The holiday season is here, and this week proves it.
Monday, November 28
BLOOM in Westville hosts a free (though donations are accepted) Friendsgiving celebration. For the first half, from 5 to 7 p.m., “mingle and enjoy live music, board/card games, a fire pit and drinks” while vegan chef Ally Rouse makes and demos dinner, which is then served. Register here.
Wednesday, November 30
At 7 p.m., the familiar “journey of one Ebenezer Scrooge and his guided self-reflection amidst the Christmas season in 1800s England” opens a two-week run at The Legacy Theatre in Branford. (Further inland, at Cheshire’s Nelson Hall, there’s another production of A Christmas Carol this week, with two performances Friday by the Second Chance Players.)
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A vigorous night is in store at Space Ballroom in Hamden, where Rubblebucket, a band whose artistry doesn’t seem to come at the expense of fun (and vice versa), headline an 8 p.m. bill. Opening are Crooks & Nannies with their “brash, confessional indie rock.”
Thursday, December 1
Featuring live music, activities (including visits with Santa) and a Small Business Holiday Village, New Haven’s official tree lighting event on the Green lasts from 5 to 7:30. But the shopping, at least, starts earlier and lasts longer, from 4 to 8, and continues over the weekend. So do the visits with Santa, with hours tomorrow and Saturday.
Friday, December 2
The opening reception for this year’s Give Art Holiday Exhibition at City Gallery happens Sunday. But if you want the greatest amount of choice during this “excellent gift-giving opportunity,” in which the collective’s 16 painters, printmakers, sculptors, photographers and fiber artists sell works for just $100 apiece, I suggest stopping by on opening day today between 1 and 5 p.m.
Starting at 4 p.m., this year’s Firelight Festival at the Henry Whitfield State Museum invites visitors to “spend an evening at the Old Stone House with festive luminaria, lanterns, and outdoor fires. Enjoy roasted marshmallows and chestnuts, popcorn, hot cocoa, and mulled cider. Tour the Whitfield House after dark. Bring donations for the Guilford Food Bank and new, unwrapped toys for Toys for Tots.”
“Lights, Camera… Fashion!,” the Arts Council’s 42nd Annual Arts Awards ceremony and soirée, kicks off at 6 at SCSU’s Lyman Center for the Performing Arts, promising a red carpet, photo booth, dance floor and fashion show fueled by beer, wine and New Haven-style pizza.
Also starting at 6, the 2022 Holiday Party at the Institute Library promises “good music, good will, good cheer, and excellent company” thanks in part to an a cappella performance by the Yale Alley Cats.
At 7:30, tenor saxophonist George Coleman, “an artist whose career has featured collaborations with Betty Carter, Miles Davis, Lionel Hampton, B.B. King, and Max Roach,” brings his four-piece band to Yale’s Morse Recital Hall.
Saturday, December 3
Two youth-oriented programs start at 11 a.m. At the Yale Center for British Art, “families with children of all ages and abilities are invited to our drop-in, art-making workshop. Come join our museum educators to create drawings and sculptures inspired by the special exhibition Bill Brandt | Henry Moore, on view in the third-floor galleries.” Meanwhile, at Fair Haven Library, “teens and tweens” are invited to a popup “premier gaming lounge” featuring various gaming consoles as well as a virtual reality rig.
This year’s Bad Santa Bar Crawl, dubbed “New Haven’s largest and craziest Santa bar crawl” by its organizer, New Haven Nights, lasts from noon to 8 (not including a mysterious after-party) and promises thousands of partiers sliding down the chimneys of 15 downtown bars, gulping down holiday drink specials and shaking their sugar plums to “premium” DJs.
From 5 to 7 at East Haven Town Beach, a Holiday Joy on the Shore event features free hot cocoa, cookies and other refreshments; photos with Santa; arts and crafts projects; “beautifully decorated trees” including a communal one guests can help decorate; and a toy drive for kids who could really use some holiday cheer.
Sunday, December 4
A unique concert starts at 3 p.m. in Morse Recital Hall. “Hear Yale School of Music faculty clarinetist David Shifrin and more than two dozen fellow clarinetists, including Yale College and Yale School of Music students and alumni, in a performance with YSM Prof. Thomas C. Duffy that showcases the instrument, the virtuosos who play it, and the spirit of the clarinet choirs that have existed in cities around the world since the late-19th century.”
Written by Dan Mims. Images 1 and 4, taken during past tree lightings, photographed by Dan Mims. Image 2 features Rubblebucket. Image 3, featuring Arts Award honoree Donald Carter, photographed by Luke and Mistina Hanscom of Lotta Studio. Readers are encouraged to verify times, locations, prices and other details before attending events.
