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Things to Do in Durham this Week

The best weekly event rundown in the Bull City.

Weekly Events in Durham (Oct 2-8)

This post is currently being updated. We appreciated your patience.

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 weekend!

Featured Events

Made in Durham: A Little Brother Block Party at 300 Block of East Main Street

  • Made In Durham: A Little Brother Block Party is an outdoor music event and celebration of the 20th anniversary of the 2003 release of Little Brother's debut album, The Listening.
  • Live performances by Little Brother and special guests, plus food trucks and vendors.
  • Sat, Oct 7 at 3 p.m.
  • $75+

PLAYlist Concert Series: Diali Cissokho & Kaira Ba at Durham Central Park

  • Before radio, before internet, Griot musicians and storytellers both entertained and educated their audiences. Diali Cissokho, originally from Senegal, explores the spiritual songs, stories, and rhythms of Senegal’s millenia-old Mandé culture. Cissokho comes from a long line of prominent griots who are entrusted to maintain a WestAfrican village’s genealogies and important ceremonial affairs through song.
  • Cissokho and his band, Kaira Ba, effortlessly integrate the traditional sounds of the kora with a modern rush of electric guitar and an exuberant rhythm section. Together, they sustain one of West Africa’s most expressive legacies with their own energeticinterpretations. Kaira Ba is committed to sharing its story and music in the name of cross-cultural learning, believing that music has the power to transgress borders and serve as an important resource for education, restoration and healing.
  • Fri, Oct 6 at 7 p.m.
  • Free admission

Fall Fan Fest at Durham Bulls Athletic Park

  • Batting practice on the field for kids 12 & under (6:30pm-8:00pm) and 919 Club Members (8:00pm-8:30pm)
  • Catch in the outfield (6:30pm-8:00pm)
  • Ballpark tours of Bulls' facilities, including home clubhouse and batting tunnel (limited number of tours available)
  • Meet Wool E. Bull
  • Clearance sale at the OT Sports Ballpark Corner Store, including 50% off select items
  • Face painting, balloon artists and more
  • Fri, Oct 6 from 6:30-8:30 p.m.
  • Free admission with reservation

    Venue Weekly Schedules

    Events at DPAC

    Events at The Carolina Theatre

    Events at The Pinhook

    Events at Rubies on Five Points

    Events at Motorco Music Hall

    Events at The Fruit

    Duke Arts Performances at Various Locations

    Live Jazz at Sharp 9 Gallery

    Live Music at Blue Note Grill

    Events at Moon Dog Meadery

    • Every Monday at 7 p.m. - Community Board Game Night (Free Rentals)
    • Every Wednesday at 8 p.m. - Karaoke Night
    • Every Thursday at 7 p.m. - Community Board Game Night (Free Rentals)
    • Fri, Oct 6 at 8 p.m. - First Friday Swing Dance Night with Nitelife Boogie (dance lesson at 7:30 p.m.)
    • Sat, Oct 7 at 9 p.m. - Private Event (store will close at 9 p.m.)

    Events at Arcana

    • Tue, Oct 3 - Queer Bachata
    • Wed, Oct 4 - aTriangle Area Pagan Alliance Meet Up and Tarot with Heiltje
    • Thu, Oct 5 - Creme Cabaret Burlesque
    • Fri, Oct 6 - Andrew Kasab and Tarot with Emily
    • Sat, Oct 7 - Bardo Bloom and Tarot with Heiltje
    • Sun, Oct 8 - Eric Lee Hardt and Tarot with Emily

    Events at Boxcar Bar + Arcade

    • Wednesdays at 8 p.m. - Free Weekly Skee-Ball Tournament
    • Fri, Oct 6 at 7 p.m. - Jared Place
    • Sat, Oct 7 at 7 p.m. - Kevin Campbell
    • Sun, Oct 8 at 3 p.m. - Premium Sound Band

    Events at Boxyard RTP

    Events at Durty Bull Brewing Company

    Mon, Oct 2

    • 7-10 p.m. - Monday Night Football: Seahawks v Giants

    Tue, Oct 3

    • 7-9 p.m. - Bull City Beer Runners Run Club

    Wed, Oct 4

    • 7:30-9:30 p.m. - COT BEERthoven with Chaeyoung Park

    Thu, Oct 5

    • 5-9 p.m. - Food Truck: Safari Eatz
    • 7-9 p.m. - Thursday Trivia with Nick

    Fri, Oct 6

    Sat, Oct 7

    • 12-8 p.m. - Food Truck: Tacos Paraiso #1
    • 12-7 p.m. - Durty Bull's 7th Anniversary Party
    • 12-3 p.m. - DJ Bonney the Kid
    • 12-3 p.m. - Liberty Arts Scratch Block Workshop
    • 4-6 p.m. - Live Music: Organ Failure
    • 7 p.m. - NC Courage vs. San Diego Wave

    Sun, Oct 8

    • 1-7 p.m. - Food Truck: 716ers Food
    • 1-7 p.m. - Wings & Flings: NFL Sunday
    • 2-4 p.m. - Hammered Trivia with Thor

    Events at Fullsteam

    Events at Glass Jug Beer Lab in RTP

    Events at Glass Jug Beer Lab in Downtown Durham

    Live Comedy at Mettlesome

    Events at Ponysaurus Brewing Company

    Events at Atomic Empire

      Multi-Day Events

      Slingshot Festival at The Fruit

      • Slingshot, the International Festival of Music and Electronic Arts in the South, has moved to Durham, NC for its fifth edition and beyond. Slingshot’s reputation to deliver the best experience in next wave music and electronic art is unrivaled.
      • Oct 6-7
      • $80+

      Park Tours at West Point on the Eno Park

      • Take a guided tour of West Point on the Eno’s historic buildings and grounds. One of the City's oldest parks, the park's history dates back to the 1970s. Located along the Eno River, the park features a reconstructed late 18th-century working grist mill, the historic McCown-Mangum House dating to the mid-1800s, and the Hugh Mangum Museum of Photography, which offers permanent displays of photography and equipment of early 20th-century local photographers, plus contemporary exhibits featured on a rotating basis.
      • Saturdays and Sundays from April to mid-December
      • 10 a.m., 11 a.m., 12 p.m., and 1 p.m.

      Pumpkin Patch Express at Museum of Life and Science

      • Celebrate Fall with a trip to the Museum’s pumpkin patch! Pick the perfect pumpkin to take home and decorate. Enjoy a variety of activities inspired by autumn. Then, climb aboard the train for a ride back to the station on the Ellerbe Creek Railway! Weekends in October.
      • Activities include:
        • Pick a pumpkin
        • Decorate your pumpkin
        • Hay maze
        • Fall science activities
        • Duck races, bowling, and other fun games
        • Fresh popcorn
        • Return train ride on the Ellerbe Creek Railway
      • Running through Oct 29
      • $15 per person, plus Museum admission

      Local Sports

      Fall Fan Fest at Durham Bulls Athletic Park

      • Batting practice on the field for kids 12 & under (6:30pm-8:00pm) and 919 Club Members (8:00pm-8:30pm)
      • Catch in the outfield (6:30pm-8:00pm)
      • Ballpark tours of Bulls' facilities, including home clubhouse and batting tunnel (limited number of tours available)
      • Meet Wool E. Bull
      • Clearance sale at the OT Sports Ballpark Corner Store, including 50% off select items
      • Face painting, balloon artists and more
      • Fri, Oct 6 from 6:30-8:30 p.m.
      • Free admission with reservation

      Lightning Strikes XII ProAm Kickboxing & Muay Thai Event at the Durham Armory

      • Enjoy a night of amateur and professional Kickboxing and Muay Thai, from some of the best strikers in North Carolina and along the East Coast.
      • Sat, Oct 7 from 7-11 p.m.
      • $50+

      Duke Sports at Various Locations

      • Tue, Oct 3 at 5:30 p.m. - Duke Football Radio Show and Tailgate Dinner at the Washington Duke Inn & Golf Club
      • Fri, Oct 6 at 6:00 p.m. - Softball vs East Carolina at Duke Softball Stadium (Fall Ball)
      • Fri, Oct 6 at 6:00 p.m. - Volleyball vs Notre Dame at Cameron Indoor Stadium (Alumni Weekend)
      • Sun, Oct 8 at 1:00 p.m. - Volleyball vs Louisville at Cameron Indoor Stadium
      • Sun, Oct 8 at 4:00 p.m. - Women’s Soccer vs North Carolina at Koskinen Stadium

      NCCU Sports at Various Locations

      • Wed, Oct 4 at 7:00 p.m. - Men’s Soccer vs Catawba College at Durham County Memorial Stadium
      • Fri, Oct 6 at 6:00 p.m. - Women’s Soccer vs Edward Waters at Durham County Memorial Stadium
      • Sat, Oct 7 at 1:00 p.m. - Football vs Johnson C. Smith at Durham County Memorial Stadium (Homecoming)

      Monday, Oct 2

      Check venue events section.

        Tuesday, Oct 3

        Women on the Wall at Triangle Rock Club - Durham

        • This 1-hour meetup will explore the adventure of climbing in a close and supportive atmosphere. Learn to focus your attention on your strengths as a woman and how to nurture those. And discover the contributions women have made to climbing! Open to all women, the class requires no previous experience.
        • Registration required
        • 6-7 p.m.
        • Free for TRC members | $15 for non-members (includes day pass and equipment)

        Trivia at Beer Study Durham

        • Come join our host Nick for five rounds of challenging but fun bar trivia every Tuesday. Nick will rotate weekly with our friend Nikko as trivia host.
        • Winners get a $50 gift card, second place gets $25, and third place gets a surprise! Up to 6 players per team. Categories can include current events, music ID, movies, TV, books, geography, history, science, and whatever else we come up with that week.
        • 7 p.m.
        • Free admission

        Wednesday, Oct 4

        Ringing in Your Ears at Letters Bookshop

        • Letters Bookshop is hosting Matthew Fiander who'll be reading from his debut novel, Ringing in Your Ears.
        • In a Boston suburb in the early 90s, Louise "Blue" Cleary's older sister Christine dies mysteriously. Blue -- the shy second fiddle to her sister, the girl the baseball team won't let play, the little league umpire some parents are gunning for -- already feels like an outsider. Her sister's death only makes things worse.
        • In grief and in search of a sister she didn't fully know, Blue goes digging for the truth, both all over town and in the stack of cassettes Christine left behind. What she finds might expose her own mistakes, secrets among the parents who line the fences of those little league fields, the damaging influence of her father's money, and the dark intentions of the leaders of Dorset, a town all too eager to forget its sordid past and forge a brighter future. The truth she discovers will change that future and leave Blue and her family fighting for decades to overcome loss and guilt.
        • 6:30 p.m.
        • Free admission

        Trivia Night at Bull McCabe's

        • Join in every Wednesday night for the Best Trivia in the Triangle, as voted by readers of the Indy! Prizes include pitchers of delicious local beer for Best Team Name, $50 and $25 off your bar tab for winners, and give-away prizes from local vendors: Vaguely Reminiscent on Ninth Street, Merge Records, and the Carolina Theatre of Durham.
        • Make sure you get there early to snag a spot at the bar, lawn, or heated patio. Your host, Arturo, is a seasoned trivia pro who is sure to get you thinking and drinking!
        • 8-10 p.m.
        • Free admission

          Thursday, Oct 5

          Vinyl Night with DJ Deckades at Gizmo Brew Works

          • Enjoy fresh vibes on the patio with DJ Deckades. Bring your own vinyl to share or just listen to what the DJ is spinning.
          • 6-9 p.m.
          • Free admission

          Boulders & Brews Meetup at Triangle Rock Club - Durham

          • Show up and climb at TRC Durham, then head over to Hi-Wire for some brews. Don’t worry if it’s your first time or haven’t bouldered before; everyone’s welcome.
          • Your first visit to the gym with the Meetup includes free admission and gear rental, and subsequent visits with the meetup are $15 and include harness rental (outside of meetups, day pass rates of $19 apply and do not include rentals).
          • 6:30-8:30 p.m.

          The Gojo Sessions at Gojo by Goorsha

          • VOID Air Motion Sound System, rotating lineup of talented electronic music artists both local and beyond.
          • Every week, every Thursday from 7:00 p.m. - 12:00 a.m.
          • $10 cover at the door

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

          • Join Clouds Durham for Big Slow Tom’s Trivia Night, every Thursday. Win some prizes, drink some beer, and show your smarts.
          • Enjoy $4 select draft and $5 rotating bartender’s choice all night.
          • 7:30 p.m.
          • Free admission

            Friday, Oct 6

            Tasting at Ten at Counter Culture Coffee

            • Every Friday morning at 10 am, Counter Culture Coffee opens their Training Centers to coffee lovers who want to learn more about Counter Culture Coffee’s high-quality, sustainably sourced menu.
            • 10 a.m.
            • Free, but donations accepted

            Fall Night Market Series by MAKRS at Zinc House Winery & Brewery

            • Join us for live music, food trucks, and drinks as you shop from 20+ local vendors!
            • 5:30-9:30 p.m. (no children allowed on ZincHouse property after 6pm.)
            • Free admission

            Live Music at Weldon Mills Distillery Durham

            • With a seamless fusion of timeless classics and contemporary twists, the Al Strong Quartet brings the essence of jazz to life, transporting you to a world of sophistication and pure musical bliss.
            • 8-11 p.m.
            • Free admission

            Candlelight: Best of Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, and More at Hayti Heritage Center

            • Candlelight concerts bring the magic of a live, multi-sensory musical experience to awe-inspiring locations.
            • 9 p.m.
            • $40+

            Saturday, Oct 7

            Cars and Coffee at 5425 Page Rd

            • One of the Southeast's largest & most prestigious monthly auto events. As always, all cars, trucks, and motorcycles are welcome.
            • 8-11 a.m.
            • Free admission, donations appreciated

            Durham Farmers’ Market at Durham Central Park

            • The Durham Farmers’ Market offers locally grown fruits and vegetables, meats, eggs, cut flowers, artisanal cheeses and breads, home-baked pies, honey, handmade chocolates, preserves, local wines, handmade soaps, fresh pasta, and artwork of all sorts!
            • 8:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
            • Free admission

            South Durham Farmers’ Market at Greenwood Commons Shopping Center

            • The market strives to support new and growing farms and vendors in the greater Durham area, and they are also home to some of the most iconic Durham brands around.
            • 8:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
            • Free admission

            parkrun Durham at Southern Boundaries Park

            • A free, fun, and friendly weekly 5k community event. Walk, jog, run, volunteer, or spectate. It’s up to you!
            • 8 a.m.
            • Free admission

            Distillery Tours and Tastings at Liberty & Plenty

            • Join in for a tour of their historic home in Downtown Durham to learn about the history of Liberty & Plenty Distillery, how they make their bourbon, whiskey, rum, vodka and their upcoming gin products at L&P, and their plans for the future. To boot, you’ll have the chance to try their award-winning Bronze Bull Spirits Rye Whiskey, Cap & Cane White Rum and Slate Belt Spirits Citrus Vodka.
            • 10-10:30 a.m. and 11-11:30 a.m.
            • $15+

            Crafternoons at Gizmo Brew Works

            • Free pint with purchase of craft box. Choose from a variety of craft packages available for all ages.
            • 12-10 p.m.

            Made in Durham: A Little Brother Block Party at 300 Block of East Main Street

            • Made In Durham: A Little Brother Block Party is an outdoor music event and celebration of the 20th anniversary of the 2003 release of Little Brother's debut album, The Listening.
            • Live performances by Little Brother and special guests, plus food trucks and vendors.
            • 3 p.m.
            • $75+

            Guided Walking Tours with Triangle Adventures

            • 2 p.m. - Downtown Durham Walking Tour
            • 4 p.m. - Durham African American History Tour
            • 6 p.m. - Downtown Durham True Crime Tour
            • $10

            Sunday, Oct 8

                Al Strong Presents Jazz Brunch at Alley Twenty Six

                • Al Strong, the Grammy-nominated jazz trumpeter, composer and recording artist, will bring a rotating lineup of musicians to perform during Sunday brunch at Durham’s Alley Twenty Six. Weather permitting the band will perform in the bar’s namesake alley.
                • Music from 12-2 p.m.

                Family Day: Spooky Stories at the Nasher Museum of Art

                • Paperhand Puppet Intervention will have art activities that will delight all ages. Enjoy an amazing time with fantastical life-sized puppets and make your own mask and lanterns. Learn about different traditions and legends related to spooky celebrations from around the world.
                • 1-3 p.m.
                • Free admission

                Trivia at Navigator Beverage Co.

                • Hosted by the Triangle’s Trivia team, Hammered Trivia, gather your team and post up to compete for prizes and enjoy an afternoon of great drinks, great friends, and great games.
                • 2-4 p.m.
                • Free admission

                Blessing of the Animals at Duke Chapel

                • Dogs, cats — maybe hamsters, iguanas and other animals — will join ministers and the Durham Children's Choir in front of Duke Chapel for the Blessing of the Animals worship service. Pet owners are welcome to bring their animals to the lawn in front of the chapel to receive a blessing as part of the worship service.
                • Those bringing pets are responsible for their animals and are asked to bring only pets that will be safe around children and other animals.The service will last about thirty minutes and feature music from the choir, scripture readings, and a sermon. Individual animal blessings will take place immediately after the service.
                • 3 p.m.
                • Free admission

                Running Art Exhibits

                Return to Parrish Street: A Dream Realized at the Ella West Gallery

                • Taking inspiration from Harlem Renaissance poet Langston Hughes, the exhibition’s title is based on two poems: A Dream Deferred (1951) and The Dream Keeper (1932). Within Hughes’ extensive body of work on the subject, this pair of poems embodies the aspirational elements of dreams as goals, and their more enigmatic form as mysterious portals to the subconscious.
                • In this joint presentation, Clarence Heyward, Kennedi Carter and Ransome traverse the terrain of dreams through portraits and photography that probe perception, identity, and vulnerability. Together their work creates a visual dialog around dreams that brings Hughes’ prose to life.
                • Wed-Thu from 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.
                • Runs through Oct 21
                • Free admission

                TRIPLE THREAT: New Paintings by Clarence Heyward, William Paul Thomas, Charles Edward Williams, Curated by Beverly McIver at Craven Art Gallery

                • To call Clarence Heyward, William Paul Thomas and Charles Edward Williams emerging artists would be disingenuous. The three of them have seen tremendous success over the last several years; each has had museum shows, and their works are in significant public and private collections. But they are young and at the forefront of a new generation of Black painters in North Carolina, following in the footsteps of luminaries like Ernie Barnes and Beverly McIver. In fact, McIver, who strives to, as she says, “reach out to help bring others to the table,” is guest curator for TRIPLE THREAT.
                • Mon-Fri from 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. | Sat from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.
                • Runs through Oct 28
                • Free admission

                Barrier Breakers: From Jackie to Pumpsie 1947-1958 Exhibit at American Tobacco Campus, Crowe Lobby

                • From Jackie to Pumpsie–1947-1959, is an exhibit developed by the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum (NLBM) in Kansas City, Missouri, tells the important , but oftentime overlooked story the courageous players who integrated their respective Major League Baseball (MLB) teams from Jackie Robinson joining the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947 through Elijah "Pumpsie" Green completing the integration cycle, 12 years later, with the Boston Red Sox.
                • Robinson has rightfully been hailed for being the courageous first to break MLB's six-decade long, self-imposed color barrier. But those other integration pioneers who followed him endured tremendous social adversity as they trailblazed a path in their pursuit to play ball! The moral majority of them were former Negro Leaguers. This exhibit chronicles their story!
                • Runs through Oct 29
                • Free admission

                Art of Peru at the Nasher Museum of Art

                • This gallery features ceramics, textiles, metalwork and carvings produced by ancient cultures across what is known as present-day Peru.
                • Tue-Fri from 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. | Sun from 12-5 p.m.
                • Runs through Dec 2
                • Free admission

                Lyle Ashton Harris: Our first and last love at the Nasher Museum of Art

                • Drawing together photographs and installations from both his celebrated and lesser-known series, Lyle Ashton Harris: Our first and last love charts new connections across his artistic practice.
                • The exhibition explores Harris’s critical examination of identity and self-portraiture while tracing central themes and formal approaches in his work of the last 35 years.
                • Tue-Fri from 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. | Sun from 12-5 p.m.
                • Runs through Jan 7, 2024
                • Free admission

                “Act as if you are a curator: an AI-generated exhibition” at the Nasher Museum of Art

                • With recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI), now increasingly accessible to the world, our society is at another technological and ethical crossroads. Vast amounts of data can be synthesized into text and image generation and analytical interpretation, resulting in certain decision-making processes, once the exclusive domain of humans, now increasingly delegated to computers.
                • This year the Nasher Museum embarked on an experiment to use AI to curate an exhibition from the museum’s collection. While museum professionals are far from relinquishing control of exhibition making and interpretation, this exercise is a powerful way to explore the applications of AI in the creative realm as related to curatorial authorship and expertise, the subjectivity of the selection process, and the future impact of technology on museums.
                • Tue-Fri from 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. | Sun from 12-5 p.m.
                • Runs through Jan 14, 2024
                • Free admission

                Love and Anarchy at the Nasher Museum of Art

                • Drawn from the Nasher Museum’s extensive historical and contemporary collections, Love & Anarchy demonstrates some of the ways in which these two concepts have inspired artists, visually and conceptually, over millennia.
                • Tue-Fri from 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. | Sun from 12-5 p.m.
                • Runs through Feb 18, 2024
                • Free admission

                Exhibit at 21c Museum Hotel

                • Truth or Dare: A Reality Show
                • Runs through March 2024
                • Open 24 hours
                • Free admission

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