If you like to imbibe, this is your weekend.

On Sunday, the Coventry Regional Farmers' Market is hosting a Homegrown Brew Fest. From 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., visitors can taste local beers and learn how to brew their own.

Stonington Vineyards' Summer Wine & Food Festival runs Saturday and Sunday.

The Greater Hartford Jazz Festival is also this weekend. The free concerts kick off tonight in Bushnell Park.

East Lyme is throwing a big party on Saturday night in downtown Niantic. Celebrate East Lyme runs from 3:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. and ends with a fireworks show.

For more weekend ideas, check out Explore New England's Events Listings.

This weekend is Sailfest in New London. Visitors can tour and take one-house cruises on historic tall ships and then enjoy a car show, bizarre bazaar, acoustic music festival, and Saturday night's fireworks for free.

Lyman Orchards in Middlefield is hosting a free Berry Fest on Saturday with hayrides, frisbee golf, and live music. Events run from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m

The North Stonington Agricultural Fair runs all weekend. The fair offers livestock shows, demos, contests, and concerts.

For more weekend ideas, check out Explore New England's Events Listings.

There's still time to enjoy Open House Day. Museums and other cultural attractions all over Connecticut are offering free admission, special events, and other discounts.

Berlin Fairgrounds is hosting a Mother's Day Weekend Arts & Crafts Festival on Sunday from 10:00 a.m to 5:00 p.m. Admission is $5.

Moms get into the Beardsley Zoo for free on Sunday. (But they do have to bring kids with them.)

Meet the Artists and Artisans runs from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Sunday on the Milford Green. Admission is free.

For more weekend ideas, check out Explore New England's Events.

One of CT's biggest festivals, the Meriden Daffodil Festival, runs this weekend on Saturday and Sunday. Admission is free.

The Annual WestConn/Litchfield Performing Arts Jazz Festival offers concerts tonight and Saturday night in Danbury.

The Ansonia Nature Center is celebrating Earth Day on Saturday. The free event includes walks, crafts, music, and food.

For more weekend ideas, check out Explore New England's Events.

The Showcase Cinemas at the Buckland Hills Mall in Manchester is showing the holiday classic "White Christmas" on Saturday at 10:00 a.m. The cost for the show is a donation of one non-perishable food item.

Several of the National Amusements theaters in CT also offer $5 Bargain Tuesdays.

This is a busy time of year for arts and crafts shows in Connecticut. Some shows have juried exhibtions; they all offer great opportunities for holiday gift-shopping.

Celebration of American Crafts
From the Creative Arts Workshop's website, www.creativeartsworkshop.org

The Creative Arts Workshop's Celebration of American Crafts is a showcase of work by 400 artists. The show runs until Dec. 24 at CAW's Hilles Gallery in New Haven.

The Wesleyan Potters' 51st Annual Exhibit and Sale runs until Dec. 16 at their gallery in Middletown.

The Stamford Art Association Holiday Art Show includes pottery, jewelry, ornaments and other original artwork. The show runs until January 7.

The Brookfield Craft Center's show is billed as the region's largest sale of designer-quality handcrafted gifts. It runs until December 31.

Two Christmas Craft Expos are running over consecutive weekends - December 1, 2, 3, 8, 9 and 10 - at the Hartford Expo Center. You can print your own $1-off coupon.

For more holiday events, check out Explore New England's Holiday Event Guide.

Got a holiday event to share? Post it on the message board.

Thanksgiving Weekend marks the start of several big and bright events around Connecticut.

The Hartford Festival of Lights
From the Greater Hartford Arts Council website, www.connectthedots.org

The Hartford Festival of Light launches tonight at 5:30 p.m. at Constitution Plaza. The lights stay on until Three Kings Day, Jan. 6, and there's a special $5 rate available for parking in the Constitution Plaza South Garage from 5:00 p.m. to midnight until then (but the garage is closed on Christmas and New Year's Day).

The Mystic Lighted Boat Parade is at 6:20 p.m. tomorrow night. Decorated and lighted boats parade down the Mystic River and finish at Mystic River Park.

Holiday Light Fantasia, a half-hour driving tour of illuminated displays in Hartford's Goodwin Park, runs until New Year's. The tour is $12 per car, but you can go through twice on Tuesday nights.

The tree on New Haven Green will light up on Thursday night. The event runs from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. and includes live music, photos with Santa, and hay rides.

Fantasy of Lights at Lighthouse Point Park in New Haven is an annual fundraiser for Easter Seals Goodwill Industries. This driving tour of fantasy light displays begins at 5:00 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday until New Year's Eve and costs $10 per car.

The Maritime Aquarium in Norwalk holds a Festival of Lighthouses through Jan. 16. Local artists create the illuminated lighthouses on display.

Got a holiday event to share? Post it on the message board.

Mohegan Sun is having a big 10th birthday party for itself this weekend. Barenaked Ladies is playing a free show in the Wolf Den. So is Kevin Costner. Really.

If you have some feelings about either casino, you can post them on the Foxwoods vs. Mohegan Sun message board thread. You don't have to hold back. No one else does.

The New Haven Folk Festival runs all weekend. The festival includes the free IKEA Family Folkapalooza on Saturday afternoon at Edgerton Park.

The Taste of Mystic starts tonight and offers a sampling of 30 local restaurants.

And if that doesn't fill you up, Foxwoods is having tasty events all weekend at its Food and Wine Festival.

For more Connecticut events, check out Explore New England's events listings.

I made it to New Haven to see Kool & the Gang on Saturday night. It was a great night and the Green was packed. According to a story in the New Haven Register, there were 30,000 people there.

The next free concert is coming up on Saturday: T.S. Monk and Jonny Lang.

Woodbury Ski Area is hosting its annual Groove Reggae Festival Saturday and Sunday.

The Animal Planet network is in CT for a weekend-long expo. There will be animal shows and activities for kids and pets. The free event is going on at the Farmington Polo Grounds. (I'm totally hooked on Meerkat Manor.)

Kool & the Gang is playing for free on the New Haven Green. I might just get down there and get down on it myself.

Today might be one of the rare cases in which most people actually want to go to work - if they work in air-conditioned buildings. But if you are playing hooky today, you might be interested in this: the Governor has ordered all state park beaches to suspend admission fees today.

So if you feel like going swimming with half of Connecticut, check out this list of our state park beaches. Try the Explore New England beach guide, too.

If you've got a taste for some nostalgia, the New England Dodge Music Center (nee Meadows) is selling summer concert tickets for $15 each. Concerts include Poison, Steely Dan, Chicago, Huey Lewis & the News, and Hippie Fest. You can only get these tickets today and you have to go to the box office at either the Dodge or the Chevrolet Theater (nee Oakdale).

The Greater Hartford Jazz Festival runs this weekend. There's live music on two stages in Bushnell Park and it's free.

A new exhibit, "Shifting Terrain: Contemporary Landscape Photography," opens today at the Wadsworth Atheneum. The show features 17 artists.

Westport is holding its annual Fine Arts Festival. The weekend-long festival includes live music, art shows, and entertainment for kids.

For more Connecticut events, check out Explore New England's events listings.

Casinos aren't usually associated with saving money. In Connecticut, I've heard more than one person refer to "making donations" during the previous weekend's trip to the tables.

But casinos always have fun, free things going on, even if they are schemes to draw you in so that you start donating.

Mohegan Sun is offering Wild Wednesdays every week. A Wild Wednesday includes a farmer's market, garagetop fireworks, classic car show and a battle of the bands. If you don't believe all of that can be crammed into one Wednesday, check out the Hot Summer Fun schedule.

Foxwoods has started a schedule of free shows at its Fox Theater this summer. The latest schedule is available online.

If you visit the casinos, let everyone know what you think on the CT Message Board.

New London's Sailfest has a little bit of everything - fireworks tonight, Max Creek tomorrow (free!), and a lot of food, music and tall ships in between.

Garden tours and flowery events are happening all over the state on Sunday for Historic Gardens Day.

The longest-running polka festival in America is this weekend at Mohegan Sun. It's a Polkabration.

For more Connecticut events, check out Explore New England's events listings.

Juneteenth is just around the corner. On Saturday, the Wadsworth Atheneum and the Amistad Center are hosting Juneteenth Family Day from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM. Admission to the museum is free all day.

I love strawberry time and I'm not the only one who thinks it's worth celebrating. Lyman Orchards is hosting a Strawberry Festival this weekend from 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM. The festival includes hayrides, a pie-eating contest, activities for kids and live music. For those interested in a more staid celebration, Mainly Tea in Wethersfield will be offering a special menu for strawberry lovers until June 30th.

The Green Street Arts Center in Middletown is holding its second annual festival tomorrow starting at 1:30 PM. The day will includes art and crafts on exhibit and for sale and a performance by Tito Ortiz y Son Borincano at 4:00 PM.

Saturday is Open House Day. Attractions across the state will open their doors to Connecticut residents.

For more CT events, visit the Explore New England events page.

One of my favorite Connecticut deals is the live music at the Wolf Den at Mohegan Sun.

It's such a deal because there's no admission charge. Just get there in time for the first-come, first-serve seating and order a drink (or two or three).

You might look at the schedule and think you've never heard of these people so it can't be much of a deal. But if you keep your eye on the schedule, you will probably eventually see a performer or band you would love to see.

The Wolf Den is an open space inside the casino, so people have asked me how terrible the noise from the slot machines really is. I go to the Wolf Den to experience music that I really like, so I just tune into the band and I don't notice the casino noise.

You can get the Wolf Den's up-to-date schedule from the Mohegan Sun website.

There are two big home shows in Hartford this weekend, one at the CT Expo Center and one at the Connecticut Convention Center. Though this is probably a nightmare for each show's marketing staff, it's great for home improvement junkies. Here's a tip: you can get $1 off admission at the CT Expo Center show if you bring a non-perishable food item for Foodshare.

I'm always looking for deals and ideas. If you know of any good deals (things to do, places to stay, special packages, etc.) in Connecticut, let me know and I'll get the word out. Use the form on the right to send me your favorite deal.

This month Connecticut started running The Hartford Star Shuttle, a free bus that follows a loop around downtown Hartford. Stops include the Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford Stage, the new Connecticut Convention Center, and public parking garages. The shuttle runs Monday through Friday beginning from 7:00am to 11:00pm, and on Saturday from 3:00pm to 11:00pm.

There's a great map of the shuttle route at the Enjoy Hartford website.

Also, I recently found this really good Hartford parking map. I like that it has just about every public parking space on it as well as several prominent landmarks, but I'll warn you that the printable version is a big file that opens kind of slowly.