandwich with soft scramble, cheddar and bacon is $15. There is a matcha latte from $6.75 and a chocolate chip walnut cookie for $4 if you want something to eat in the car. Open 8 AM to 2 PM Saturday and Sunday, closed Mondays.

Lunch is Tap 42 at 5050 Town Center Circle in Boca Center. The Prohibition is the burger people order twice, $19.50 for the Tap 42 blend with applewood bacon, white cheddar, lettuce, tomato, onion and secret sauce, and it comes with crispy fries. Get there before 3 PM on Saturday or Sunday and the brunch menu is still up, where the Hangover Sandwich is $18.50 with bacon, egg, cheese, a hash brown and truffle aioli on brioche, the Southern Fried Chicken and Waffles is $24.50, and bottomless mimosas, bloody marys or Andrews Avenue Lager run $25. They open at 11 both weekend days and stay open until midnight on Saturday.

Saturday Night on Glades

Laurie Kilmartin is doing two stand-up shows in one night at Boca Black Box, 8221 Glades Rd #10, on Saturday, August 29, starting at 6 PM. She was the Emmy-nominated, WGA Award-winning writer for Conan, she is currently on staff at Jimmy Kimmel Live, and she wrote for Conan O'Brien again when he hosted the Oscars in 2025 and 2026. Her hour, Cis Woke Grief Slut, is on Hulu and landed on NPR Bullseye's best of 2024 list. It is her first time performing in Boca Raton.

The Insider Move

The Norton's free Friday tours only hold 25 people and the wristbands go out at the Membership Table one hour before, so if you want the 5:30 tour you need to be there by 4:30, not 5:25. Parking is across the street at 1501 S. Dixie for $3 an hour through the ParkMobile app, and a single session maxes out at three hours, so start your session when you actually walk in rather than burning an hour in the restaurant first. At Sour Seed, go early in the window if you want the full run of sesame, everything and rosemary, and ask for the preserved lemon and Calabrian chili cream cheese. At Boca Black Box, the Piccadilly Square lot is free and sits right outside the door, but buy tickets at bocablackbox.com before Saturday because the room is small and these sell out.

The Buzz

Kilmartin announced the Boca date on her own site with the line "FLORIDA! Two shows, one night in Boca Raton. FIRST TIME HERE!" The Infatuation gave Sour Seed an 8 and told readers to look for the permanent line of students and gym regulars on Fern Street, which is how you know you found it. Regulars at Boca Black Box keep calling it a hidden gem, mostly because every seat is close enough that it feels like a living room. And the Tap 42 review that comes up most often is somebody who ordered the Prohibition medium rare and then spent half the review talking about the sweet potato fries.

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