Friday, Oct. 6

Pemberton Mural Project during daylight hours on Pemberton Street between Yerxa Road and Haskell Street in North Cambridge (and continuing through Monday). Free. Participate by adding final touches, no art skills required, on this colorful mural still in progress that was paid for by Participatory Budgeting, replacing one that had weathered over two decades. Even if you have only 20 minutes and don’t live in the ‘hood, the mural organizers have a small task and a brush ready for you. The unveiling party is Oct. 19. Information is here.

Honk! Festival lantern parades and band showcase at 4 p.m. at Hodgkins-Curtin Park, Holland St., Somerville (and continuing through Sunday). Free. The 18th Honk! Festival features 33 activist-oriented bands, some local, some from across the country, and some with as many as 30 players. This annual event has spawned more than 20 similar festivals around the world. The kickoff this evening begins with optional lantern-making workshops followed by lantern parades (at 6:30 p.m.) on six routes from Hodgkins Park. We wrote about the festival here; information about this evening’s schedule is here.

Salsa in the Park from 6 to 9 p.m. at Termeer Square 300 Athenaeum St., Kendall Square, Cambridge. Free. The MetaMovements artist collective begins the evening with small-group lessons for people of different ages and abilities. Stay for the party with performances and dance coaching corners. Information is here.

Dance of the Dead! from 6:30 to 9 p.m. at Starlight Square, 84 Bishop Allen Drive, Central Square, Cambridge. Free. A Halloween-theme dance party with two DJs and a special guest performance. Information is here.

Safiya Sinclair reads from “How to Say Babylon” at 7 p.m. at Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Ave., Harvard Square, Cambridge. Free. Jamaican-born Sinclair follows her poetry collection “Cannibal” with a memoir about growing up with a volatile father following a strict sect of Rastafari, which emphasizes women being obedient and safe from the corrupting influences of the Western world outside their home (“Babylon”). Her loyal mother provided the children with books, which helped Sinclair find her voice and break free. Joining the conversation is Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Tracy K. Smith. Information is here.

Honk! Festival bands at 7 p.m. at Bow Market, 1 Bow Market Way, Union Square, Somerville. Free. Weather permitting, hear a couple of the festival’s brass bands in the open courtyard space, including Emperor Norton’s Stationary Marching Band (Somerville) and Young Fellaz Brass Band (New Orleans). Information is here.

Honk! Festival bands at 7 p.m. at Aeronaut Brewing, 14 Tyler St., near Union Square, Somerville. Free. Weather permitting, hear a few of the festival’s brass bands at the taproom, including the Yes Ma’am Brass Band (of Austin, Texas), Clamor & Lace Noise Brigade (Chicago) and Undertow Brass Band (Providence, Rhode Island). Information is here.

Tribute Concert for Justine Covault from 7 p.m. to midnight at Somerville Theatre’s Crystal Ballroom, 55 Davis Square. “A Night for Justine” honors a musician, promoter, founder of Red on Red Records and tireless supporter of the Boston music scene with performances by Quest For Tuna, The Croaks, The Black Threads, The Bags, Dink Pinkerman, Tom Baker and the Double Down and The Unclean. Information is here.

Sara Ahmed reads from “The Feminist Killjoy Handbook: The Radical Potential of Getting in the Way” from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Connexion, 149 Broadway, Somerville. Free, or $31.88 with book. An author conversation with All She Wrote Books founder and owner Christina Pascucci-Ciampa. Information is here.

A Season of Illuminating Dance: A Toast and Kickoff from 7:30 to 9 p.m. at The Dance Complex, 536 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square, Cambridge. Free, but registration is required. An informal toast (sparkling beverage provided) to the coming season’s events and performances and to the resident and visiting teaching artists. Includes free dance lessons, a party and additional surprises. Information is here.

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Saturday, Oct. 7

Dancing Outdoors: African and Caribbean Dance Fitness with Sylver Rochelin from 10 to 11 a.m. at Joan Lorentz Park at 457 Broadway, Mid-Cambridge (in front of the Cambridge Main Library). Free. Celebrate African and Caribbean dance and culture with Froca Fitness. Sweat happily to traditional and modern choreography set to energizing music from Africa and the Caribbean. Information is here.

Capoeira on the Lawn from 11 a.m. to noon on the lawn of the Somerville Public Library East Branch, 115 Broadway (repeats Oct. 14 and 28). Free. Learn history and technique from local organization Sinha Capoeira. Expect a full-body workout combining the elegance of dance, the power of martial arts and the rhythms of Brazilian music. Information is here.

Honk! Festival from noon to 9 p.m. at various locations in Somerville (and continuing through Sunday). Free. We wrote about the festival here; information about today’s schedule is here.

Gardening workshop with Green City Growers from 2 to 3:30 p.m. on the lawn of the Somerville Public Library, 79 Highland Ave., Central Hill (repeats Nov. 4) Free, but register. A hands-on class to learn when and what to plant and how to bring in a great harvest. Information is here.

Oktoberfest Celebration at the Charles Hotel from 2 to 5 p.m. at One Reason Garden Bar, 1 Bennett St., Harvard Square, Cambridge. Free. Beerfest-themed bites, Trillium Brewing’s Wiesnbier on draught, as well as games, live music and giveaways at this outdoor venue. Toussaint Liberator plays starting at 2:30 p.m. Information is here.

Women, Gender, Caste and Colorism in Tagore’s Compositions at 5 p.m. at the Multicultural Arts Center, 41 Second St., East Cambridge. $20. A show with vocals, live music, dance and drama (with English subtitles) featuring 16 artists. Funded by the Cambridge Arts Council. Information is here.

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Sunday, Oct. 8

Boston ToyCon from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Arts at the Armory, 191 Highland Ave., Somerville. Free, but register. Greater Boston’s premier toy and collectibles show. Presented by Comicazi and Nick’s Comic Strip shop in Danvers. Information is here.

Forty-fourth Annual Oktoberfest from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. in Harvard Square. Free. Food from all over the world, arts, crafts, vintage goods, free samples, sidewalk sales and one-of-a-kind gifts are packed in with beer gardens, the “Chalk on the Walk” art installation, music and dancing in the streets. Returning are wine gardens hosted by the Commonwealth Wine School and Bonde Fine Wine and The Filipino American Festival (in the Church Street parking lot). The event has been known to draw as many as 200,000 people. Information is here.

Honk! Festival Parade (continued) from noon to 2 p.m. starting at Herbert and Day streets. in Davis Square, Somerville, and ending at Winthrop Park in Harvard Square. Free. We wrote about the festival here; information about today’s schedule is here.

Charles River (Quinobequin) Exploration Day with Canoemobile from noon to 4:30 p.m. at the Mass Audubon Nature Center at Magazine Beach, 668 Memorial Drive, Cambridgeport. Free, but register. In 10-person canoes captained by experienced leaders from Wilderness Inquiry, learn from members of the Charles River and Mystic River Watershed Associations about natural history, plants and animals in the area. Information is here.

Seventh Curated Vintage Market from noon to 8 p.m. at Bow Market, 1 Bow Market Way, Union Square, Somerville. Free. More than 80 vintage vendors from New England and beyond take over Somerville Avenue and Bow Market with their best and baddest vintage finds. Information is here.

Screening and talk-back for the pilot “Next Great Hire” from 3 to 6 p.m. at The Foundry, 101 Rogers St., East Cambridge. $5. This first in a series of screenings and talk-backs by the nonprofit Harvard Square Script Writers looks at a spoof on reality TV with a darkly humorous take on the limited prospects for those entering the workforce. Information is here.

“We The Chai Tour!” by Chai at 8 p.m. at the Somerville Theatre’s Crystal Ballroom, 55 Davis Square. $25. Information is here. Chai’s self-titled fourth album is inspired by the Japanese band’s heritage and experiences, with their lead single “We The Female” recorded live during one of the band’s riotous performances. Special guests: Font. Information is here.

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Monday, Oct. 9

Boston Queer Fiber Arts Night at 6 p.m. at Aeronaut Brewing, 14 Tyler St., near Union Square, Somerville. Free. Work on your own project, sip some beer and enjoy the camaraderie of fellow queer crafters. Information is here.

MIT Tango Club from 6:45 to 8 p.m. (beginner) and 7:45 to 9 p.m. (intermediate) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Building 36, Room 112, 50 Vassar St., Area II, Cambridge (and every Monday through Dec. 11). $25. Argentine tango classes with outstanding instructors. No partner required, but wear comfortable clothes and shoes with leather or suede soles, which allow you to pivot and walk backward. Information is here.

Devendra Banhart performs at 8 p.m. at The Sinclair, 52 Church St., Harvard Square, Cambridge. $30 and 18-plus. The American-Venezuelan singer-songwriter and visual artist Banhart plays songs from his new (11th) album, “Flying Wig,” described as “something slick, city pop-adjacent and Eno-esque.” Information is here.

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Tuesday, Oct. 10

Fergus M. Bordewich reads from “Klan War: Ulysses S. Grant and the Battle to Save Reconstruction at 6 p.m. in the lecture hall at the Cambridge Main Library, 449 Broadway, Mid-Cambridge. Free, or $37.19 with book. Bordewich chronicles the first national antiterrorist campaign waged on American soil – when Ulysses S. Grant wielded the power of the federal government to dismantle the Ku Klux Klan. Ilyon Woo, author of “Master Salve Husband Wife: An Epic Journey from Slavery to Freedom,” joins in the conversation during this event co-sponsored with Harvard Book Store. Information is here.

Kristen Emack talks about “Cousins: Photobook” from 6:15 to 8:15 p.m. at the CAA@Canal Gallery, 650 E. Kendall St., Kendall Square, Cambridge. $15, or $75 with book. Cambridge Art Association member Emack discusses her published photographs celebrating Black girlhood, which chronicle the connection between the lives of her daughter and cousins in Cambridge. Information is here.

The Blue Hills: Charles Eliot’s Design Experiment (1893-1897) lecture from 6:30 to 8 p.m. in Piper Auditorium of Gund Hall, 42 Quincy St., near Harvard Square, Cambridge. Free. Harvard Professor of Landscape Architecture Anita Berrizbeitia discusses how giant public landscapes advanced in late 19th-century Boston. Information is here.

Michèle Lamont reads from “Seeing Others: How Recognition Works – and How It Can Heal a Divided World” at 7 p.m. at Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Ave., Harvard Square, Cambridge. Free. Lamont, a Harvard professor of sociology and African and African American Studies, discusses how Americans feed into the marginalization of many groups by valuing self-reliance, competition and diplomas, and what we should focus on instead. Information is here.

Supper Club: “From the Oven to the Table” by Diana Henry from 7 to 9 p.m. at Remnant Brewing, 2 Bow St., Union Square, Somerville (and on the second Tuesday of every month). Free, but registration required. This time the potluck centers around a cookbook describing how to dump ingredients and let the oven do the rest – the subtitle is “simple dishes that look after themselves.” Information is here.

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Wednesday, Oct. 11

Getting to Know Eliza: ChatGPT’s Great Grandmother from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Building 32 (Stata Center), Room 155, 32 Vassar St., Area II, Cambridge. Free. Mark Marino, professor of digital writing at University of Southern California, explores the code of MIT’s Eliza program from 1966 joined by artist Peggy Weill in person and members of Team Eliza via Zoom. Information is here.

The Living Dead in Ancient Egypt from 6 to 7 p.m. at the Geological Lecture Hall, Harvard Geological Museum, 24 Oxford St., in the Baldwin neighborhood near Harvard Square, Cambridge. Free, but register. Egyptologist Julia Troche talks about how the dead were revered and the ramifications of deification, such as challenging royal authority during the Pyramid Age. Information is here.

Books and Brews from 6:15 to 7:30 p.m. at Aeronaut Brewing, 14 Tyler St., near Union Square, Somerville. Free, but 21-plus. A collaboration with the Somerville Public Library that this month explores “Inland” by Téa Obreht. Information is here.

Paul Yoon reads from “The Hive and the Honey” at 7 p.m. at Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Ave., Harvard Square, Cambridge. Free. Yoon follows his award-winning novel “Snow Hunters” with this collection of vividly imaginative short stories portraying the vastness and complexity of Korean diasporic communities and the beauty and cruelty experienced by characters far from home. Senior Vanity Fair editor Keziah Weir joins the conversation. Information is here.

QuICK Climbing Meet-up from 7 to 9 p.m. at Central Rock Gym, 20 Brattle St., Harvard Square, Cambridge (repeats every Wednesday). $20 (includes gear). A community of LGBTQ climbers who want make friends while climbing. Information is here.

Spelling Bee(r) from 8 to 10 p.m. at Aeronaut Brewing, 14 Tyler St., near Union Square, Somerville (and continuing Nov. 8 and Dec. 6). Free and 21-plus. The brewery allows up to 10 teams of up to three members each to cross swords, orthographically speaking. Signup is first come, first served. Information is here.

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Thursday, Oct. 12

Chile Innovation Night from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Venture Café, CIC Cambridge, One Broadway, fifth floor, Kendall Square, Cambridge. Free. Learn about Latin America’s burgeoning innovation scene, hear a panel led by two influential women innovators, discover remarkable Chilean startups and enjoy Chilean wines, empanadas and live music. Sponsored by the nonprofit ChileMass. Information is here.

Ruth J. Simmons reads from “Up Home: One Girl’s Journey” at 6 p.m. The Brattle Theatre, 40 Brattle St., Harvard Square, Cambridge. $10 and $32 (includes book). The former president of Smith College and Brown University and now the outgoing president of Prairie View A&M, Simmons discusses her memoir about growing up the 12th child of sharecroppers, and how the people who love us when we are young shape who we become. Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. joins in the conversation during this event sponsored with Harvard Book Store. Information is here.

“Art, Data and Surveillance” colloquium from 6 to 7:15 p.m. in the Geological Lecture Hall, Harvard Geological Museum, 24 Oxford St., in the Baldwin neighborhood near Harvard Square, Cambridge. Free, but register. Associate professor of African and African diaspora studies Simone Browne, Nigerian-American artist Mimi Ọnụọha and Harvard anthropology professor Gabriella (Biella) Coleman examine how artists grapple with the hidden infrastructures of surveillance and explore its consequences. In conjunction with the exhibition “Surveillance: From Vision to Data” (continuing through June 2024). Information is here.

Tyler Gaca reads from “Gentle Chaos: Poems, Tales and Magic” at 7 p.m. at Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Ave., Harvard Square, Cambridge. Free. TikTok celebrity Gaca gives reflects on growing up queer and in love with magic. Joining the conversation is Ash Kell and Alaina Urquhart-White, hosts of the true crime podcast “Morbid.” Information is here.

Charif Shanahan reads from “Trace Evidence” from 7 to 8 p.m. at Grolier Poetry Book Shop on 6 Plympton St., Harvard Square, Cambridge. $10, but registration is required. In conversation with Marcus Wicker. Information is here.

MIT Symphony Orchestra Concert: “Struggle Overcome” at 8 p.m. at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Kresge Auditorium, 48 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge. $10. Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges’ Symphony no. 2; Margaret Bonds’ “Montgomery Variations”; and Antonín Dvořák’s Symphony no. 7. Information is here.

Eugene Mirman & Friends at 8 p.m. at Somerville Theatre’s Crystal Ballroom, 55 Davis Square. $25. An evening with comedy from Eugene Mirman (“Bob’s Burgers”), Maeve Higgins (“Wait Wait … Don’t Tell Me!”) and poet-comedian Derrick Brown. Information is here.

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Friday, Oct. 13

“Water Stories: River Goddesses, Ancestral Rites and Climate Crisis” panel discussion from 10 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. at the Knafel Center of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University, 10 Garden Street, west of Harvard Square, Cambridge. Free, but register. A discussion with three artists who contributed works to the exhibition (continuing through Dec. 16) followed by a panel of scholars from Barnard and Emerson colleges discussing religion, spirituality, sacred rivers and the climate crisis. Information is here.

Cursed Crafts: Image transfer candles from 4 to 5:30 p.m. in the community room of the Somerville Public Library West Branch, 40 College Ave., near Davis Square. Free, but register. Celebrate Friday the 13th by picking images to use in creating a creepy candle worthy of display. Information is here.

“Flora x Fauna” 2023 Exhibit opening reception from 6 to 8 p.m. at Cambridge Center for Adult Education, 42 Brattle St., Harvard Square. Free. Celebrate the works of visual arts students and instructors in the center community. Information is here.

Leslie Sainz reads from “Have You Been Long Enough at Table” at 7 p.m. at Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Ave., Harvard Square, Cambridge. Free. Sainz’s debut poetry collection explores the tragedies of the Cuban American experience, displacement and inherited exile. Joining the conversation is Allison Adair, author of “The Clearing,” and K. Iver, author of “Short Film Starring My Beloved’s Red Bronco.” Information is here.

Dvidha from 7:30 to 9:30 at the Multicultural Arts Center, 41 Second St., East Cambridge. $35. Dvidha, a Sanskrit word meaning “duality,” describes a showcase of Bharatanatyam and Kathak dance – two forms sharing Indian aesthetics – presented by Swathi Jaisankar and Ariaki Dandawate. Information is here.

“Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” at 8 p.m. at Arrow Street Arts, 2 Arrow Street, Harvard Square, Cambridge. $55 to $65. This Sondheim classic is the very first performance at Arrow Street Arts in the former Oberon space. Renovations aren’t finished – no bar or concessions until 2024. Information is here.

New England Jazz Collaborative performs “Unplayed/Unheard” at 8 p.m. at the Longy School of Music, 27 Garden St., Harvard Square, Cambridge. Free, but register. New music opened by students from Longy’s jazz and contemporary music department. Information is here.