This Week in New Haven (December 7 – 13)

L ights and enlightenment brighten up the days ahead.

Monday, December 7
If there’s one pandemic-proof holiday tradition, it’s the Fantasy of Lights put on by Goodwill of Southern New England, whose basic concept—an outdoor drive-through array of themed light displays in Lighthouse Point Park (2 Lighthouse Rd, New Haven)—doesn’t seem to have changed at all. Open every day of the week until the very end of the year—including Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve—the attraction’s hours run from 5 to 9 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays and 5 to 10 Fridays and Saturdays. Admission is charged by the vehicle: $10 for a car or family van, $25 for a minibus and $50 for a full-sized bus.

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Hopkins School - Set Your Curiosity Free

Tuesday, December 8
Organized by the International Festival of Arts & Ideas, “It’s a Wrap!,” starting at 7 p.m., promises a cocktail lesson from Ordinary co-owner Tim Cabral, a gift-wrapping lesson from event producer Mary Love and a $5 discount to use on wrapping materials at downtown supply store Artist & Craftsman. Tickets to this virtual event cost $20.

Also starting at 7 p.m. is the next installment of Peabody Science Café, “a series dedicated to informal conversations with scholars on natural history themes.” This occasion’s scholars—Yale ecology and evolutionary biology professor Jeffrey Powell and history and anthropology professor Joanna Radin—are set to discuss “The Promise and Perils of Genetic Manipulation.” Questions on the docket: “What happens when DNA editing tools are used outside the laboratory? … Are some types of gene editing more ‘ethically acceptable’ than others? If we could use genetic modification to save—or even revive—species from extinction, should we?” Free; register in advance.

Thursday, December 10 – Chanukah Begins
Ainissa Ramirez, a scientist and science communicator (and a featured author during our last Summer Reading Month), discusses her book The Alchemy of Us: How Humans and Matter Transformed One Another (2020) during a virtual noontime talk presented by the New Haven Free Public Library. Free.

Sunday, December 13
At 4:30 p.m., Chabad of Westville is offering a blowout Drive-In Chanukah experience at the Whalley/Blake parking lot (919 Whalley Ave, New Haven). Aiming to be both “safe and fun,” the latter comes courtesy of a “BIG” menorah with “tiki torch flames,” a “chocolate gelt drop” featuring “chocolate coins raining down,” a “HUGE LED screen” beaming out “Chanukah entertainment” and “a take-home box of Chanukah treats.” According to the flyer, attendees can also get their hands on latkes, donuts, coffee and dreidels. Free to attend; registration required.

Starting at the same time, a homier Chanukah—or Hanukkah—experience will be playing out over Zoom. The Jewish Community Center of Greater New Haven’s “Latkes and Light: Festive Family Cooking for Hanukkah” invites attendees to “gather your family in the kitchen and make latkes with Chef Benny of Ladle and Loaf, New Haven’s newest kosher eatery.” Free to attend.

Written by Dan Mims. Image by Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock. Readers are encouraged to verify times, locations and prices before attending events.

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Dan has worked for a couple of major media companies, but he likes Daily Nutmeg best. As DN’s editor, he writes, photographs, edits and otherwise shepherds ideas into fully realized feature stories.

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