Does summer end with Labor Day? Decide while enjoying outdoor festivals and indoor art openings.
Monday, September 2 - Labor Day
Thousands of people will be running around the city this morning, and not to do errands or get to work. It’s the 47th Annual Faxon Law New Haven Road Race, with all routes, from a kids “fun run” to a half-marathon, starting and finishing at the New Haven Green.
A 3 p.m. Endless Summer Party at the Madison Beach Hotel does have an end, at 6, but in the meantime offers a beach bar and a steel drum reggae band.
Wednesday, September 4
At Best Video in Hamden, member Michael Domangue’s latest monthly Movie Trivia Night has a runtime of 120 minutes, from 7 to 9.
Thursday, September 5
The farm-forward 2024 North Haven Fair starts this evening at 5 p.m., offering tractor pulls, line dancing, live music, dozens of food vendors and more over its four-day run.
The Yale University Art Gallery’s latest exhibition, The Dance of Life: Figure and Imagination in American Art, 1876–1917, gets an opening talk and reception from 5:30 to 6:30.
Friday, September 6
Ives Main Library hosts Paul Bleakley for a discussion of his forthcoming book, No Haven: The Connecticut Mob and the Rise of America’s Model City, “which examines the often untold story of the state’s organized crime scene from a relatively small-scale operation in the 1950s to its climactic fall in the late 1980s.”
Cirque du Célébration, a fundraising gala for the International Festival of Arts & Ideas, offers dinner, drinks, dancing and performances, plus a silent auction, at the New Haven Lawn Club from 5:30 to 10.
Live music anchors three days of activity during the East Haven Fall Festival, which kicks off at 6 on the East Haven Town Green.
At 7 in Yale’s Humanities Quadrangle, dual screenings of Take Shelter (2011) and short film Spanola Pepper Sauce Company (2013) offer “tales of the anxieties of fatherhood set in rural America. In Take Shelter, Michael Shannon gives a powerhouse performance as a man whose apocalyptic visions leave him unsure if he should protect his family from an impending calamity or from himself.”
Saturday, September 7
The CT Folk Festival & Green Expo returns to Edgerton Park from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Expect “live music from local acts to national headliners, delicious food trucks and a Green Expo highlighting artisan vendors, nonprofits, workshops, and a jam-packed day of activities and experiences in the Green Kids Zone.”
From noon to 6, a New Haven Pride Block Party at Crown and Orange Streets convenes “local small businesses, community members, non-profits/local resources and… all-local LGBTQ+ talent!”
Also starting at noon (but lasting “all day and into the night”), an End of Summer Luau at North Haven’s 12 Percent Beer Project promises “great food and live music” as well as discounts on beer if you wear a Hawaiian shirt.
A Harvest Festival from 3:30 to 7:30 at Woodbridge’s Townline Farm offers a corn maze, scenic hayrides, yard games and food trucks serving tacos, pizza, desserts and drinks.
Sunday, September 8
From noon to 5 in Woodbridge, Lucky Soul Tattoo hosts an Upcycle Helmet Art Show highlighting “vintage motorcycle helmets” that 30 artists have turned into “incredible works of art.” According to a press release, “the day also includes a vintage motorcycle show, live music by Tempest Edge, The Parlor pizza truck, Hoax Brewing, The Misfit Makers Market, raffle prizes, awards, and more!”
Overlapping opening receptions give arts appreciators options. First, at 1 p.m., the Ely Center of Contemporary Art fêtes Forest Bathing, a mysterious group show featuring work by 25 artists. Then, at 2 p.m., Kehler Liddell Gallery presents photographer Sven Martson’s Pareidolia, featuring images invoking “the tendency to impose a meaningful interpretation on a nebulous stimulus, usually visual, so that one detects an object, pattern, or meaning where there is none”—while, also at 2, City Gallery celebrates ABSTRACTIONS: New Work by Judy Atlas, a show of paintings and collages.
Written by Dan Mims. Image, featuring Donna the Buffalo performing during a past CT Folk Fest, photographed by Sean Casini and sourced from @ctfolk. Readers are encouraged to verify times, locations, prices and other details before attending events.
