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Berkeley Humane will be vaccinating and microchipping pets for free on Dec. 6 and 7. File photo: Jasper Burget
🐾 Get your pets vaccinated and/or microchipped for free as part of Berkeley Humane’s Champions for Pet Rally Weekend celebration. No appointment is required, dogs must be on leash, and cats must be in a secure carrier. Saturday, Dec. 6, and Sunday, Dec. 7. 9 a.m.-4 p.m. 936 Carleton St. FREE
🎁 The Berkeley Holiday Gift Fair will feature over 25 local vendors selling food, games, art, and more. Thursday, Dec. 4, 3-7 p.m. Hotel Shattuck Plaza. FREE
⚖️ The Graduate School of Journalism presents a screening of “The Sing Sing Chronicles,” an award-winning documentary series directed by Dawn Porter and produced by J-School alum Lauren Capps, followed by a discussion moderated by Documentary Program Director Jennifer Redfearn. Thursday, Dec. 4, 5 p.m. North Gate Hall. FREE (RSVP)
🎨 The annual East Bay Print Sale returns this year with thousands of handmade and affordable prints by over 200 artists available for sale. Come early, as lines can get long. Thursday, Dec. 4, 3-8 p.m., and Friday-Sunday, Dec. 5-7, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. 1006 Pardee St. FREE
🖼️ The Berkeley Art Studio’s Holiday Pop-up Shop will sell creations from local artists — including but not limited to pottery, textiles, jewelry, and greeting cards. Shop is open Dec. 5-14. Tilden Room in MLK Jr. Student Union Building. FREE
🏀 The exhibition Above the Rim will feature over 25 paintings by Berkeley artist Niko Alexander that explore the beauty of basketball and its intersection with divinity within its players and fans. Exhibition runs Dec. 5-7 and 13-14. 2033 University Ave. FREE
🇮🇩 Berkeley’s great Balinese orchestra and dance company Gamelan Sekar Jaya presents two shows, starting with the dynamically explosive Gong Kebyar and concluding with bamboo percussion Jegog. Friday, Dec. 5, 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. Ashkenaz. $20-$35
🎶 Rising fingerstyle guitarist Yasmin Williams, who’s crafted a style that’s both expansively cosmopolitan and ethereally folky by artfully tapping, picking, thumping and strumming the strings, kicks off a West Coast run in Berkeley. Friday, Dec. 5, 8 p.m. The Freight. $34-$39
🔥 Join a historical walking tour around the UC Berkeley campus, led by Ph.D candidate Andrew Hardy. This tour will focus on how asbestos was used at Cal decades before the rest of the United States, and how “toxicity, risk management, and disaster intersect on the campus.” Saturday, Dec. 6, 10 a.m. Meet at Schlessinger and Campanile. FREE (RSVP)
📚 Presented in partnership with UC Press, Chapman University Professor Scot Danforth discusses his new book “An Independent Man: Ed Roberts and the Fight for Disability Rights,” the first biography of the longtime Berkeley resident, one of the founders of the disability rights movement. (A story on the book will be published soon on Berkeleyside.) Saturday, Dec. 6, 2 p.m. Central Library. FREE
🌎 The Berkeley Potters Guild is hosting a month-long holiday show that features art available to view and buy. This year’s theme is “through a green lens — echoes of earth, vessels of hope,” where the artwork will explore the earth and how we are connected to it. Show runs Dec. 6-7, 13-14, 20-24 from 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Show will close at 2 p.m. on Christmas Eve. 731 Jones St. FREE
❄️ The Telegraph Holiday Fair is back for its 42nd year, featuring over 200 artists selling handmade goods and bands providing festive tunes. (It will stay in its longtime location after a reversal of course by the city.) Festival runs every weekend in December from 11 a.m.-6 p.m. on Telegraph Avenue between Bancroft and Dwight. FREE
🧩 If you love completing new puzzles and starting new ones, come to the Holiday Puzzle Party and Market at Gilman Brewing. The event features a vendor market, casual puzzle and craft tables, a wooden puzzle cutting demonstration, and timed puzzle competitions. Sunday, Dec. 7. 2-6 p.m. FREE (puzzle competition requires paid registration, and crafts require a small fee)
🫘 Can’t get enough fiber in your life? Bring a bean dish, plate, and utensil to this casual gathering for bean lovers. Sunday, Dec. 7. 1-3 p.m. Willard Park. FREE
🥁 Berkeley-reared bassoon master Paul Hanson joins forces with electric bass virtuoso Michael Manring and Berkeley drum star Scott Amendola in Electric Adventures, a collective improvisation-laced trio in which all the players double on electronics. Sunday, Dec. 7, 7 p.m. The Back Room. $25
📚 Performer Thomas Lynch shares his annual reading of Truman Capote’s “A Christmas Memory,” an autobiographical short story about his childhood in rural Alabama with his eccentric and beloved elderly cousin, Sook Faulk. Tuesday, Dec. 9, 5:30 p.m. Mrs. Dalloway’s Bookstore. FREE (RSVP)
🎶 Nomadic singer, songwriter and bassist Aviva le Fey, formerly of Oakland, returns to the East Bay to celebrate the release of her enchanting second album “The Fool,” expanding her repertoire detailing heartbreak, disillusionment, and episodic ecstasy. Tuesday, Dec. 9, 7 p.m. Ashkenaz. $20-$25
🎶 Featuring Lebanese-Egyptian string wizard Rami Gabriel on guitar, oud and buzuq and Kuwaiti-born percussionist Karim Nagi, the Arab Blues is a project inspired by classical Arab modes and melodies. Based in Chicago and making their Berkeley debut, the duo developed their music through a research fellowship at the Center for Black Music Research and connects Arab music to African diaspora traditions. Tuesday, Dec. 9, 7 p.m. The Freight. $39
🗓️ See more things to do in Oakland and Richmond. And check out our big list of affordable things to do anytime in Berkeley.
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If there’s an event you’d like us to consider for this roundup, email us at the-scene@berkeleyside.org. If there’s an event that you’d like to promote on our calendar, you can use the self-submission form on our events page.
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