City Sounds, Giant Balloons, Lights & More Lights: This Weekend In CT

DANBURY, CT — The weekend before Thanksgiving can barely be considered part of the holiday season, but even a small sampling of all Connecticut has to offer will have you primed and ready for that long winter's nap, nevertheless.

This weekend marks the start of the Holiday Lights Spectacular in Olde Mistick Village, in Mystic, which will keep on glowing through the end of January 2024. Its promoters call it the largest holiday light display in southern New England. Over a half-million lights will decorate the village square, filled with quaint, one-of-a-kind of shops and top-tier restaurants. The festival is free to the public, as is the parking. Leashed pets are welcome. The Village's holiday hours this weekend, and through Dec. 23, are Monday-Saturday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Sunday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Restaurants and luxury cinemas are open later. More info here.

Look for more lights, and more glowing, at the Glow Hartford Holiday Light Festival & Market, which opens Saturday and runs through Nov. 23. Held at the Connecticut Convention Center, the festive bulbs aren't for ornamentation, they are the main event, and the show is twice the size as last year. But that doesn't mean there's nothing to drink, eat or buy, at the festival's licensed bar and winter market, showcasing local artisans and boutique businesses. Getting your free photo taken with Santa on the trackless "Glow-comotive" train is among the many family-friendly activities to be found among the interactive light gardens and illuminated structures at the festival. Schedule and tickets are available online here.

Once you've got an SUV-ful of interactive lights, you'll need a tree to sling them on, and you might win yourself a spectacular one at The 21st Annual Festival of Trees in Danbury. There you will find an entire forest of decorated trees, high-end raffles prizes, the Boutique and Quilter’s Corner gift shops and a craft fair. The whole extravaganza, "Greater Danbury’s signature holiday event," is a fundraiser for Ann’s Place, which supplies support and resources to families living with cancer. Located at the Summit in Danbury at 100 Reserve Road Friday through Sunday, the Festival is celebrating its 21st year and has raised over $4.15 million for the charity.

In Greater Stamford, there's no debate that the holiday season will officially kick off on Sunday with the annual Stamford Downtown Parade Spectacular, one of the largest of its kind in the country. Organizers' picks for the highlights of the march include 15 giant balloons, KIDZ BOP and Santa Floats. Be on the lookout for some of the top area marching band talent and dance groups.

On Saturday, the holiday parade-curious (and we all are, just a little bit) are invited to the Point72 Giant Balloon Inflation Party, from 3-6 p.m. at the intersection of Hoyt Street and Summer Street in Stamford. This pre-parade event offers spectators a behind-the-scenes look at the helium-filled monstrosities as they come to life. Music, parade talent, cartoon characters and Santa will be on hand to greet saucer-eyed parade-lovers of every age.

That's an awful lot of holiday cheer for two days this early in the season, and no one can blame you if you need to take it down a notch before heading back to work Monday. Our recommendation is a visit to "Spill The Tea - A Friendsgiving Tea Tasting," at Lyman Orchards in Middlefield on Sunday. Two sittings of guests (1 p.m. and 4 p.m.) will be served afternoon tea in style in the elegant Lyman Homestead living room. The guided tea tasting is from Savvy Tea Gourmet of Madison, and the food menu includes pumpkin tea bread, apple and cranberry tea sandwiches with sage cream cheese, and Lyman's own quiche.

In 1970, extraordinary American composer Alvin Lucier's even more extraordinary "(Hartford) Memory Space" premiered, in Hartford. Lucier didn't write music so much as explore the nature of sound itself, and for his "Memory Space" series, local musicians were invited to recreate the sounds they heard while out in the city. This Saturday in Hartford, The Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Wesleyan University’s Center for the Arts, and Hartford Art School at the University of Hartford will have their go at recreating Lucier's street-strains opus. Music lovers and fans of the unusual are invited to drop by the museum from 1-2 p.m., "as musicians create a conceptual sound map" of the city throughout the galleries. The event is free with admission.