Camelot, Canes Boils and Christmas Carols..Oh My!

Thanksgiving might be over, but the family-fun celebrations are just beginning. Starting tonight Gainesville is hosting plenty of opportunities for top-quality entertainment to help you enjoy your holiday weekend and bond with your family. Here are a few of the events we are most looking forward to.

At the Phillips Center tonight, Nov. 27, at 7:30 The University of Florida Performing Arts presents Lerner & Loewe’s Camelot, a musical set in King Arthur’s 12th century castle traces one of the most legendary love triangles in history involving King Arthur, his betrothed Guinevere and Roundtable Knight Sir Lancelot. The production is part of the Friday Night Sights Events - the Harn Museum of Art and the Florida Museum of Natural History will host extended hours until 7pm. Prior to the show, the Phillips Center will be taking new, unwrapped toy donations for Alachua kids.

Tickets are available online and at the Phillips Center box office, 315 Hull Road.

Starting at 9 am, Saturday, Nov. 28, The City of Gainesville is offering some old-fashioned fun at Morningside Nature Center Living History Farm. The farm will travel back to the 1870s as the staff, dressed in full 19th century garb, serve up fresh-made syrup and homemade biscuits. Throughout the day Morningside staffers will cut, press and boil sugar cane into syrup on the spot. The historic integrity is further preserved by the fiddle and open-string instrument sounds that will be the backdrop for the thanks-giving, harvest-welcoming day. During the Annual Cane Boil, the Longleaf Pine Youth Fiddle and Open Band Contest will take place with three different division- Seedling (ages 12 and under), Sapling (ages 13-18) and Open String Band (all ages).

Admission is $2 adults, $1 for kids ages 3-12 and free for children under 3 years-old.

Morningside Nature Center Living History Farm, 3450 E. University Ave.




At 2pm The Hippodrome premieres its annual holiday play, A Christmas Carol, followed by a meet-and-greet with the cast and cupcakes provided by Cakes by Jenny Wagner & Co. This year marks the 32nd production of A Christmas Caro1 in Gainesville and the 20th year the character of Scrooge is played by Rusty Salling. At 7:30pm, A Tuna Christmas will premiere followed by a barbeque provided by Jim’s Bar-B-Que. Local favorite, Mark Chambers traveled down from San Francisco to take part in this year’s production of the screwy Christmas play. All food and treats are free with play admission.

The Hippodrome State Theatre, 25 SE 2nd Place. Tickets available here or by calling the box office at (352) 375-4477.