DON’T MISS: AHA!, Whaling City Festival returns, NB farmers market, salsa on the beach

10 a.m.-8:30 p.m. Thursday, July 8
AHA! NEW BEDFORD

Live music, art, history, more

While the city’s monthly arts night downtown hasn’t fully ripped off the “VAHA” mask, its July lineup tilts almost completely toward in-person events and is packed with live music. A few highlights:

• SUMMER SOUND SERIES: Longtime local rocker Butch McCarthy launches a summer series of weekly concerts in Custom House Square. Bring a chair and take-out; the beer garden opens at 2 p.m., live music at 4.

• HIP-HOP DANCE DEMOS: The third of five monthly 3rd EyE events teaching “the 5 pillars of hip-hop” is about b-boys and b-girls. Learn about all five pillars — the other four are knowledge, graffiti, MC’ing, and DJ’ing — and their role in shaping the culture.

• SEA SHANTIES & MORE: Maritime music exploded on TikTok earlier this year. Find out why at this Fishing Heritage Center presentation of The Johnson Girls, an all-women a cappella group that has been singing salty songs for decades.

• VICTORIAN EYE CANDY: The Preservation Society leads an architectural walking tour of some of the West End’s grandest homes.

• SUMMER SPARKLE: The festivities extend to the South End with tours of Kilburn Mill art studios. Stop by Judith Klein’s latest exhibition featuring her work and that of eight other local artists.

• LIVE CAPE VERDEAN MUSIC: Starting at 5:30 outside Celia’s Boutique and Alison Wells Art Gallery, Candida Rose and Zerui Depina, fresh off his gig Friday at the Morna Lounge, will perform a show reminiscent of the outdoor “tocatinha” performances in Cabo Verde.

• Plus there will be “bossas, ballads, and blues” under the Jazz Wall, a picnic at the Rotch-Jones-Duff mansion, new exhibitions at Gallery X and Co+Creative Center, family-friendly activities, a Symphony Orchestra popup, and Seaport Artwalk. Even the popup vaccine clinic (4-7 p.m., 399 Acushnet Ave.) promises a good time with free food, brass band, and ice cream truck.