Here’s your curated Hartford event calendar for March 2024.
What makes this list? Events that I would either attend or recommend to a good friend. Review events with the host/venue to confirm details have not changed since publication.

ADD TO CALENDAR

  • SPRING ART EXHIBIT:  The Garmany Visitor Center in Hartford’s Elizabeth Park will have the exhibit on view from March 1-9, 2024 from 10 AM until 4 PM. Free admission.
  • SPRING GREENHOUSE SHOW: You can see the flowers already from outside of the greenhouses in Elizabeth Park, but from March 1-8, 2024, 10 AM – 4 PM, you can wander inside and catch an early whiff of spring. Free.
  • SILENT BOOK CLUB: This event, organized by the University of Hartford and co-sponsored by River Bend Bookshop, features a brief period for mingling followed by an hour of sustained silent reading. The $10 admission fee gets you snacks and a $5 gift card to the bookstore. This edition of Silent Book Club is held at Real Art Ways on March 1, 2024 from 5:30-7:30 PM. You do not need to be affiliated with U of H to participate.
  • MAYOR’S DAY AT THE CAROUSEL: On March 3, 2024 come to Bushnell Park for free carousel rides 12-5 PM, free books from 12-2 PM, and theater workshops for children from 2-4 PM.
  •  EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE: Cinestudio is hosting a free screening of this immediate tax season classic at 2 PM on March 3, 2024.

  • DOS ALAS: Miguel Zenon will be performing the music of Rafael Hernandez and Pablo Milanes at the Hartford Public Library on March 7, 2024 from 7-8 PM. This will be held in the Center for Contemporary Culture room and it’s possible that visitors will only be able to use to Arch Street entrance as the library has still not fully reopened due to the 2022 building flood.
  • WOODHULL/BEECHER: HartBeat Ensemble presents a staged reading of a play “inspired by real events that took place in New York City in the early 1870’s. Victoria Woodhull and her sister opened a stock brokerage in New York City. At the time, the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher – brother of Harriet Beecher Stowe – was building his stature as an orator and abolitionist. As Woodhull campaigned against marriage and for ‘free love’ and became a candidate for president of the United States, she faced political backlash and ruin. The story of how their lives intersected is a story of ambition, sex and gender and about whose version of the truth could be told and believed in America.” This will be at the Carriage House Theater on March 8, 2024 at 8 PM and on March 9, 2024 at 2 PM. General admission is $10, but there are also free tickets available.
  •  PARADE: The Hartford St. Patrick’s Day Parade begins at the State Capitol on March 9, 2024 at 11 AM. There is absolutely no reason to drive to this — take the bus! If you don’t want to be near people drinking since 9 AM, watch the parade from a location that is not near the bars. Luckily, that is most of the parade route. Visitors to Hartford: please show respect during your time here. Despite what you may have heard, it’s actually not cool to just throw your garbage on the ground or otherwise behave in ways you wouldn’t dare in your own town.
  •  BULB & PLANT SALE: From 10 AM until 4 PM on March 9, 2024, you can purchase from the greenhouse in Hartford’s Elizabeth Park. Credit card or check. Bring your own bags/trays/boxes.
  • JUST KIN: This is a new monthly workshop/reading series for and by members of the queer and trans community. It begins on March 9, 2024 from 4-7 PM at Semilla. The writer who will be featured this month is m. mick powell. You’ll need to secure a ticket — prices are sliding scale.

  • ORDINARY EQUALITY: The Stowe Center’s Social Justice Reading Circle pick for this month is Ordinary Equality by Kate Kelly. The discussion will be at the Stowe Center on March 13, 2024 from 6-7 PM. Free, but register.
  •  RIVERWOOD POETRY: Frederick-Douglass Knowles II and Daniel Donaghy are the featured readers in this month’s Riverwood Poetry Series at Real Art Ways, which is a quick walk from the CTfastrak Parkville Station. Before the main attraction there is an open mic beginning at 7 PM on March 13, 2024. Admission is free.
  • LEAVE NO TRACE: Closing reception for the Leave No Trace exhibit by artist Sariah Park. The artist’s work: “shows the transformation of material made immaterial, craft as a form of ceremony, and the transfer of energy and spirit into a living process, striving to become in balance with the natural world.” View the art and meet Sariah Park at Clare Gallery on Church Street on March 14, 2024 from 6-7:30 PM. Free.
  • SHERE HITE: The Wadsworth Atheneum will be showing the film The Disappearance of Shere Hite on March 15-17, 2024. They say: “this captivating documentary explores the life and legacy of Shere Hite, a forgotten feminist icon, former model, and bisexual activist known for her groundbreaking 1976 study on female sexuality, The Hite Report. The film challenges the erasure of Hite from feminist history and highlights the enduring importance of her research in promoting female sexual autonomy and self-expression.” Tickets are $10; $7 for Hartford residents using the Wadsworth Welcome program.
  • REALLY REALLY FREE MARKET: What it sounds like — a free market. This will be at the Trinfo Cafe (1300 Broad Street) on March 16, 2024 from 12-3 PM.
  • SPRING EQUINOX & LABYRINTH WALK: There will be a temporary labyrinth set up inside of the Unitarian Society of Hartford (spaceship/spiderweb church) on March 19, 2024 from 6-7:30 PM. Free.
  • CAT SCRAPBOOKS: My first thought at learning about this event was that clearly I screwed up by not making a scrapbook for Mischief, or for any of her sisters, and that I was going to have to get moving on fixing my karma with the cats. And then my second thought was that I needed to tell everyone I know. The Stowe Center is hosting a free salon showcasing two 19th century scrapbooks completely devoted to cats. This free event is on March 27, 2024 from 6-7 PM. Register so that they have enough refreshments.

CULTURAL ASSETS
For ongoing free education, entertainment, public art, and resources — like 24/7 food pantries and libraries — check out this map. Zoom in and click on the icons for more information.

This was last updated in January 2024:

GETTING TO EVENTS
See CTtransit for bus schedule.
If you would like better bus service, contact CTtransit.
If you would like bicycle parking at a venue, contact that venue directly.
Ask for the kind of world you want to live in.