“Never-ending” stories, multi-day festivals and two kinds of living history help stretch these long summer days.
Monday, July 22
Marking 40 years since its release, The NeverEnding Story, a dark and beautiful tale of a foreign world being consumed by a terrifying force—and a rare children’s movie of genuine artistic interest to adults—screens at or just after 7 p.m. at Cinemark North Haven and Cinemark Connecticut Post 14.
Wednesday, July 24
With the opening ceremony on Friday at 2 p.m. local time, the 2024 Olympics will have officially begun in Paris, France. But the games actually begin today, starting at 9 a.m., with soccer and rugby; continue tomorrow with archery and handball; and proceed on Friday, before the ceremony, with shooting.
At 8, an ongoing “STAKUB” (Stanley Kubrick) “partial screening plus discussion” series at Never Ending Books picks up with the first 45 minutes of Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Thursday, July 25
A new exhibition opens at Yale’s Beinecke Library: In the First Person: The Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies. “Marking the forty-fifth anniversary of the first videotaping by the Holocaust Survivors Film Project, a grassroots New Haven community initiative that evolved into the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, In the First Person will be the first large-scale public exhibition of footage from this groundbreaking collection. Powerful excerpts from nineteen video testimonies presents the experiences of survivors and witnesses to the atrocities and genocide committed by Nazi Germany and its collaborators.”
Friday, July 26
Country comes to Connecticut during Jam at the Dam, a two-day music festival starting at 5 p.m. tonight and featuring major headliners Gavin DeGraw and Tyler Hubbard. Located at 1545 Monroe Turnpike in the town of Monroe, the festival also promises food trucks, a beer and wine garden, other vendors and free parking.
Closer to home, it’s another two-day fest: the beachside Savin Rock Festival, held from 5 to 10 tonight and 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. tomorrow in West Haven’s Old Grove Park. “Along with live music”—headlined tonight by the Foreigner Journey Experience and tomorrow by American Idol winner and Guilford native Nick Fradiani—“the festival will include the traditional midway of rides and games by Marenna Amusements and, of course, boatloads of seafood and other mouthwatering dishes.”
Saturday, July 27
The New England Taco Festival returns to the Guilford Fairgrounds from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. today and 11 to 7 tomorrow. In addition to all the tacos, expect “lucha libre wrestling, mechanical bull riding, donkey rides, bounce houses, mariachi bands… and photo ops,” plus “craft vendors” and a “Mexican carnival with games and rides.”
A Community Picnic and Game Day fundraiser for the Huneebee Project promises “a fun-filled day of food, games, and community bonding” from 11:30 to 5.
From 5 to 10, “discover treasures, indulge in delectable food, savor craft beers [and] immerse yourself in captivating art” during the next Hidden Relics Fair at Armada Brewing.
High-energy indie pop duo Mates of State, whose local roots belie a globetrotting resume, play a show at Hamden’s Space Ballroom opened at 8 by Al Menne’s “honeyed, homespun rock arrangements.”
Sanctuary, the goth/industrial/darkwave dance party series, fills Firehouse 12 with “a subterranean social” starting at 9.
Sunday, July 28
“Basketball tournaments, a curated art market, live music, paintings [and] poetry”—plus, according to a press release, live art demos and interactive booths—come together for an Arts & Basketball event at West Haven’s Carrigan Intermediate School from noon to 5.
From 2 to 3, the Dirty Blue Shirts, “an experiential history collective” comprised of “historians, scholars, and artists,” bring “a ‘show-and-feel’ presentation of the Federal Period clothing worn during the early 1800s” to the Pardee-Morris House. The living history program will also “explore how Connecticans stayed on top of European trends, and how they made their own sartorial marks on the international scene.”
Walnut Beach’s weekly Rockin’ the Beach! summer concert series kicks off with a 4 p.m. performance by Downtown 6 at Walnut’s rotary pavilion.
Written and photographed by Dan Mims. Image features Kory Gardner of Mates of State. Readers are encouraged to verify times, locations, prices and other details before attending events.
