Today

Skating in Kendall Square in 2019. (Photo: Marc Levy)

Canal District Winter Market from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. in Termeer Square, 675 W. Kendall St., Kendall Square. Free. Pause your skating, shopping and eating to hear the Cambridge Youth Steel Orchestra performance at 4 p.m. Information is here.

Observatory Hill Holiday Stroll from 4 to 7 p.m. centered around Concord and Huron avenues in West Cambridge. Free. Come enjoy what businesses have to offer this holiday season. Included in the event will be Hi-Rise Bread Co.’s 10th annual bazaar. Information is here.

Thursday

The Chicken Slacks at 8 p.m. at The Cantab Lounge, 738 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square. Free. If you like to funk out, you can breathe a sigh of relief: The Cantab, a Cambridge institution some would say is now an outlier in a rapidly changing city, reopens for the first time since March 2020 with the now six-piece funk and soul band that graced it most Thursday nights for years. Nature has healed. Information is here.

Holiday goods at Inman Square’s Albertine Press. (Photo: Albertine Press via Facebook)

Inman Square Holiday Stroll from 6 to 8 p.m. at Cambridge and Hampshire streets. Free. There are no shortages of ways to support local businesses this year. This event features a pop-up market, Santa Claus and a petting zoo. Information is here.

Saturday

Christmas tree lighting at 5 p.m. at St. James’s Episcopal Church, 1991 Massachusetts Ave, Porter Square. Caroling and refreshments accompany the lighting ceremony, and the church will accept unwrapped gift donations for children and teens living at Hildebrand House shelters.