Balloon & Santa Parades, Fireworks, LEGOs, Thanksgiving re-enactments, Sing-a-long

Happy Kick Off to Xmas Merchant Events! For the next month I will list all the nighttime holiday light displays in New England. Please let me know if you know of any others, and please check out my other blog where I’m trying to set a world record this week, and I’m giving away an HP Envy laptop, worth $1,700. See www.WheelQuestions.org.

Wheel Questions Video Blitz & Laptop Giveaway 11/21 – 11/28 Various
I’m more than half-way now to trying to collect as many deep questions about life as I can in a single week, an art project that has me out on the street with a video camera and an installation every day this week. And I’m giving away an HP Envy laptop (thanks, sponsors!). Click to subscribe to the blog and enter the contest to win.
See website for tour, Various. see details on the complete Johnny’s List
Springfield’s Parade of the Big Balloons 11/27 Western Mass
Probably the best event after Thanksgiving is the parade in Springfield. The non-metro towns that try the hardest to lure in tourists are Springfield, Quincy, Salem, and Lowell. You can bet whenever an event happens in any of these places, it’ll be good.
Main Street, Springfield, MA.413-733-3800. see details on the complete Johnny’s List
Friday After Thanksgiving Chain Reaction 11/27 Boston Metro
But what I have my heart set on is this contest to build elaborately complicated machines called Rube Goldberg devices. That’s when the candle heats the air going into the balloon, which bursts, surprising the bird who tips over a bucket, sending water onto a cat, who yowls and pulls a string, releasing a bowling ball to roll… you get the idea. 1-4pm.
MIT Campus, Rockwell Gymnasium, 120 Vassar Street, Cambridge, MA. see details on the complete Johnny’s List
LEGO Extravaganza @ Acton 11/27 Metro West
They’re also building giant sculptures in Acton, with LEGOs. Make sure to bring hand sanitizer!
177 Main St, Acton, MA.978-264-4200. see details on the complete Johnny’s List
Sing-a-Long Mary Poppins 11/27 – 11/29 Boston Metro
I prefer the events that are participatory. Here’s another. Mary Poppins, the classic musical is being shown in Arlington along with printed lyrics so you can sing along. How fun!!
Regent Theatre, Arlington, MA. see details on the complete Johnny’s List
The Rocky Horror Show Live! 11/29 Boston Metro
The Rocky Horror Picture Show is theatre show that takes place in front of a movie screen. It’s a tale of lust and encounters that is intellectual and off-beat, rather than porntastic. 8pm.
Club Oberon, 1 Arrow Street, Cambridge, MA. see details on the complete Johnny’s List
Thanksgiving Contra Dance 11/26 Boston Metro
Some fun exercise is this folk dance in Watertown. I’ve been to many contra dances, which are line dances meant to facilitate people meeting each other, and they tend to attract intelligent and classy people. It’s easy to pick up and, unlike ballroom dancing, if you do it wrong you just laugh and get back in place and nobody seems to mind. Highly recommended.
Church, 80 Mount Auburn St, Watertown, MA. see details on the complete Johnny’s List

And a lot more this week at the Complete Johnny’s List of Weird Boston Events, including:

Thanksgiving & A New England Wedding at OSV, Wined & Dined in 1809, Historic Thanksgivings at The Old Manse, A Season of Thanks, in Deerfield, Winter Celebration @ Mt. Kearsarge Indian Museum, The Capitol Steps, Literacise exchibit at Boston Public Library, Half-Price Day at Franklin Park Zoo & Stone Zoo, New England International Auto Show, Castleberry Fair – Wilmington, Ice Skating Statewide, Santa Parade and Fireworks over Choate, Lowell City of Lights Parade & Holiday Art Stroll, Quincy, The Christmas Lights Festival, Santa Arrives in Salem, Santa’s Arrival at Roger Williams Park Zoo, Gloucester’s Santa Parade & Tree Lighting, Newburyport Santa Parade & Tree Lighting, Winthrop Holiday Lighting Festival, Copley Square Tree Lighting, TubaChristmas Concert at Fanueil Hall, Macy’s Christmas Tree Lighting, Holidays at Heritage Museum, Mass Horticultural’s Festival of Trees, Rockport Santa Arrival & Tree Lighting, Smolak Farms Tree Lighting & Santa Visit, New England Handbell Ringers Holiday Concert, 1627 Harvest Dinner @ Plimoth Plantation, The Nutcracker, Shaker Supper @ Hancock Shaker Village, Harvard Square Holiday Crafts Fair, and more.

Want this weekly? subscribe and see Wheel Questions, too. Send encouragement & ideas to johnny@weirdbostonevents.org.