W ith summer on the horizon, outside is in.
Monday, June 6
Mitchell Library’s annual family-oriented Ladybug Release Party starts at 5:30 p.m. “Release ladybugs into Mitchell’s garden, play outdoor games, eat a popsicle, make some ladybug-themed crafts and have lots of fun! This year there will also be a special presentation from ‘The Bee Lady’ Catherine Wolko, featuring live bees!”
Also at 5:30, canoers and kayakers and such can meet like-minded folks and plan joint adventures during a Paddle Season Launch Social at Bear’s Smokehouse under the auspices of the Quinnipiac Canoe Club.
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Wednesday, June 8
On the College Woods lawn at 6 p.m., the Haven String Quartet—the permanent quartet-in-residence and teaching faculty at Music Haven—perform a free concert featuring “versions of Stevie Wonder, Consuelo Velazquez, Luis Prado, and more.”
A few tickets, running between $69 and $120 (fees included), still remain for top comedian John Mulaney’s 7:30 set at the Westville Music Bowl.
Starting at 8, the annual Gala for (and at) the Shubert Theatre stars Tony Award nominee Norm Lewis, who “brings his magical voice and unmistakable charisma as he performs selections from Les Misérables, The Phantom of the Opera, Company and more!” Tickets for the concert alone run between $64 and $124 (fees included), with an enhanced VIP option available.
At 8:30 in Pitkin Plaza, the next free Movies in the Plaza screening features that classic tale of a Reno lounge singer-turned-state’s witness-turned-convent choir director: Sister Act.
Thursday, June 9
The Yale University Art Gallery’s next Sidewalk Studio, “an outdoor program that fosters impromptu art making on a drop-in basis,” features Jazz Orbit, a local “mobile music performance space” conceived and built by local minds and hands. During the event, held from 2 to 4 in front of the gallery, “listen to the sounds of Jazz Orbit and create your own drawings inspired by the music and by the music-loving artists in our collection.”
Friday, June 10
You can’t see Talking Heads live, but you can see Start Making Sense, who “take pride in faithfully recreating” the original music and live experience, at Space Ballroom, where “darkly inventive Americana” duo Muddy Ruckus open an 8 p.m. show.
Saturday, June 11
After a month of lead-up events including an exhibition opening at Creative Arts Workshop last night, the International Festival of Arts & Ideas kicks off its principal two-week schedule today with art installations, bike tours, gastronomy tours, a beekeeping workshop, a popup museum, a one-man play and, at 7 p.m., a free vocalist-supported performance on the Green by the New Haven Symphony Orchestra.
Hamden Fest, “an extravaganza of events and activities in Hamden Town Center Park,” starts at 11 and goes all day. Food trucks and vendors, live music and entertainment and a business expo, arts/civic fair and Kids & Sports Zone lead to a late-day “Happy Hour Under the Tent” followed by a golden-hour concert by the Wendy May Band.
Also starting at 11 and going all day is a Retro Arcade Pop-Up at New England Brewing Company, where “25+ vintage arcade games”—The Simpsons, Street Fighter II, Turtles in Time, Crazy Taxi—will be “set up throughout the taproom and warehouse,” all of them set to free play. Other attractions include various early Nintendo setups, The Blind Rhino food truck and, from 5 to 8, DJ Dooley-O.
Written by Dan Mims. Images 1, of an Arts & Ideas concert in 2017, and 4, of beer and arcade games, photographed by Dan Mims. Image 2, of canoers on the Mill River, photographed by Anne Ewbank. Image features Kathy Najimy, Whoopi Goldberg and Wendy Makkena in Sister Act. Readers are encouraged to verify times, locations, prices and other details before attending events.
