Things to Do in Durham this Week

Weekly Events in Durham

(December 29- January 4)

Welcome to a comprehensive guide of weekly events in Durham – from Broadway shows to intimate performances, serene river paddles to art exhibits, dance parties, food tours and more. Start here to plan your perfect week.

If you’d like to add an event to our calendar, submit an event here. Please check with the event organizers to see if events change due to weather. Have a great week!

Even More Ways to Find Events in Durham

Discover Durham has an app! Now, you can access our event calendar, updated daily, plus curated itineraries, challenges and a handy map to help you find even more things to do, places to eat and drink and more, all from your phone.

Final Days! Join the Bull City Beer Challenge

Join us through December 31 for the Bull City Beer Challenge! Check-in with our app at 12 challenge locations to win a free Beer Challenge T-Shirt. Click here for the full list of beer challenge participants.

Download the App to Join the Challenge

Noteworthy Events in Durham this Week

African American Dance Ensemble Kwanzaafest at Durham Armory

• Kwanzaa Fest is more than just a gathering; it’s a time to honor African American culture and values, including unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity, and faith.
• It's also a time for reflection and celebration, with communal feasts and gatherings that bring together family and friends.
• Performances start at 2:00 pm.
• Thursday, January 1
• 11 am
• Free

Eno River First Day Hike at Eno River State Park

• Start the New Year outdoors! The hikes are open to the public and will begin at the large picnic shelter located at the Fews Ford Access in Eno River State Park. There will be 2.6-mile and 4.4-mile hike options available, and those new to hiking are welcome to join. The Eno River Association will also be providing hot cocoa for participants.
• Please feel free to bring water and snacks. Wear comfortable, weather appropriate clothing and shoes.
• Hikes are geared towards adults, but children are welcome with an accompanying adult. Well-behaved dogs are permitted but they must be kept on leash at all times.
• Thursday, January 1
• 2 pm
• Free, but preregistration required

The Winks & Rouge Cabaret Burlesque and Drag Open Stage at Durty Bull Brewing Company

• Get ready for The Winks & Rouge Cabaret — enjoy a fierce night of burlesque and drag live on stage!
• Experience the art of tease and transformation as local performers express themselves through their art. Start the New Year off right while you indulge in a tantalizing night full of fantasies coming to life with Burlesque and Drag performances that'll ignite your senses! From seasoned artists with over a decade of experience to fresh faces just starting out, the stage celebrates variety, diversity, and creativity.
• 21+ Doors 7:30pm
• Thursday, January 1
• Admission: $12 in advance, $15 day of

New Year's Festivities

Check out this round-up of all of the New Year's Eve and New Year's Day events in Durham on our blog. ✨🍾

Multi-Day Events

Guilty Pleasure at Shadowbox Studio

• Guilty Pleasure, a new play by Charlie Probus.
• Gabriel, a youthful-looking vampire still clinging to his Catholic faith, goes to St. Cassian Cathedral where he encounters Father Noah Harris, a priest with a troubled past of his own. As Gabriel struggles with his monstrous nature and his calling from God, Harris attempts to offer spiritual guidance, only to have his own secrets exposed.
• The production is partnering with local artists, who have created pieces inspired by the show. Arrive early to shop the exclusive collection and support local artists.
• Tickets: General admission is $20, which helps support the cost of the production, but all tickets are available on a pay-what-you-want basis to ensure accessibility.
• January 2-4

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child at DPAC, Durham Performing Arts Center

• Broadway’s spellbinding spectacular HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD is coming to the Triangle. Join the next adventure and experience the wizarding world like never before at this record-breaking hit and winner of six Tony Awards including Best Play. “It’s one of the most defining pop culture events of the decade” (Forbes).
• When Harry Potter’s head-strong son Albus befriends the son of his fiercest rival, Draco Malfoy, it sparks an unbelievable new journey for them all—with the power to change the past and future forever. Prepare for a mind-blowing race through time, spectacular spells, and an epic battle, all brought to life with the most astonishing theatrical magic ever seen on stage. It’s a “marvel of imagination” (The New York Times) that will “leave you wondering ‘how’d they do that?’ for days to come” (People Magazine).
• December 28-January 11

Love Durham and Dine for Hope: 10% of Proceeds Support Global Missions! at Vittles at the Park

• Enjoy delicious Southern cooking at Vittles at the Park while supporting a Durham nonprofit through the Flavors of Hope fundraiser. Now through December 31, guests can dine with purpose as Vittles donates 10% of each participating meal to Visions of Hope Outreach International, a Durham-based 501(c)(3) organization serving local and global communities through humanitarian outreach. This community dining event invites guests to enjoy classic soul food favorites while contributing to efforts that provide food, education, medical support, and essential resources to vulnerable populations around the world.
• To participate, simply mention “Visions of Hope” when ordering. Vittles will make a donation on your behalf, allowing your meal to directly support mission work in regions including the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, the Dominican Republic, Ethiopia, and Hong Kong.
• December 12-31

Holiday Tea @ Washington Duke Inn & Golf Club at Washington Duke Inn & Golf Course

• Each guest enjoys a personal pot of loose-leaf tea from The Republic of Tea, with blends such as Earl Grey, Rose Petal and Blueberry Hibiscus. Elegant tiered trays arrive with warm scones, delicate sandwiches and hand-crafted sweets prepared by the AAA Four Diamond Fairview’s acclaimed culinary team. Guests may also enhance their experience with a Tea Royale featuring champagne, a mimosa or a Kir Royale, while children can delight in a Kid’s Holiday Tea menu designed just for them.
• Reservations are required.
• December 3-31
• Admission: $40-$65

Durham Bulls FestiBull of Lights at Durham Bulls Athletic Park

• FestiBull of Lights transforms the Durham Bulls Athletic Park into a dazzling winter wonderland! Stroll through thousands of twinkling lights synchronized to festive music, creating a magical holiday experience for all ages. Meet Santa, hop aboard the NC by Train Holiday Express, create seasonal crafts, roast s’mores, savor festive food and drinks, and enjoy even more holiday fun — all surrounded by a breathtaking display of lights! Meet Santa & Wool E. Claus!
• November 20- January 3
• Admission: $12

Mangum Family Christmas Lights at 7510 Guess Road

• A free drive-in synchronized light show through the holidays until New Year's Eve. Get cozy in your car, tune in to 90.3 FM on your radio to hear the Christmas music, and sing along as you watch over 100,000 dancing lights.
• Through January 3

Holiday Cocktails & Treats at The Durham

• Get in the holiday spirit as you enjoy festive cocktails and house-made treats on the Roof and in the Coffee Bar, all decked out with our mid-century holiday décor. This special menu is available in addition to our regular menus beginning Friday, November 28.
• November 28- January 1

Holiday Model Train Show at Durham Main Library Auditorium

• Watch as ten model trains travel through the State Fair, Winter Town, Spooky Town and more!
• December 16- January 5
• Free

Guided Spirits Tasting Tour at Liberty & Plenty Distillery

• Join a brand ambassador from Liberty & Plenty Distillery for a guided tour of the production facility and Rickhouse in Downtown Durham to learn the basics of how spirits are made. Every tour includes a tasting of Liberty & Plenty Distillery's rums, vodkas, gins and whiskies.
• Every Friday at 5:00 PM and 6:30 PM and every Saturday at 2:00 PM and 3:30 PM
• Admission: $20

Half Price Oysters at Alley Twenty Six

• Durham’s Alley Twenty Six is now offering $1.50 raw oyster special from 4-5 p.m. Tuesdays-Fridays. A selection of oysters are sourced from North Carolina and often Canada, Virginia or elsewhere along the East Coast and served with cocktail sauce, Mignonette sauce and lemon. Bar seats are available first come, first serve or make a reservation at alleytwentysix.com.
• December 8-December 31

Monday, December 29

5 p.m.

Arts & Drafts at Beer Study Durham

6 p.m.

Disc Golf Putting League at The Glass Jug Beer Lab - RTP

6:30 p.m.

Trivia Night at Ponysaurus Brewing Co.

Crunk Club DRM presents: Crank Arm Durham RUN at Crank Arm Brewing Durham

7 p.m.

Not Rocket Science Trivia at Fizzwerks

Board Game Night at Moon Dog Meadery

7:30 p.m.

The MOST Open Mic (Monday Moans) at West End Wine Bar

The Devines Intervention Comedy Open Mic at Devine's Restaurant and Bar

Tuesday, December 30

2 p.m.

NCCU Women's Basketball v. Averett at NCCU

5 p.m.

Yaki Tuesday at Dashi

Free Wine Tasting at Wine Authorities

6 p.m.

The Glass Jog Run Club - Winter Series at The Glass Jug Beer Lab - RTP

Vinyl Night with DJ Deckades at Gizmo Brew Works

Adult Coloring Night at Hi-Wire Brewing

Gentle Yoga Flow at ReCity Network

Music Bingo Night at Glass Jug Downtown

Glass Jog Run Club - Spring Series at The Glass Jug Beer Lab

Women on the Wall at Triangle Rock Club - Durham

BYOV w/ Jaffar (Bring Your Own Vinyl Night) at Rubies on Five Points

7 p.m.

Monday Night Trivia at Aloft Durham Downtown

Karaoke Night at the bar @DBCo

Trivia at Beer Study Durham (back room)

Not Rocket Science Trivia at DSSOLVR Durham

Video Game Night at Moon Dog Meadery

Wednesday, December 31

11 a.m.

Guided Tour of Pauli Murray's Childhood Home at Pauli Murray Center for History and Social Justice

4 p.m.

Duke Men's Basketball v. Georgia Tech at Cameron Indoor Stadium

New Year’s Eve Dinner at Alley Twenty Six

Whiskey Wednesday at Alley Twenty Six

5 p.m.

New Year’s Eve Dinner at Washington Duke Inn & Golf Club

New Year’s Eve Omakase at Dashi

New Year’s Eve Dinner at The Durham

Wine Wednesday! Free Wine Tasting at Beer Study Durham

6:30 p.m.

Crank Arm DURHAM Wednesday Night Ride at Crank Arm Brewing Durham

Trivia Night at The Glass Jug Beer Lab - RTP

7 p.m.

Hammered Trivia at Hi Wire brewing

Signature Wine Tasting at Zinc House Winery & Brewery

Trivia Night at Mystic Farm & Distillery

Music Bingo at Ponysaurus Brewing Co.

Music Bingo at the bar @DBCo

Brett Chambers Open Mic at The Blue Note Grill

Old School Bingo Night – Every Wednesday Night at DSSOLVR

Music Mashup Trivia at Fizzwerks

8 p.m.

New Year's Eve Dance Party at The Velvet Hippo

Unscripted Durham New Year’s Eve Party at Unscripted Durham

Air Hockey Tournament at Boxcar Arcade

Karaoke at Moon Dog Meadery

9 p.m.

New Years Eve Party on the Roof: Mob Wives Get Down at The Durham

Last Wednesdays: Velvet Disco DJ Sets with Lex Nell at The Velvet Hippo

New Years Eve 2026 at Sheraton Imperial Hotel

NYE Psychedelic Rodeo at The Fruit

NYE Party at Boxcar Bar + Arcade

10 p.m.

NYE Celebration at Bar Virgile

Thursday, January 1

11 a.m.

Barrels of Fun Brewery Tasting w/ Seth at Bull City Solera and Taproom

African American Dance Ensemble Kwanzaafest at Durham Armory

New Year’s Brunch at The Durham

1 p.m.

Duke Women's Basketball v. Boston College at Cameron Indoor Stadium

2 p.m.

Eno River First Day Hike at Eno River State Park

5:30 p.m.

Walking Club with Bull City Strollers at Glass Jug Downtown

6 p.m.

Vinyl Night with DJ Deckades at Gizmo Brew Works

6:30 p.m.

Decolonizing Yoga at Duke Park

Sapphic Happy Hour at Zeitgeist Gallery & Bar

Boulders & Brews Meetup at Triangle Rock Club - Durham

7 p.m.

Thursday Trivia at Baryo

Crank Arm Durham Presents: Level up and Sip at Crank Arm Brewing Durham

Trivia Night at Beer Tooth Taproom

Board Game Night at Moon Dog Meadery

Hammered Trivia at Durty Bull Brewing

7:30 p.m.

Trivia Night w/Big Slow Tom at Clouds Brewing Brightleaf Square

8 p.m.

Music Trivia Bingo with Stormie Daie! at The Velvet Hippo

Queer-Eoke at Club ERA

Friday, January 2

Events at Club Era

• 7-10 p.m. - Pregame Fridays!
  
  
• 10 p.m. - 2 a.m. - Freaky Fridays

10 a.m.

Tasting at Counter Culture Coffee

12 p.m.

Friday Co-Working Social at The Glass Jug Downtown

5 p.m.

Food Truck Friday at The Glass Jug Beer Lab - RTP

6 p.m.

The Duke Street Dogs at The Blue Note Grill

8 p.m.

Open Mic Comedy Night at Durty Bull Brewing Company

9 p.m.

Hush Hush Improv Comedy at Mettlesome Theatre

Well Seasoned - comedy at Mettlesome Theatre

Karaoke at Flying Bull Beer Company Taproom

9:30 p.m.

First Friday Latin Nights! at The Velvet Hippo

10 p.m.

The [Friday] Night Shift at The Velvet Hippo

Last Friday Night Part 1: a Posh Agenda Affair at Rubies on Five Points

Saturday, January 3

Guided Walking Tours with Triangle Adventures

• 2 p.m. - Historic Downtown Durham Walking Tour
• 4 p.m. - Durham African American History Tour
• 6 p.m. - Downtown Durham True Crime Tour

8 a.m.

Cars and Coffee at Page & Miami Blvd

Durham Farmers’ Market at Pavilion at Durham Central Park

parkrun Durham at Southern Boundaries Park

9 a.m.

South Durham Farmer's Market at Hub RTP

9:30 a.m.

Jazz Brunch at Lula & Sadie's

11 a.m.

Storytime at Barnes and Noble New Hope Commons: Kids Stage

Drop-In Make Your Own Body Fragrance at Bright Black.

12 p.m.

Crafternoons at Gizmo Brew Works

Free Wine Tasting at Wine Authorities

1 p.m.

Kids Build It! at Nailed It DIY Studio Durham

2 p.m.

NCCU Women's Basketball v. Norfolk State at NCCU

3 p.m.

Casual Chaos 4 Person Silly Smash Bros. Ultimate Casual Video Game Competition at Gizmo Brew Works - Durham Taproom

4:30 p.m.

NCCU Men's Basketball v. Norfolk State at NCCU

8 p.m.
Moon Dog Comedy Night at Moon Dog Meadery

Durham Ghost Walk at Fate & Folklore

9 p.m.

Blind Tigers Live Band Karaoke at Rubies on Five Points

9:30 p.m.

Saturday Night Dance Party at The Velvet Hippo

10 p.m.

Drink, Drag, Dance, Repeat! at Club ERA

Sunday, January 4

10 a.m.

Jazz Brunch at Lula & Sadie's

11:30 a.m.

Yoga @ The Winery at Zinc House Winery & Brewer

12 p.m.

Duke Women's Basketball v. Notre Dame at Cameron Indoor Stadium

Sunday Dollar Bin Sale for Charity at Rumors Durham

12:15 p.m.

Public Tour of Duke Chapel at Duke University Chapel

1 p.m.

Savory Sunday - Bloody Marys with ALL the Fixins at Liberty & Plenty Distillery

2 p.m.

Hot Wax on Tap at Bright Black.

Hammered Trivia at Durty Bull Brewing Company

3 p.m.

Craft Club & Supply Swap at Glass Jug Downtown

Running Art Exhibits

Art Exhibit — Sherman Fleming: Unsettled at Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University

• Known for his provocative performances, Sherman Fleming (b. 1953), is an influential multimedia artist based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This focused survey gathers works spanning forty years of Fleming’s career, presenting paintings, drawings, ephemera, and documentation of his performances made between 1978–2019.
• Fleming’s works are demonstrations of perseverance, self-control, and conviction. The artist’s main medium is his body, which he uses in myriad ways. His endurance performances span hours and even months and include walking through Philadelphia for a day while carrying an eight-foot-tall wooden phallus along with spending a year wearing a noose—objects purposely chosen as material reminders of racial and sexual stereotypes of Black masculinity as well as the ongoing trauma of racialized terrorism in the United States.
• The unsettling nature of his work pushes the boundaries of discomfort as the imagery features both difficult subjects and unresolved compositions. Overall, Fleming’s complex practice is connected through his relentless processes that consistently expand the horizons of what art can be and how it may be experienced on paper, canvas, in a gallery, in a theatre, or even live on the street. Through his innovative explorations of identity, the artist’s messaging continues to resonate in profound ways, many years after its making.
• Tu-Sa 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Su 12-5 p.m.
  
• September 29- January 18

Art Exhibition — Human Landscapes, the Mystery of the Mark at NCCU Art Museum

• North Carolina Central University (NCCU) and the Eric Kelly Museum are proud to announce a major exhibition celebrating the extraordinary work of NCCU alumnus Dr. Eric A.W. Kelly III, founder of the Kelly Worldwide advertising and marketing Agency and Director of Eric Kelly III Museum, and one of the most transformative abstract expressive artists of our time. Running from October 23, 2025, through January 4, 2026, the exhibition, Human Landscapes: The Mystery of the mark, presents a groundbreaking fusion of color, sound, and emotional storytelling through more than 50 paintings spanning seven decades of artistic mastery. In this groundbreaking exhibit, Dr. Kelly will be showing some of his early masterpieces from his days at NCCU, leading up to his present style called neo-abstract expressive.
• Dr. Eric Kelly III’s visionary style—marked by bold black lines, synesthetic color experiences, and deeply expressive portraiture—has shaped a new visual language that bridges abstraction and identity. A 1982 graduate of NCCU’s Visual Communications program and the university’s first Art Scholarship recipient, Dr. Kelly returns to his alma mater to debut a multisensory journey that explores the human condition through dynamic compositions, vivid colors, original music scores, and shares his new movie documentary “Human Landscapes” during the exhibition.
• This event is free and open to the public. RSVP FOR ART TOURS 919-308-9090
• October 22- January 4

Coming into Focus: A Snapshot of Photography at Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University

• Recently the Nasher has added over 2,000 photographs to its collection, including works by the best-known practitioners from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, such as Edouard Baldus, Ilse Bing, Henri Cartier-Bresson, André Kertész, Arthur Rothstein, Nadar, and Edward Weston. Coming into Focus: A Snapshot of Photography at the Nasher celebrates these gifts and other acquisitions, highlighting a sampling of gems and
  illuminating a bright future of continued collecting and presenting of photography in innovative and ambitious ways.
• July 28- January 1
• Free

Art Exhibition — Labor&Materials and The Intuitionist at 21c Museum Hotel Durham

• 21c Durham is unveiling two new exhibitions with Labor & Materials and The Intuitionist. The exhibitions feature a thematic group exhibition of 67 multi-media artworks by 40 artists from across the globe exploring the evolution of industry and labor in the 21st century and a two-person exhibition of paintings by Atlanta-based artist Xavier Daniels and Toronto-based artist Natia Lemay.
  
• June 12- May 31
• Free