Nov. 25
Christmas lights go on
The Eccles Theater, at 131 S. Main, Salt Lake City, will have its “Lights On at the Eccles” event Monday, flipping the switch on “Tree of Light,” a holiday light installation by artist Eric Warner — which features polished acrylic rods illuminated by LED lights. The event, which features a live DJ and dance performances by the hip-hop nonprofit 1520 Arts, runs from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., and is free to attend.
Nov. 28
It’s Thanksgiving
Thursday is Thanksgiving, a holiday that traces its modern roots to Abraham Lincoln, who proclaimed a national Thanksgiving Day on the last Thursday of November, 1863, at the height of the Civil War. The exact time of the holiday bounced around a bit between 1939 and 1941 (a dispute that was used as a joke in the 1941 Bing Crosby movie “Holiday Inn”) — until President Franklin Roosevelt signed a law in late 1941, declaring the fourth Thursday of November as the holiday. The 28th is the latest in the year that Thanksgiving can be, which also means this year has the shortest Christmas shopping season possible, just 26 days.
Nov. 29, 30
Christmas music season begins
Back to the Eccles Theater, at 131 S. Main St., Salt Lake City, where the Christmas concert season gets underway Friday and Saturday with the vocal trio Gentri. The “gentlemen trio” will deliver such holiday classics as “The Little Drummer Boy,” “Oh Holy Night” and “Silent Night,” all with their trademark harmonies. Shows start at 2 and 8 p.m. both days. Tickets are available at live-at-the-eccles.com.
