November, around the Wasatch

Fri, Nov 6 · Viridian Event Center & Veterans Memorial Park · Preshow 6:30 pm, concert 7:30 pm · Free

Aspen Winds, a chamber quintet, in a warm room on a cold night, and it costs nothing. The preshow activity this month is writing thank-you notes to veterans, which is a better way to spend twenty minutes with your kids than almost anything else I can think of in the week before Veterans Day.

Fri, Nov 6 through Sat, Jan 9 · Loveland Living Planet Aquarium, Draper · 5:30 to 10:00 pm · From $18.95

Giant illuminated lanterns out on the plaza, and your ticket gets you the indoor aquarium until 9:00 as well. Two things worth knowing: the line is longest right at 5:30, so come at 6:30 instead, and the lantern ticket is separate from a daytime ticket, so if you are there during the day you have to leave at 5:00 and come back in.

Wed, Nov 11 · Gold Star Families Monument, Draper City Park · 11:00 to 11:30 am · Free

Thirty minutes. Colors, music, a keynote, and refreshments after. It runs in snow, rain or shine. If you have ever wanted to take your kids to one of these and never found the right one, this is the right one, it is short enough that nobody runs out of patience.

Mon, Nov 30 · Draper Park · 6:00 to 8:00 pm · Free

Lights go on at 6:00 sharp, then Santa moves over to the Day Barn and there are pony rides, marshmallow roasting and hot chocolate until 8:00. All of it free. The lights themselves stay on nightly, 5:00 to 10:00 pm, right through January 1, so the park is worth a loop any evening in December.

Mon, Nov 30 · City Hall & J. Lynn Crane Park · 6:00 to 8:30 pm

Santa, music, games and skating on the ice ribbon. Same night as Draper’s tree lighting, one town over, so if you are quick you can do Draper at 6:00 and still catch the back half here. The city has not posted the full schedule yet, so check the page the week before.

Fri, Nov 6 through Sun, Dec 20 · Red Butte Garden Visitor Center · Free to walk through and shop

The Glass Art Guild of Utah fills the visitor center, and you do not need garden admission to shop it. Meet the artists on Saturday the 7th from 2:00 to 5:00. This is my answer every year for somebody who is hard to buy for.

Sat, Nov 7, 9 am to 5 pm and Sun, Nov 8, 9 am to 4 pm · The Orangerie, Red Butte Garden · Included with admission

Same weekend and same property as the glass show, so you can do both in one trip up to the foothills. The Orangerie in November is about seventy degrees and smells like spring, which in the first week of standard time is worth the drive on its own.

Sat, Nov 7 · The Tabernacle, Temple Square · 7:30 pm · Free

New hymns and songs in the Tabernacle, free and open to the public. Whatever you believe, that building is one of the best rooms for sound in the country and most people who live here have never heard anything in it. Details were still being added when I wrote this, so check before you go.

Sat, Nov 14 · The Gateway · Free

The downtown holiday lights get switched on, with live music, food and the usual stilt walker. The lights then stay up through the end of the year, so if the 14th is busy, any weeknight after it is the calm version of the same thing.

Saturdays from Nov 14 · 209 E 500 S · 10 am to 2 pm · Free to browse

The Pioneer Park season ended October 24 and this is where it goes for the winter, indoors, every Saturday through April. Smaller than the summer market and a completely different experience, more bread and cheese and crafts than produce. Go at 10:00, the good stuff is gone by noon.

Fri and Sat, Nov 27 and 28 · The Tabernacle, Temple Square · 7:00 pm · Free

This is how Temple Square opens the Christmas season now, two nights in the Tabernacle the weekend after Thanksgiving. Free, but more information was still coming when I built this list, so check whether it has moved to tickets before you drive down.

Sat, Nov 7 and Sun, Nov 8 · Snow Park Lodge, Deer Valley · 10 am to 6 pm

Hundreds of handwoven rugs, plus jewelry and baskets, and the weaver sets her own price and keeps one hundred percent of it. It is a quiet, serious room and it has been happening for more than thirty years. Go even if you are not buying, the weavers are there and they will talk to you about the work.

From Thu, Nov 19 through Dec 30 · Heber City · 5:00 and 7:30 pm weeknights, Saturdays add 11:30 am and 2:00 pm · From $50

About ninety minutes round trip, pajamas encouraged. The thing nobody tells you: it sells out, and the November dates are the ones still available when December is long gone. Get there thirty minutes early, they are strict about departure, and the depot lot fills before the 7:30 train.

Fri, Nov 20 · Park City · Conditions permitting

Alta and Solitude are targeting the same day, Snowbird and Snowbasin the 27th, Deer Valley not until December 5. Opening weekend is a handful of runs and a lot of grinning, which is the whole point. Go up Friday rather than Saturday if you can, the first Saturday is the busiest day of the early season.

Fri, Nov 27 · Historic Main Street, Park City · 5:00 to 8:00 pm · Free

Nineteen galleries open their doors with refreshments on the last Friday of the month, and November’s lands on the day after Thanksgiving. If you have family in town and nobody can agree on what to do, this is free, it is walkable, and it fills two hours.

Through Sat, Nov 7 · Pleasant Grove

The fall festival closes on the 7th and that is the last pumpkin patch weekend on the Wasatch Front. Hayrides, petting farm, corn pit, slides. If you kept meaning to go in October and never did, this is the weekend, and it is usually calmer than any Saturday last month.

Thu, Nov 12 through Jan 9 · Thanksgiving Point, Lehi · Mon to Sat, closed Sundays · Ticketed, timed entry

More than ten million lights across fifty acres of garden, and it is a walk, not a drive. Here is the part that matters: the mid-November weeknights are the cheapest tickets and the smallest crowds, and the whole thing is identical to the December nights that sell out in October. Parking is free and on site, and it fills on the busy nights, so get there fifteen minutes before your window.

From Fri, Nov 27 through Jan 1 · Canyon View Park, Spanish Fork · Nightly 6:00 to 10:00 pm · Advance tickets only

The drive-through one, which with little kids in pajamas beats a walk-through every time. Two warnings. Tickets go on sale November 12 and there are no tickets sold at the gate, so you cannot decide this one in the car. And your half-hour window is when you get in line, not when you get in.

Through Sun, Nov 8 · Farmington · Included with regular admission

The last day of the Lagoon season is the 8th, and then the park is closed until spring. Frightmares is included with admission, no separate ticket, and the first weekend of November is the quietest one of the whole run. If you have a season passport sitting unused, this is the last chance to get something out of it.

Tue, Nov 10 through Sat, Nov 14 · Western Sports Park, Farmington · Tue to Fri 9 am to 9 pm, Sat 9 am to 6 pm · $7 at the door

Five days, and kids 18 and under are free with an adult. Tickets are cheaper bought ahead than at the door. Tuesday morning is for the people who are serious about it, by Saturday the best booths are picked over, so go early in the week if there is something specific you want.

Opens Wed, Nov 11 · CenterPoint Legacy Theatre, Centerville · Runs into December · Ticketed

CenterPoint does the big Broadway titles better than a community theatre has any business doing, and this one runs on the main stage from the 11th through most of December. Weeknights are easier to get and half the price of a Saturday. Check the theatre’s own calendar for the performance schedule.