This Week in New Haven (October 10 – 16)

F ive festivals, one quartet, three holidays and two homecomings count down a singular week.

Monday, October 10 – Columbus Day & Indigenous Peoples’ Day
If you’ve got it, enjoy the day off.

Tuesday, October 11
Speakers will be local, but topics will range during a “That’s the Beauty of It” edition of PechaKucha, which brings its 20 seconds-by-20 slides presentation format to East Rock Brewing at 7 p.m.

The Brentano String Quartet, the Yale School of Music’s quartet-in-residence, perform works by Haydn, Bartók and Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel starting at 7:30 in Yale’s Morse Recital Hall.

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Flying Bird's Diary at Long Wharf Theatre

Wednesday, October 12
A series of family-friendly puppet-building workshops leading up to Westville’s Giant Puppet and People Making Mayhem Parade, which happens October 30, begins today at 5 p.m. in Coogan Pavilion.

At Hamden’s Space Ballroom, the playful yet sinister rock grooves of Stick Men—whose members, including Tony Levin and Pat Mastelotto of King Crimson, have “recorded on albums that sold over 100 million records worldwide”—top an 8 p.m. bill opened by New Haven’s own proggy melodic rockers Head with Wings.

Or head to Cafe Nine for an 8:30 show featuring Agent Orange—“the original OC punk/surf power trio”—and “New Haven’s favorite skate/rock band” The Vultures.

Thursday, October 13
Back at Cafe Nine, it’s opening night of the 2022 New Haven Documentary Film Festival, a.k.a. NHdocs, featuring a 7 p.m. screening of Oklahoma Breakdown, about “comedic one-man band legend” Mike Hosty, as well as a live performance by Hosty himself. Here’s the breakdown of the entire festival, which runs through October 23.

Friday, October 14
The next New Haven Night Market, an outdoor bonanza located between College and York Streets on Chapel this time, promises more than 80 vendors serving up food and drink, arts and wares and information and insights between 5 and 10 p.m. Attractions also include a number of games and activities—a photo booth, a scavenger hunt, a flash tattoo station—as well as four live music acts and a drag show.

Meanwhile, during a “Home(coming)” event, Long Wharf Theatre says goodbye—though it won’t quite be leaving yet—to its longtime home at 222 Sargent Drive. Backstage tours from 6 to 7 p.m. precede a “farewell and toast” from 7 to 8, which in turn precede a block party from 2 to 7 tomorrow outside the theater’s new administrative home on Audubon Street.

Saturday, October 15
Outside Branford’s United Methodist Church, a.k.a. “Church on the Rock,” an October Festival from 9 a.m. to 2 promises “hand-crafted items from local crafters”; “second-hand finds”; kids’ activities; “popcorn, cotton candy, candy apples, and more”; a scarecrow and pumpkin patch; a house plant sale; a bake sale “featuring the church’s signature Apple Crisp dessert”; and hamburgers and hot dogs.

The return of the annual fair at Leila Day, one of the oldest active nursery schools in America, promises “fun… for young children and families, including arts and crafts such as face painting and pumpkin decorating; an obstacle course and zipline; a story book corner; calligraphy; a bake sale; and more” from 10 a.m. to 1.

¡Fiesta Latina!, a “celebration of traditional and contemporary Latin American cultures,” pops up at the offices of Junta for Progressive Action from 1 to 4 p.m. The docket spans “live music, performers, various community organizations, and more” as well as “family-friendly educational activities and interactive stations” courtesy of the Peabody Museum, which is co-presenting the event.

SCSU’s Homecoming week, which offers several events open to the general public, culminates in today’s free 2 p.m. football game at Jess Dow Field against Franklin Pierce University, with a community tailgate starting at 11 a.m.

Kicking off at 8 p.m. is the next For the Culture party at Stella Blues, promising “a night of house and disco music” from DJs Kerry Quirk, Ryan Brown, Tim Dave, Kered and Yedi.

Sunday, October 16
Presented by Wallingford-based Redscroll Records, a record fair at Counter Weight Brewing in Cheshire promises “thousands of records from many our favorite dealers” as well as DJs, live music, food trucks and, of course, beer from 11 a.m. to 5.

Coinciding with the birthday of New Havener and famed dictionary maker Noah Webster, Yale’s Beinecke Library celebrates Dictionary Day with an array of “original manuscripts and publications documenting Webster’s life and work” in its downstairs reading room, which will be open for walk-ins from 1 to 4. “And be sure to start your Dictionary Day celebration early on Saturday, October 15, with a visit to the New Haven Museum,” where, from noon to 5, “items on display will include Webster’s notes on the letters A and B, photographs of his home in New Haven, and a bust of Webster by Chauncey Ives.”

Written by Dan Mims. Image 1, featuring past giant puppet makers, and image 2, featuring Head with Wings, photographed by Dan Mims. Image 3, featuring a scene from a past New Haven Night Market, provided courtesy of Town Green District. Image 4, featuring SCSU football players, provided courtesy of SCSU. 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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