[Plugin: Events Manager] Anonymous event_form has no location/date pickers

Have you tried:

– deactivating other plugins to see if this resolves the problem. If this works, re-activate the plugins one by one until you find the problematic plugin(s).

– switching to the Twenty Eleven theme to rule out any theme-specific problems.

2nd how hard would it be to set the Location to be a dropdown on the anonymous entry form?

you can set it in options page at settings > general > general options > Use dropdown for locations?
OR
modify template file at templates/forms/event/location.php – https://wp-events-plugin.com/documentation/using-template-files/

a link may help identify the problem for 1

https://www.allaroundloveland.com/submit-event/

your problem may well be that a plugin/theme is adding a second jquery library to your site, similar to this

https://msyk.es/blog/prevent-jquery-wordpress-theme/

but in your case it is from but from code.jquery.com rather than google.

try disabling other plugins or revert to the default wp theme temporarily to see which is causing the problem.