We’ve got culture fests, jazz shows, A-list comedians and, in the middle of it all, a Saturday-sized Thursday.
Monday, August 4
At 6 p.m. behind Mitchell Branch Library, this summer’s final installment of the dual Hi-Fi Pie Fest and Beech Park Concert Series features freestyle pies and salsa/merengue/bachata music from Carlos y Su Momento Musical.
Wednesday, August 6
A 5 p.m. screening at East Haven’s Hagaman Library presents Alfred Hitchcock’s silent film The Lodger (1927)—in which “a landlady suspects that her new lodger is the madman killing women in London”—along with pizza, beverages and an intro-plus-Q&A with film scholar Fred Guida.
At 6:30, Neighborhood Music School “celebrat[es] 30 years of Summer Jazz at NMS with a night of incredible music, light bites and community.” The music comes courtesy of drummer Jesse Hameen II, vocalist Joy F. Brown, guitarist Rodney Jones, pianist Zaccai Curtis and Lonnie Plaxico, alongside “a special appearance by our NMS Summer Jazz All-Stars featuring teachers, students, and alums.”
Thursday, August 7
Live jazz “within a modernist masterpiece” and “happy hour bites and hand-crafted cocktails” are the promises of the Hotel Marcel’s next Jazz Night, which swings from 5 to 7 p.m. near BLDG, the hotel’s lobby bar and restaurant.
Spots still remain for the Urban Resources Initiative’s two-hour, registration-required, light dinner-included Annual Greenspace Bus Tour, which departs at 5 from City Hall.
At 7, an all-star comedy lineup comes to Westville Music Bowl: John Mulaney, Fred Armisen, Mike Birbiglia and Nick Kroll.
The Madison Beach Hotel’s Grassy Strip Music Series picks up with a 7:30 concert by blues specialist Jeff Pitchell and his band Texas Flood.
Headlining an 8 o’clock bill at Cafe Nine, “Charlie Halloran’s Tropicales bring a 1950s Caribbean hotel party to life with torrid horns, tropical rhythms and infectious grooves.”
If you’re looking for something harder and glossier, Toad’s Place hosts polished-up alt rock/metalcore headliner Violent Vira for a show that also starts at 8.
Friday, August 8
Starting at 1 p.m. at Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, comic-con Terrificon returns for a three-day stand, headlined this time by another impressive lineup of comic book creators—Kevin Eastman (co-creator of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Chris Claremont (longtime writer of Uncanny X-Men), John Romita, Jr. (artist for The Amazing Spider-Man, Iron Man, Daredevil and more)—as well as celebrities of silver and small screens: Hayley Atwell (Peggy Carter in the MCU, Grace in the last two Mission: Impossible movies), Ke Huy Quan (Short Round in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Waymond Wang in Everything Everywhere All At Once), Tyler Hoechlin (Superman/Clark Kent in Superman & Lois) and many more.
At 6, the Meigs Point Nature Center in Madison invites local posses to come learn “All About Opossums.”
From 6:30 to 8, the Yale Guild of Carillonneurs invites the public to set up blankets, chairs and picnics in the main courtyard of Yale’s Branford College for the final installment of the 2025 Summer Carillon Concert Series. Performing this time, starting at 7, are the guild’s own Ian Haile and Reshard Kolabhai.
Emotional ’90s rock band Goo Goo Dolls and ’00s indie emo act Dashboard Confessional come to Bridgeport’s Hartford HealthCare Amphitheater for a 7:30 show. (Another ’90s icon performs here tomorrow night: Jerry Seinfeld, with only a smattering of seats still available.)
Saturday, August 9
Starting at 11 a.m., Witch Bitch Thrift hosts a costume-friendly Renaissance Faire Vendor Market.
From 1 to 9 p.m., the 2025 Puerto Rican Festival of New Haven offers live music, DJs, food trucks, family activities and more on the New Haven Green.
Sunday, August 10
Between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., you can walk to the top of the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument at East Rock’s summit. And because it’s a Sunday in summer, when the driveway is open, you don’t have to first walk up to the summit.
Teej Mela, an annual festival in Nepal, comes to New Haven’s Annex YMA Club from noon to 7. “Come celebrate, shop, and taste our delicious food!”
At the Canal Dock Boathouse, New Haven Community Boating’s final open house of the summer offers an “afternoon sailing adventure” from 1 to 4. “Want to go sailing? Our friendly volunteers will take you out for a sail around the harbor.”
Written and photographed by Dan Mims. Readers are encouraged to verify times, locations, prices and other details before attending events.
