Good morning, Hartford.
25 things happening in Hartford today, 11 of them free. Bright-ish, breezy-ish, generally in your favour.
Hartford, Connecticut Saturday September 12, 2026
Plan your day around these 3 picks
Chosen from the calendar, not from taste: each of these is on no other date, or is the last night of its run.
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only today
Great Hartford Women’s Softball Tournament
Grab a glove and get in the game at the Greater Hartford Women’s Softball League’s first Community Softball Tournament at Colt Park…
on no other date this season
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only today
Second Saturdays for Families
On the second Saturday of each month admission to the Wadsworth Atheneum is free (sweet!)…
on no other date this season
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only today
Bizarre Bazaar
Bizarre Bazaar is an artisan craft fair that is held annually in downtown Hartford…
on no other date this season
Tip of the day
Eating at Parkville Market works best when you go hungry and go with people who share.
On right now —
Hartford time —
What is actually happening as you read this, recalculated every minute.
The map 6 pins
Every happening with a published street address, dropped on the city. Tap a pin for the details, or to jump to its line below.
Pins are each venue's own published address, located with OpenStreetMap. The black ringed dot is downtown Hartford — start there and work outwards. 15 happenings have no address published, so they are not on the map. Walking distances are yours to judge — nothing here is a route.
Today's programme 21 scheduled
Everything below is on today. Times are the venues' own listings — tap a row to check before you go.
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to 5:00p on now next earlier today
Great Hartford Women’s Softball Tournament
Grab a glove and get in the game at the Greater Hartford Women’s Softball League’s first Community Softball Tournament at Colt Park…
Colt Park FreeOutside · 63°
via hartford.com
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to 7:00p on now next earlier today
Harvest Glow
Harvest GLOW proves jack-o-lanterns don't mind hanging out indoors. Wander through glowing fall displays, paint a pumpkin, hop aboard the train…
Connecticut Convention Center $12+100 Columbus Boulevard, Hartford, CTSmart casual
via hartford.com
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to 12:00p on now next earlier today
Make the World Write!
Put your words to work in the same rooms where Harriet Beecher Stowe once put hers to paper. Make the World Write…
Stowe Center for Literary Activism $5077 Forest Street, Hartford, CTCome as you are
via hartford.com
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to 12:00p on now next earlier today
Mystery Scavenger Hunt
Explore Cedar Hill Cemetery while deciphering creative clues that direct you around the historic sections of the cemetery…
Cedar Hill Cemetery $10Outside · 63°
via hartford.com
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to 2:00p on now next earlier today
SECOND SATURDAYS FOR FAMILIES | Craft Constitution
Activities 10AM–2PM | Free admission all day Learn about Connecticut’s involvement in the earliest years of American democracy in the Radical Roots…
Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art 600 Main St, Hartford, CT 06103Come as you are
via Wadsworth Atheneum
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to 2:00p on now next earlier today
Second Saturdays for Families
On the second Saturday of each month admission to the Wadsworth Atheneum is free (sweet!)…
Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art Free600 Main Street Hartford, CT 06103Come as you are
via hartford.com
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to 12:30p on now next earlier today
Film | “Lilo & Stitch” (Sensory-Friendly Cinema)
FREE AS PART OF SECOND SATURDAYS FOR FAMILIES Life gets a little more chaotic on the Hawaiian island of Kauaʻi when Lilo adopts Stitch…
Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art 600 Main St, Hartford, CT 06103Come as you are
via Wadsworth Atheneum
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to 4:00p on now next earlier today
Bizarre Bazaar
Bizarre Bazaar is an artisan craft fair that is held annually in downtown Hartford…
State House Square Plaza Free58 State House Square, Hartford, CT 06161Outside · 71°
via hartford.com
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to 5:00p on now next earlier today
Bushnell Park Carousel
Bring your kids, or don’t. You definitely don’t need an excuse to ride the historic 1914 Stein & Goldstein Carousel because it frickin’ rules…
Bushnell Park Carousel $2Outside · 71°
via hartford.com
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to 3:30p on now next earlier today
Film | “Lilo & Stitch”
FREE AS PART OF SECOND SATURDAYS FOR FAMILIES Life gets a little more chaotic on the Hawaiian island of Kauaʻi when Lilo adopts Stitch…
Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art 600 Main St, Hartford, CT 06103Come as you are
via Wadsworth Atheneum
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on now next earlier today
Maikol Yordan 2: La cura lejana
(1hr 39 mins) 2018 (Costa Rica) Daniel Moreno, director · With Post-Film Discussion Sep 12
Cinestudio 300 Summit Street, Hartford, CT 06106Come as you are
Tickets for Maikol Yordan 2: La cura lejana via Cinestudio
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to 9:00p on now next earlier today
26th Annual Black-Eyed & Blues Festival
Black-Eyed & Blues Festival celebrates its 26th year with a new home at Mortensen Riverfront Plaza…
Mortensen Riverfront Plaza Free300 Columbus Blvd, Hartford, CT 06103Outside · 78°→66°
via hartford.com
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to 9:00p on now next earlier today
Puerto Rican Weekend: Fiesta Boricua
Celebrate Puerto Rican culture with an evening of music, food, dancing, and community from 6–9PM…
The Patio Outside · 77°→66°
via Parkville Market
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to 10:00p on now next earlier today
11th Annual Bark Twain Bash
The Mark Twain House & Museum and Kenway’s Cause present the 11th Annual Bark Twain Bash, an evening of celebrating our four-legged friends…
Mark Twain House & Museum $40351 Farmington Avenue, Hartford, CTCome as you are
via hartford.com
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on now next earlier today
American Doctor
(1hr 33 mins) Poh Si Teng, director · Ends Sep 16
Cinestudio 300 Summit Street, Hartford, CT 06106Come as you are
Tickets for American Doctor via Cinestudio
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on now next earlier today
Hartford Athletic vs Tampa Bay Rowdies
Hot dogs, beer, soccer, GOOOOAAAAL! ⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽
Trinity Health Stadium $24+250 Huyshope Ave, Hartford, CT 06106Outside · 71°→58°
via hartford.com
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on now next earlier today
Improv Comedy Night
Sea Tea Improv's house teams improvise a comedy show inspired by suggestions from you, the audience. There'll never be another one like it…
Sea Tea Comedy Theater FreeCome as you are
via hartford.com
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on now next earlier today
Jason Aldean, Chase Matthew & Mackenzie Carpenter
Jason Aldean hits The Meadows Music Theatre for his Songs About Us Tour, featuring Chase Matthew, and Mackenzie Carpenter…
The Meadows Music Theatre $54+
via hartford.com
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to 10:00p on now next earlier today
Free Movies in the Park: Selena
Selena (1997, PG) brings the music and story of the beloved Tejano superstar to the big screen under the stars at Bushnell Park…
Bushnell Park Free99 Trinity Street Hartford, CT 06103Bring a layer
via hartford.com
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on now next earlier today
In The Mouth of Madness
Come one, come all, to a free outdoor horror movie festival. Spooky Popcorn is held annually on Constitution Plaza on Saturday evenings from July…
Constitution Plaza FreeOutside · 68°→58°
via hartford.com
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on now next earlier today
Chatterbox: Improv Comedy Meets Storytelling
Join Sea Tea Improv for the show where they interview guests or hear your stories and then turn those stories into improv comedy scenes…
Sea Tea Comedy Theater $10Come as you are
via hartford.com
All day
- all day Black-Eyed & Blues Fest Mortensen Riverfront Plaza · Outside · 58°
- all day Lilo & Stitch Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art · Free · Come as you are
- all day Retro World Expo Connecticut Convention Center · $35+ · Smart casual
- all day Veterans Rowing & Kayaking Riverfront Boathouse, Riverside Park · Outside · 58°
If you need help
Free & nearly free 11
- Great Hartford Women’s Softball Tournament Colt Park · Free · Outside · 63°
- Mystery Scavenger Hunt Cedar Hill Cemetery · $10 · Outside · 63°
- Second Saturdays for Families Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art · Free · Come as you are
- Bizarre Bazaar State House Square Plaza · Free · Outside · 71°
- Bushnell Park Carousel Bushnell Park Carousel · $2 · Outside · 71°
- 26th Annual Black-Eyed & Blues Festival Mortensen Riverfront Plaza · Free · Outside · 78°→66°
- Improv Comedy Night Sea Tea Comedy Theater · Free · Come as you are
- Free Movies in the Park: Selena Bushnell Park · Free · Bring a layer
- In The Mouth of Madness Constitution Plaza · Free · Outside · 68°→58°
At the pictures 2
- Maikol Yordan 2: La cura lejana (1hr 39 mins) 2018 (Costa Rica) Daniel Moreno, director · With Post-Film Discussion Sep 12 · Cinestudio · Come as you are Tickets
- American Doctor (1hr 33 mins) Poh Si Teng, director · Ends Sep 16 · Cinestudio · Come as you are Tickets
Live music tonight 7
- 26th Annual Black-Eyed & Blues Festival Mortensen Riverfront Plaza · Free · Outside · 78°→66°
- Puerto Rican Weekend: Fiesta Boricua The Patio · Outside · 77°→66°
- Improv Comedy Night Sea Tea Comedy Theater · Free · Come as you are
- Jason Aldean, Chase Matthew & Mackenzie Carpenter The Meadows Music Theatre · $54+
- Free Movies in the Park: Selena Bushnell Park · Free · Bring a layer
- Chatterbox: Improv Comedy Meets Storytelling Sea Tea Comedy Theater · $10 · Come as you are
Food & drink 3
- Puerto Rican Weekend: Fiesta Boricua The Patio · Outside · 77°→66°
- Hartford Athletic vs Tampa Bay Rowdies Trinity Health Stadium · $24+ · Outside · 71°→58°
- Black-Eyed & Blues Fest Mortensen Riverfront Plaza · Outside · 58°
What to wear
Hartford venues don't publish dress codes, so we don't invent one. An outside note means you'll be outdoors — the degrees are the forecast for that hour. Come as you are and smart casual describe the kind of room it is, not a posted rule.
Open whatever the weather
- Wadsworth Atheneum — 600 Main Street · art since 1844
- Bushnell Park — downtown · free, always
- Elizabeth Park — Asylum Avenue · free, always
- Parkville Market — 1400 Park Street · food hall
- Riverfront Riverwalk — Connecticut River · free, always
- Hartford Public Library — 500 Main Street · free
You have to try this 3 places
Only dishes the kitchen itself names, quoted and linked. Nobody pays for a place in this band. It is one pick at a time from a pool of kitchens that name their own dishes — one from a food hall, one from downtown.
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881 Grab & Go
Try the Cheyney Fish Sandwich
Fried whiting, 881 aioli, pickled cabbage and cheese — "the first bite people talk about", in the shop's own words, and the sandwich its own site leads with. A 5/5 review it publishes puts it flatly: "881 had the best Fish sandwich in CT."
Open late tonight — the shop says it stays open late Fridays and Saturdays.
881 New Britain Ave, Hartford · (860) 308-2393
per 881 Grab & Go · Order it
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Mercado 27
Try whatever came off the boat
Authentic Peruvian, and the page leads with fresh seafood rather than the usual chicken-and-rice shorthand.
1400 Park St, Hartford
per Mercado 27
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Salute
Try the rose pasta
Salute's own site says customers rave about the rose pasta — sweet sausage and mushrooms in a light tomato cream sauce. Hartford.com's guide, written by the business improvement district, goes further: the best garlic bread in the entire world, plus sweet potato ravioli in a sage cream sauce.
100 Trumbull Street, Hartford · (860) 899-1350
per Salute · Hartford.com's guide
$10 lunch specials run at every Parkville Market vendor, Monday–Friday 11am–4pm — the market publishes the whole list. Parkville Market's list.
Around town today
- Great Hartford Women’s Softball Tournament Colt Park · Free · Outside · 63°
- Bushnell Park Carousel Bushnell Park Carousel · $2 · Outside · 71°
- 26th Annual Black-Eyed & Blues Festival Mortensen Riverfront Plaza · Free · Outside · 78°→66°
- Free Movies in the Park: Selena Bushnell Park · Free · Bring a layer
- Black-Eyed & Blues Fest Mortensen Riverfront Plaza · Outside · 58°
- Veterans Rowing & Kayaking Riverfront Boathouse, Riverside Park · Outside · 58°
Ten minutes from downtown. Every row says what it costs — the free ones say free.
- Elizabeth Park 2.5 acres of rose garden, a pond, greenhouses and 102 acres of paths — the country's oldest municipal rose garden, ten minutes from downtown.
- Riverfront Recapture & the Riverwalk The Connecticut River, the pedestrian bridge and the paved Riverwalk — flat, easy and completely free. Best at golden hour.
- The Mark Twain House & Museum The Victorian Gothic house where Clemens wrote his best-known books, with a museum next door. A good slow afternoon.
- Bushnell Park America's first publicly funded park — the Soldiers & Sailors Arch, Corning Fountain and a pond, sitting in the middle of downtown. Walking in costs nothing.
- Bushnell Park Carousel A 1914 machine in a 24-sided pavilion: 48 hand-carved wooden horses and two lovers' chariots, turning to a Wurlitzer band organ a few paces from the Arch. The park is free; the ride is not.
- Parkville Market Hartford's food hall on Park Street — dozens of kitchens under one roof, so a party of six with six different cravings can all eat at once.
- Connecticut Science Center The glass building on the river with a rooftop terrace and the state's biggest screen. Good rainy-day insurance.
Local notes
Things worth knowing about this city, checked at the source.
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Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) lived on Farmington Avenue from 1874 to 1891, and wrote Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn and A Connecticut Yankee there.
The Mark Twain House & Museum -
Hartford's newspaper has been printing since 1764, which makes it the oldest continuously published newspaper in the country (it likes to say so).
Hartford Courant -
The Bushnell Park Carousel is a 1914 wooden machine — 36 hand-carved horses, and a brass ring you can still reach for.
Bushnell Park Conservancy
Tomorrow a look ahead
- Harvest Glow · Connecticut Convention Center
- Summer of Soul: Free Outdoor Yoga · Pratt Street Historic District
- Yoga In Our City – Colt Park · Colt Park
- Pratt Street Sunday Market · Pratt Street Historic District