Here’s your curated Hartford event calendar for September 2024.

What makes this list? Events that I would either attend or recommend to a good friend.
Review events with the host/venue to confirm details have not changed since publication.

ADD TO CALENDAR

  • MAX CREEK: Free performance at the CT Old State House on September 5, 2024. It seems the show begins at 6 PM?
  • EXQUISITE LONELINESS: Richard Deming, author of This Exquisite Loneliness, will be at the Twain House to talk about “how loneliness has served as fuel for an intense creative desire that has forged some of the most original and innovative art and writing of the twentieth century.” This is an in-person event at 7 PM on September 5, 2024. Register for it!
  • PARKVILLE ART GALLERY OPENING: A brand new art gallery is having its grand opening on September 7, 2024 from 6-9 PM. There will be art from 17 artists including Andy Hart, Miguel Jose Matos, and Amanda Roy. This is at 1420 Park Street, Suite 204 — Park Street buses stop in front of the building and this is one short block from the CTfastrak Parkville Station.
  • E-BIKES:  The Connecticut Electric Bicycle Incentive Program returns for a second year this month, and it can’t hurt to go into the process understanding it better. There is a free webinar from 3-4 PM on September 11, 2024 that will explain voucher eligibility requirements, which electric bicycles are included, and how to apply. You can probably get all this info by reading through their website, which is where you can find the application when it is live from September 17 through October 1, 2024.
  • BORDERLAND: For just one night Real Art Ways will be screening Borderland: The Line Within, a film about the United States’ war on immigrants. This is September 12, 2024 at 6:30 PM. Tickets are $12.
  • PROJECT 2025 AND AUTHORITARIAN AMBITION: Charter Oak Cultural Center is hosting this free virtual lecture by UConn professor Christopher Vials on September 12, 2024 at 6:30 PM. Register to receive the login information.
  • MIDAS: Is there anything more Hartford than a film about robbing an insurance company? This heist movie was filmed in Hartford. Watch it at Cinestudio on September 13-14, 2024. Tickets are $10.
  • LEST WE FORGET: Take a walking tour of Cedar Hill Cemetery and learn about some of the infectious diseases that landed people in/on the grounds before vaccines and better sanitation practices. As they put it: “Cholera infantum, the bloody flux, ague, putrid fever, filth disease, consumption – and the treatments sometimes sounded just as scary.” The tour is from 10 AM until noon on September 14, 2024. $10 registration fee.
  • TRANSPORTATION NERD FIELD TRIP: Put on your walking shoes and get ready for a double-header walking tour of Hartford and New Britain. Curious about a pedestrianized street? Wondering what it looks like when working class residential areas receive traffic calming and bicycle infrastructure? Want to stop every three feet to take a pic of a vertical delineator? The tour begins in downtown Hartford and includes parts of Frog Hollow; then, we zooooom down to New Britain on the CTfastrak and spend some time on their streets. Two downtowns, two barrios. This begins late morning on September 15, 2024. Use contact form before September 13th if you’d like to receive more information about this free event. Please note that this is not a walk audit or “safety walk.”

  •  PEACE IS EVERY STEP: With chanting and meditation, learn about Thich Nhat Hanh and Zen Buddhist monastic practices at the Hartford International University for Religion & Peace on September 16, 2024 from 1-4 PM. Register for this free event.
  • ETERNAL HOMES: Learn about the art and architecture of the private mausoleums at Cedar Hill Cemetery on a two hour walking tour that begins at 10 AM on September 18, 2024. There’s a $10 fee.
  • PRATT STREET SALSA SOCIAL:  This is the second to last salsa social for this season, so get out there and enjoy it. September 20, 2024 from 5-8 PM on Pratt Street. Free.
  • COMMUNAL DRUM: Come to listen and walk the labyrinth, or join in, bring a drum or use one they provide. Everyone is welcome at this drum circle hosted by the Spiritual Life Center at 76 Sherman Street. This is September 21, 2024 from 3-5 PM; light refreshments provided.
  • IMPROV STEPHEN KING TALE: If you haven’t read Stephen King, you might actually think his writing is entirely horror, but it’s actually pretty funny and if you don’t want to believe me and read it, then at least go see what Sea Tea Improv does to it. They say: “We will take your suggestion and spin it into a full length new story on the spot in the style of Stephen King, inspired by stories like The Shining, It, Cujo, Pet Sematary, and more… but with comedy, too. Tired of the same old evils? Your input will decide what happens. Want to experience Stephen King in real life without going to Maine? Join us and laugh your nightmares away… with an Improvised Stephen King Tale, a night of horror-comedy.” This begins at 7 PM on September 21, 2024. Tickets are a bargain $10.
  • FUTURE PARK CELEBRATION: Games, park tours, free picnic lunch, and the unveiling of the master plan for the incoming park north of Riverside Park along the Connecticut River. This event is September 28, 2024 from 11 AM – 2 PM. Free, but register.
  • ASBURY SHORT FILM CONCERT: An evening of short films with something for everyone — comedy, drama, animation. September 28, 2024 from 5-7:30 PM at Wadsworth Atheneum. Tickets are $8 for Hartford residents; more for non-residents.

REPEATS!

  • FREE SIERRA CLUB YOGA. Thursdays in Bushnell Park by the carousel on September 5, 12, and 19, 2024 from 4-5 PM, weather permitting.

Mondays and Wednesdays at 5:30 PM: Bushnell Park, lawn between pond and Pump House Gallery [If Bushnell Park has deemed it acceptable to let regular residents use the park without paying an enormous fee]

Tuesdays and Thursdays at 5:30 PM: Elizabeth Park, Rose Garden lawn

Fridays at 5:30 PM: Pope Park, lawn north and west of the Pope Park Rec Center

Saturdays at 10 AM: Keney Park, lawn across from the Bluet Meadow near Vine Street & Love Lane

Sundays at 10 AM: Colt Park, lawn east of Armsmear

CULTURAL ASSETS

For ongoing free education, entertainment, public art, and resources — like 24/7 food pantries and libraries — check out this map. Zoom in and click on the icons for more information. This was last updated in August 2024