National Dog Show, holiday lights, and weather-proof date nights in this week’s ‘Things To Do’

You’ll find ideas for weather-proof dates, details on final fall fests, the National Dog Show, the Penn Museum’s reopening celebration, and more in this week’s "Things To Do."

Listen 4:33
Handlers listen intently during the herding group competition at the National Dog Show in Oaks, Pennsylvania, on Nov. 17, 2018. (Kriston Jae Bethel for WHYY)

Handlers listen intently during the herding group competition at the National Dog Show in Oaks, Pennsylvania, on Nov. 17, 2018. (Kriston Jae Bethel for WHYY)

You’ll find ideas for weather-proof date nights, plus details on final fall festivals, the National Dog Show, the Penn Museum’s reopening celebration, and more in this week’s “Things To Do.”

UniverSoul Circus
Fairmount Park – 52nd St. and Parkside Ave.
Nov. 15 – Dec. 8, various times
$18 – $45
The UniverSoul circus returns to the Big Top in Fairmount Park this week. The circus focuses on dance and music and its international performers are largely artists of color. The Atlanta-based company was founded in 1993 by Cedric Walker, who wanted to create a circus-based entertainment event more diverse than the ones he’d grown up seeing. To showcase that diversity, the circus features everything from the Caribbean Festival, made up of performers from Antigua, Barbados, Jamaica, and more, to the Cossack Horse Act, with riders who originate from places as far-flung as Kazakhstan, Cuba, and Russia.

Franklin Square Holiday Festival and Electrical Spectacle Light Show
Franklin Square
200 N. 6th St.
Thursday, Nov. 14 – Tuesday, Dec. 31
Free, food and drink for purchase 
Franklin Square’s annual holiday festival features cozy fire pits, live music performances, and even an appearance by the Grinch. The main attraction is the Electrical Spectacle Holiday Light Show with over 80,000 lights synchronized to festive music. Excluding Thanksgiving Day and Christmas day, two different shows will run on the half-hour beginning at 4:30 p.m. daily. Food and drinks from beer to sweets are available for purchase. Franklin Square’s holiday mainstays, including the Lighting Bolt Holiday express train, run through the duration of the festival.

Harvest Fest
Elmwood Park Zoo
1661 Harding Blvd.
Norristown, Pa.
Friday, Nov. 16 and Saturday, Nov. 17, noon – 3 p.m.
Free with general admission
Harvest Fest comes to an end this weekend with performances by Silly Joe Sings on Saturday afternoon and Danielle and Jennifer on Sunday. Enjoy other family activities including flip-a-chicken, paint-a-pumpkin, a corn maze, and for adults, seasonally themed drinks.

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Food Truck Frenzy
Linvilla Orchards
137 W. Knowlton Rd.
Media, Pa.
Saturday, Nov. 16, Sunday, Nov. 17, 11 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Area food trucks converge on Linvilla Orchards this weekend for a unique food festival that includes live music. Over 25 trucks with cuisines ranging from barbeque to Mexican to cupcakes (yes, we consider cupcakes a cuisine of its own) will be on hand. The festival also features hayrides, face-painting, pick-your-own produce, and beer and wine in the Ship Bottom Brewery beer garden and Harvest Ridge Winery. Performers include local bands The Good Bones on Saturday and The Wayside Shakeup on Sunday.

All That Jazz Art Festival
Philly Art Collective
253 N. 3rd St.
Saturday, Nov. 16, 4 p.m. – 9 p.m.
$0 – $15
The Philly Art Collective hosts a variety of hip-pop and music-themed events at their Old City Art Gallery. This weekend, they pay homage to the rich history of jazz in the Philadelphia area. The jazz legends art exhibit will feature art in various disciplines including line drawings, paintings, and mixed media by local artists. All artwork is for sale. The first 1,000 tickets were free with registration, but are now sold out, so a donation will be requested. Drinks are on the house throughout the event.

First State Ballet Theatre Presents Up Front On Market
Studio 1 in The Baby Grand 
818 Market St.
Wilmington, Del.
Friday, Nov. 15, 8 p.m.; Saturday, Nov. 16, 7 p.m.
$52
Delaware’s First State Ballet Theatre’s fall performance showcases ballet in an intimate space with selected pieces from both classical and contemporary repertoires. Founded in 1999 by Pasha and Kristina Kambalov to bring high-level ballet to the state of Delaware, the company includes a school, based on the Vaganova syllabus of Russian ballet, that offers classes for children and adults. Through their Dreamworks! program in conjunction with the Grand Opera House, they’ve committed to making ballet more accessible. Each show includes a post-performance reception with the dancers.

The Kennel Club of Philadelphia National Dog Show
Greater Philadelphia Expo Center
100 Station Ave.
Oaks, Pa.
Saturday, Nov. 16, 8 a.m. – 6 p.m.; Sunday, Nov. 17, 8:30 a.m. – 5 p.m.
$16 (ages 13 and up), $7 (ages 4-12), children 3 and under enter free
Dog lovers, this is your weekend. The Kennel Club of Philadelphia presents the National Dog Show, held every year since 1933. Over 2,000 dogs of over 200 breeds compete for the top prize, Best in Show, among several others. Saturday’s event will be recorded for broadcast on NBC, which airs on Thanksgiving Day right after the telecast of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. This is a “benched” dog show, which means dogs are required to be on an assigned platform when not competing so they, and their owners, can meet and interact with show attendees. Sunday is also a competition day, but the focus is on interactive and family-friendly events. No strollers allowed and needless to say — but we’ll say it just in case — you can’t bring your own dog to the show.

Friday Night Jazz
Woodmere Art Museum
9201 Germantown Ave.
Friday, Nov. 15, 6 p.m.
$15 – $25
Crooner Bing Crosby and jazz icon Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong had a fruitful collaboration. Though both are long gone, their legacy of music, and racial tolerance, lives on. Woodmere’s Friday Night Jazz series pays homage to the famous collaborators with its Bing and Satchmo tribute concert. Vocalist Greg Farnese and trumpeter Will Wright will stand in for Bing and Louis by playing some of the duo’s classic recordings like “Gone Fishin,’” “That’s Jazz,” and “Basin Street Blues.” The series continues through December with themed nights, including The Music of Ray Charles and Betty Carter and a tribute to jazz/pop vocalists Jean Carne, Cassandra Wilson, and Anita Baker.

Opening Weekend Celebration
Penn Museum
3260 South St.
Saturday, Nov. 16, Sunday, Nov. 17, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
$11- $16, children under 6, free
The Penn Museum’s renovation includes a new main entrance, an upgrade to Harrison Performance Hall, and the reconfiguration of 10,000 square feet of gallery and museum space. To commemorate the upgrades, the museum will host a slate of events including performances from the Aztec dance troupe Ollin Papalotl, and the Universal African Dance and Drum Ensemble. Storytelling, film screenings, panels, interactive shows are on the schedule for both days, along with classes in writing both Maya glyphs and hieroglyphics.  

The 1975
BB&T Pavilion
1 Harbour Blvd.
Camden, N.J.
Saturday, Nov. 16, 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, Nov. 17, 7:30 p.m.
$39.50 and up
Formed by British high school students Matthew Healy, Adam Hann, Ross MacDonald, and George Daniel in 2002, The 1975 honed their signature sound for 11 years, touring and releasing EPs until their self-titled major label debut came out in 2013. Since then, their eclectic, multi-genre, ever-changing sound has made them the target of both adoration and criticism. But adoration is winning out as their first album went No. 1 in the U.K., and their second, “I Like It When You Sleep, for You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware of It” also went No. 1 in the U.K and earned them their first U.S. chart No. 1. Their latest release “A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships” anchored by the lead single “People” is due in 2020.

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