Looking for Something to Do? Free Pasadena Events Nov. 17 to 23

Here are events scheduled Saturday, Nov. 17, to Friday, Nov. 23.

All events are free, so take a look -- and don't you dare say there's nothing to do in Pasadena!

The annual Jackalope Indie Artisan Fair will include live musical performances and plenty of fun, family-friendly activities as well as browsing and people watching Saturday, Nov. 17, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Central Park. Purchase of gifts is not required to attend.

The Caltech Orchestra will perform Dvořák's Cello Concerto (with guest artist John Walz, principal cellist of the LA Opera), Beethoven's Symphony No 7 and Barber's First Essay for Orchestra Saturday, Nov. 17, at 2:30 p.m. and Sunday, Nov. 18, at 3:30 p.m. in Ramo Auditorium at Caltech's Baxter Hall (#77 on this map). The orchestra is made up primarily of professional-level musicians from Caltech and JPL. Parking in Caltech lots and parking structures is free on weekends.

Before recorded music was possible, the art of four hands making music at one piano was common in households. Third@First presents Four Hands and Four Singers Saturday, Nov. 17, at 4 p.m. at First United Methodist Church. The program will include Brahms's Neue Liebeslieder Waltzer Op. 65, Beethoven's Variations on a Theme of Waldstein, Schubert's Rondo and more, featuring pianists Paul Floyd and Junko Ueno Garrett plus soloist singers.

The 2018 Pasadena Doo Dah Parade -- the twisted sister of that other parade -- will include a memorable cast of merrymakers Sunday, Nov. 18, beginning at 11 a.m. on Colorado Boulevard between Altadena Drive and San Gabriel Boulevard. Bring a lawn chair and plan on arriving no later than about 10 a.m. to claim your spot on the sidewalk. 

The Crown City Symphony will perform the overture to Mendelssohn's A Midsummer Night's Dream, Mozart's Concerto in C for Flute, Harp and Orchestra and Smetana's Die Moldau, one of his six Má Vlast symphonic poems, Sunday, Nov. 18, at 2 p.m. at First Baptist Church of Pasadena.

Children ages 5 to 12 are invited to make Thanksgiving crafts, check out books about Thanksgiving and enjoy special refreshments Wednesday, Nov. 21, from 2 to 5 p.m. at Villa-Parke Branch Library.

Photo credits: Jackalope Indie Artisan Fair, Awestruck Wanderer, Gramophone, Philadelphia Music Alliance, Wayback Machine, Crisis Magazine, BBC, Light Bringer Project,  Biblioteque de l'Opera of Paris, Stanford University, Powerful Mothering.