“Wee Winter Wonderland”
TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY TO JAN. 7
‘Tis the season when the Mini Time Machine Museum of Miniatures decorates its collections for the holidays according to their time and place in history around the world. Alderley Manor represents an Edwardian Christmas. Casa Bonita’s décor shows Southwestern traditions. The fabulous Dayvewood Drive brownstone is decked out for a 1940s Christmas and there’s a German Christmas stall, a Japanese family farmhouse, a Southwest motorcycle gang out caroling, and a Georgian dining room with a Hanukkah celebration.
The Mini Time Machine, 4455 E. Camp Lowell Drive, Tucson, $14, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., www.theminitimemachine.org
Holiday Nights at Tohono Chul
FRIDAY & SATURDAY THROUGH DEC. 16
Stroll along pathways strung with twinkling lights as live music wafts through the night air. You and your family can rummage for perfect gifts among the offerings of dozens of local artisans and vendors. Meanwhile, help yourselves to the cookies, hot cocoa and hot apple cider on offer by Jose’s Hot Chocolate & Kettle Corn, or anything from the full, regular menu and bar of The Garden Bistro. Bring the kids for craft activities and visits with Santa.Tohono Chul, 7366 N. Paseo del Norte, Tucson, tickets start at $20, 5:30 to 8:30 p.m., www.tohonochul.org
Tucson Opry: Robbie Fulks
DEC. 9
Grammy-nominated picker and songwriter Robbie Fulks surfaced as a rare talent in the Special Consensus Bluegrass Band. He taught music at the storied Old Town School of Folk Music while working his blue-grass chops through a novel hippie-punk aesthetic that ultimately helped define the “alternative country” movement of the 1990s. Fulks’ most recent music features stripped-down instrumentation, and an often-wistful bend to his songwriting about love, the passage of time and other problems he shares with the rest of us.
Plaza Stage, Hotel Congress, 311 E. Congress Street, Tucson, $25, 6:30 p.m.,
www.hotelcongress.com
KXCI 40th Anniversary Concert
DEC. 8
For 40 years, KXCI radio has striven to give voice to all the cultures and common causes among their Southern Arizona audience members. In recent years, they’ve amplified us to the internet. That calls for a dance party! Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Gaby Moreno brings extra light and fire to Orkesta Mendoza’s big-band Latin melodies and rhythms. Mariachi Aztlan de Pueblo High School plays the sounds of the borderlands.
El Casino Ballroom, 437 E. 26th Street, Tucson, $45, 6 p.m.,
www.kxci.org
Ben’s Bells Studio Workshop
DEC. 9
Ben’s Bells has a plan to change the world through kindness. Learn about it on their website, where you can also sign up for workshops to create decorative objects using pieces of colored tiles. This one will be in the Historic Charles O. Brown House, a.k.a. The Old Adobe Patio, née the Congress Hall Saloon. It’s haunted!
Ben’s Bells, 40 W. Broadway Boulevard, Tucson, $100, 10 a.m. to noon,
www.bensbells.org
Christmas at the Empire Ranch
DEC. 9
The Saguaro Strutters line-dance team performs at 11 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. Docent tours take place hourly from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The rest of the day, the Mountain Saddle Band plays cowboy music, Santa hears kids’ secrets, and anyone can make tree ornaments to take home. Vendors and nonprofit organizations will sell candles, baked goods, hand-crafted and vintage jewelry, wood crafts, freeze-dried candy, miniatures and native art.
Empire Ranch, Highway 83, Empire Ranch Road, Sonoita, $10 per car, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.,
www.empireranchfoundation.org
“Grill Your Own Steak” Night
DEC. 9
Poolside barbecue season may be behind us, but Zipline Adventures is keeping the flame alive. Grill your steak just the way you like it in the holiday-season company of like minds — zipline ride, optional. It sounds like a great way to wind up any day on the north slopes of the Catalina Mountains. Mark Garris provides a live country music soundtrack.
Arizona Zipline Adventures, 35406 S. Mount Lemmon Road, Oracle, grilling items start at $28 includes sides and “fixin’s,” 5 to 7 p.m., www.ziparizona.com
“Cirque de Symphonie”
DEC. 9 TO DEC. 10
It’s as if the Tucson Symphony Orchestra is stuffing a stocking full of visual and aural treats for us. Acrobats and aerial artists will create a Cirque-like atmosphere around the symphony’s performances of traditional confections including “Sleigh Ride,” selections from Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker,” Silvestri’s “Polar Express Suite,” and John Williams’ “Flight to Neverland” from “Hook.” Savory treats include Anderson’s “Bugler’s Holiday,” Gounod’s “Mirror Dance” from “Faust” and Bizet’s “Farandole” from “L’Arlésienne.”
Linda Ronstadt Music Hall, 200 S. Church Avenue, Tucson, tickets start at $12, 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday,
www.tucsonmusichall.org
Skip Heller’s Hollywood Film Noirchestra
DEC. 8
Los Angeles pan-genre guitar wizard Skip Heller and his ensemble pay tribute to “the marriage of crime and jazz” in classic film noir scores by Mancini, Barry, Mandel and more. Heller has worked with Yma Sumac, Bootsy Collins, NRBQ, Lalo Guerrero, Los Lobos, the Klezmatics and Todd Rundgren, but pop-culture trivia fans may appreciate his scoring for the 2001 movie, “The Flintstones: On the Rocks.”
Club Congress, 311 E. Congress Street, Tucson, tickets start at $20, 7 p.m.,
www.hotelcongress.com
Tucson Marathon
DEC. 10
As if to attract more gluttons for punishment, the Tucson Marathon will feature two new, all-downhill routes along the foothills of the Santa Catalina mountains. The full marathon, the 50K Run and the marathon relay start above the town of Oracle and run down to Catalina. The half marathon starts on Biosphere Road, at the halfway point of the marathon, and runs down to Catalina. Routes and times are on the website for runners and those who wish to avoid them.
Various locations from Oracle to
Catalina, fees start at $129 for
half-marathon, start times vary,
www.tucsonmarathon.com
NAWBO Holiday Mixer
DEC. 13
If you are a woman, own a business and enjoy networking over a glass of wine, this event could change your life. The Greater Tucson Chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners is a room full of women who understand your story, can offer referrals and work together to grow women’s businesses in Tucson. Also it’s a party.
Arizona Wine Collective, 4280 N.
Campbell Avenue, Tucson, free, 5:30 to
7 p.m., www.eventbrite.com
