Not even counting the 14 remaining Halloween events from our preview last Tuesday, the week ahead is scarily busy.
Tuesday, October 29
A Nonprofit Social Hour organized by the Center for Community Collaboration lasts two hours, from 5 to 7 p.m., at Hamden’s Whitneyville Cultural Commons. “Dive deep into meaningful conversations, sway to live tunes, and raise a glass to a more connected community.”
Wednesday, October 30
After a 5:30 reception at the New Haven Museum, board member Trina Mace Learned gives a 6 p.m. talk about “The Founding of Sleeping Giant State Park: A Quarter Century that Saved the Giant.”
At 6:30, East Rock Brewing hosts a Halloween and horror movie-themed trivia night.
Also at 6:30, RJ Julia in Madison hosts Regina and Ryan Cohn, authors of The Witch’s Door: Oddities & Tales from the Esoteric to the Extreme, for a book talk discussing some of the “macabre and mysterious objects, art, and artifacts” they’ve come across as the founders of the Oddities Flea Market, an annual convention now established in cities across the country.
Olympic runner and Hamden native Alexis Holmes, who won a 4x400 relay gold for Team USA in Paris last summer, comes to SCSU’s Lyman Center for a 7 p.m. conversation with NBC Connecticut sports reporter Gabrielle Lucivero.
Starting at 8 in Pitkin Plaza, the final Movies in the Plaza screening of 2024 features the instant horror/comedy classic Cabin in the Woods (2011).
Thursday, October 31 - Halloween
At 10 a.m., chief docent Darlene Casella leads an auspiciously timed tour of Grove Street Cemetery, “provid[ing] a history of the cemetery and information on many notables buried there as well as interesting stories and lively discussions about the cemetery’s residents.”
At 4, Westville’s Mitchell Library hosts an artist’s reception with Allan Greenier, whose show, Prints from the Underground, is currently on view there.
In Milford, Walnut Beach Creamery’s annual Witches of Walnut Beach event (scroll down at the link) lasts from 5 to 7. “With a DJ and dancing and candy being tossed from above, come get your free ice cream (for anyone in costume, while supplies last)…” Also “prepare for the witch-led Halloween parade, stopping at participating businesses and some households along the short route for a treat,” followed by “music, dancing and a delightful, not frightful, flash mob witch dance” back at the ice cream shop.
The Institute Library screens A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014) at 7. “Already regarded as a contemporary classic, this tense indie film, shot in California, is an Iranian Vampire Western, which sounds good for a Hallowe’en movie.”
Friday, November 1
Featuring “handcrafted holiday and Christmas gift items from hundreds of American artists,” the annual Holiday Expo at the Guilford Art Center starts today (or tomorrow—the website contains conflicting claims) at 10 a.m., offering a curated range of “accessories, candles, cards, ceramics, clothing, fiber art, glass, homewares, jewelry, leather, Christmas ornaments, soaps, specialty foods, stationery and more.”
At the Shubert at 7, “inspired by daily life in Guinea,” Cirque Kalabanté presents Afrique in Cirque, a circus show where “acrobats execute gravity-defying moves and human pyramids, accompanied by the contemporary sounds of live Afro-Jazz, percussion and kora.”
Firehouse 12’s Friday fall jazz series continues with 8:30 and 10 p.m. performances by Allen Lowe and the Constant Sorrow Orchestra, whose latest work, Louis Armstrong’s America, represents a brilliant but still accessible evolution of and on 20th-century music, with jazz the fulcrum. https://firehouse12.com/jazz-series/2024/11/1/allen-lowe
At Madison’s Meigs Point Nature Center, “members of the Astronomical Society of New Haven, the Thames Amateur Astronomical Society, and the Shoreline Astronomical Society will have their telescopes set up to show you some of the best objects in the autumn sky” during a family astronomy night.
Saturday, November 2
Back at the Lyman Center, the New Haven Symphony Pops series presents “It’s Magic! Joan Ellison Swings in High Fidelity” at 3 p.m. Backed by NHSO musicians, Ellison, a vocal professor with a charming retro style, leads “a swinging celebration of the most dazzling singers, songwriters, and arrangers of the mid-twentieth century.”
Yale Opera presents two performances of opera scenes—“excerpts from the operatic repertoire, performed with piano”—in Morse Recital Hall this weekend. The first, at 7:30 tonight, features selections from Der Rosenkavalier, Lucia di Lammermoor and Le nozze di Figaro. The second, at 2 p.m. tomorrow, draws from Florencia en el Amazonas, La bohème and Iolanta.
For those who enjoy tiki/beach vibes and want to hold onto Halloween a little while longer, Quail & Ale in Derby hosts Mahaloween, a party dressed up in its own midcentury Hawaii-crazed Halloween costume. Starting at 8, expect “live surf instrumentals, Go-Go Ghouls, great food and cocktails.”
Also at 8, helped by the Hot Cat Jazz Band and the Yale Swing, Blues & Fusion dancing community, the West Haven Veterans Museum & Learning Center hosts a Veterans Day Swing Dance (following a beginners-oriented class—or consider it a warmup—at 7).
Sunday, November 3
“Fall vibes” are in style at Milford’s Dockside Brewery during a Flannel Fest from noon to 5. Expect “a cozy afternoon of craft beers, unique fall bites/treats, and flannel fashion.”
A 4 o’clock punk rock matinee at Cafe Nine features Bad Bloom, Show Girl, Wolf Harbor, Knickey Hickey and Baby Bloos and raises funds for CT Roller Derby. The event also features “raffles, merch, and a live stream of WFTDA Champs.”
Written by Dan Mims. Readers are encouraged to verify times, locations, prices and other details before attending events.
