Everything from an outdoor church service to a wiener-bite contest, to a keg-throwing contest and wrestling matches in a swimming pool full of baby oil will happen this weekend at the 32nd Annual Abate of North Dakota Menoken Grove Bike Rally.

If that range of activities - which is an adults-only event - is going too far out of your range, and if you have children, there are two other annual events closer to Bismarck: The Missouri River Festival, a carnival on the Bismarck Civic Center's south parking lot; and Mandan's Buggies-N-Blues, which will bring hundreds of classic automobiles into town.

Of these three annual events, the first to kick it all off, getting a big head start on the others, will be the Missouri River Festival, which opens tonight, from 5-11 p.m., and continues through Sunday.

Civic Arena Promotions, the local organization that puts on the event, uses proceeds from the festival to provide funds that local organizations - such as the local ballet company, military groups and Class B Tournament organizers - can use to promote their events.

Civic Arena Promotions rents the parking lot space from the Bismarck Civic Center and brings in the Texas-based carnival company, the Mighty Thomas Carnival, that was actually started by a North Dakota man, Art. B. Thomas.

Tom Atklns, whose wife is related to Thomas, said Tuesday that Thomas, a Lisbon man and railroad employee in the 1920s, saw a carnival in South Dakota and decided that would be more fun than working on the railroad. He started out with one ride and a bingo game. The next year, he had two rides, and by the 1930s it was a full-fledged carnival company. Fourth-generation family members now run the carnival, which has about 25 rides and attractions.

From 7-9 p.m. Friday, which is being called "Buddy Night," because someone can buy one admission and get one free, Dakota Wizards player Maurice Baker will be available to have his picture taken with you and the team's NBA Development League Championship trophy.

For more information about the Missouri River Festival, call 355-1376.

Next on deck, with many bikers arriving Friday to set up camp, is the Menoken Grove bike rally, proceeds of which is the year's main fundraiser for the North Dakota Motorcycle Safety program, said Janet Frost, marketing promotions director for ABATE - also known as American Bikers Aiming Towards Education, a Bismarck-based group.

She said bikers will be lined up at 9 a.m. Friday to get in and set up camp. To get there, take Interstate 94 to the Menoken exit, Exit 170. Then take the frontage road, which is on the north side of the interstate, and follow the signs.

Only those age 21 and older are allowed in. The weekend pass for ABATEmembers is $25, and for non-members, $40.

The rally's event has nothing to do with bikes. There will be minnow racing at 5 p.m. Friday, live minnows, provided by event organizers. Frost said minnow racing is a new phenomenon, sweeping the nation, or at least at church and other types of fundraisers. The fish are swimming for cash prizes for their devoted biker owners.

Leather vendors, tattoo and piercing artists and others will be on hand, too.

The music starts at 7:30 p.m. Friday and is expected to go on until 5 a.m., Frost said. Three rock bands are on tap. Local band Furious George starts off the night. Then comes Minnesota's Def Repplica, which pays tribute to rock band Def Leppard; and then the Sweathogs perform, a rock band from the Hebron and Dickinson area. The three bands will perform again, starting at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.

At 9 a.m. Saturday morning, the bikers, perhaps as many as 2,000, will line up to ride in the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Run, which ends with a ceremony at the North Dakota Veterans Cemetery.

At 1 p.m., back at Menoken Grove, is a bike rodeo, which includes a balloon toss on bikes, a tire toss, a doorknob race and the wiener bite, which involves having the passenger on the bike try to bite off as big of a chunk of a dangling hotdog dipped in mustard that they can.

Other events include the keg toss and a taco-eating contest and wrestling in a swimming pool full of baby oil.

Finishing the event, the Christian Motorcycle Association will put on a 9 a.m. Sunday nondenominational church service.

For more information about the bike rally, call 223-5609.

Car worshippers will congregate Saturday and Sunday for Mandan's Buggies-N-Blues event, which kicks off Saturday morning with a couple events in the Mandan and Bismarck area.

At 10 a.m. Saturday, there will be a national Pontiac tour of vehicles at Schwan GMAuto Center, 3812 Memorial Highway.

A little later at 11:30 a.m., local singer and guitarist Ben Suchy and friends will perform at Classic Yard Lawn and Garden Center, 1026 16th St. N.E., Mandan. There will be adisplay of classic automobiles there, too.

From noon to 3 p.m., at Executive Air, 2301 University Drive, in the general aviation area of Bismarck Municipal Airport, there will be a free display of vintage airplanes and other vehicles, as well as concessions and fun for kids.

In downtown Mandan during the day there will be sidewalk sales. From 5-9 p.m. Saturday there will be a food fest put on by St. Joe's School.

At 8 p.m. Saturday, the "Parade of the Classics" begins in Mandan. About 100 vehicles will leave the Mandan Community Center, head down Sixth Avenue and then proceed down Main Street.

From 8:30 p.m. Saturday to 12:30 a.m. Sunday, the Front Fenders, a classic rock band from Fargo, will perform at downtown Mandan's Bob Dykshoorn Park off of West Main Street. Admission is $5.

On Sunday, the Buggies-N-Blues event continues with an 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. car show - vehicles 1979 and older - along Main Street. There will also be music, concessions, a larger food court and a beer garden.

Other events during the day include a swap meet in the parking lot next to Papa Murphy's Pizza and the noon Crank it Up stereo competition on Main Street.

For more information about Buggies-N-Blues, call 258-8876.