Things to do

Photo by John Haynes

One of Shakespeare’s early plays, Love’s Labour’s Lost is a comedy about students who forswear love and other pleasures to focus on their studies. Fortunately, Globe Theatre actors will make it easy for you to avoid their characters’ folly. Tomorrow take a break from your school work to soak up the autumn sunshine and enjoy a free performance of a scene from the play.

When: Wednesday, November 4, at noon

Where: Sather Gate

If this preview piques your interest, you can see the full performance at Zellerbach Hall through the afternoon of Sunday, November 8. All Berkeley students can buy tickets at half price.

With the Bay Bridge not inspiring confidence, what better time to seek out weekend fun a little closer to home. Look no further than Oakland to find two free events celebrating fall harvests and traditions.

Photo from Tim in sanhazzay on Flickr

For a celebration of Dia De Los Muertos — the largest in the Bay Area — head to International Boulevard in Fruitvale on Sunday, November 1, between 10 am and 5 pm. There will be music, artist and community alters on display, arts and crafts vendors, children’s activities, and of course food!

Also on Sunday, November 1, from 11 am to 3 pm City Slickers Farm is hosting a groundbreaking ceremony for its newest West Oakland farm. This Community Market Farm, located in  Fitzgerald and Union Plaza Parks at 34th and Peralata, will have fruit trees, raised beds, chickens, a farm stand,  and workshops. Stop by to lend a hand building raised beds, enjoy music from local artists, and learn more about the farm and the potential for urban agriculture in Oakland from farmers, area residents, and city representatives.

(While this final offering is neither free nor in Oakland, it is 50% off and sounds like it could be just the right mix of fun and frightening. What is it? A $12 San Francisco Chinatown Ghost Tour. If this is exactly the eery Halloween activity you’ve been waiting for, you can buy your discounted tickets on Groupon.)

Once a year, San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park fills with the music of some of the best-known bluegrass, folk, and alternative country acts around. For three straight days, the likes of Okkervil River, the Old 97s, Earl Scruggs, EmmyLou Harris, Neko Case, and the Drive-by Truckers fill stages in the park’s northern meadows for the annual Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Concert. Best of all, you get to see it for free. So grab some friends, a blanket, and a picnic and head over to Golden Gate Park this weekend to enjoy great music and a gorgeous fall day.

This weekend, Jack London Square on Oakland’s waterfront will be abuzz with street food vendors and Bay Area food lovers. If there’s a way to get your favorite food on wheels, chances are it will be at the Eat Real Festival. In addition to the requisite taco trucks, prepare yourself for mobile you-name-it: chowder, soul food, falafel, pizza, Korean BBQ, American BBQ, pie, crème brûléé, and Gobs. (What are they? The only way to find out is to go. Well, and the internet, but what’s the fun in that?)

The goal of the festival is to showcase locally made food that is affordable, healthy, and sustainably sourced, while bringing together eaters with the people making the food. And, of course, it will be delicious! The festival is free and the “Street Eats” are all $5 or less.

Once you’ve had a bite to eat, there will be lots more to see and do. Visit the farmer’s market for fresh produce. Stop by the Eat Real Street Stage to hear from local musicians, writers, and food activists. Learn from Bay Area chefs as they do cooking demonstrations. Watch a butchery contest on Saturday at 7 pm as two teams compete to see who can butcher a quarter steer fastest. Or stick around until 8 pm on Friday and Saturday nights, then unroll a blanket on the lawn for an outdoor food film festival.

For those willing to go further afield, there is a tour of GhostTown Farm on Saturday, which includes workshops on raising goats and on the best way to kill and butcher a chicken. On Sunday, a tour of Blue Bottle Coffee’s new Oakland roastery leaves from the Eat Real Information booth at 10 am.

Whether this is your first semester at Berkeley or your ninth, the Eat Real Festival promises to be an inexpensive and tasty way to become (re)acquainted with the vibrant food culture in the Bay Area.

Editor’s Note: Most graduate and professional students are on a tight budget. But that doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy all that the Bay Area has to offer. Today the Berkeley Graduate Blog introduces a new feature where we will periodically highlight fun and interesting activities that cost $10 or less. If you’d like to share an inexpensive outing, please contact us.

An aquarium, a tropical rainforest, and a planetarium, topped off with a green roof. Normally taking in the sights at the new California Academy of Sciences will cost you from $20 to $25, but on Thursday nights the doors stay open late and admission is just $10 from 6 pm to 10 pm. 

During Thursdays’ NightLife, a night out mixes with museum going. At one end of the building a DJ spins records, people dressed for an evening out pack the place, and beverages are available for purchase, so you can stroll through the exhibits drink in hand. 

The California Academy of Sciences offers an eclectic mix of exhibits and science in action. Staff members wheel carts of specimens through the crowds while others work behind glass panels, classifying and illustrating for all to see. A floor below visitors mingle in front of the kelp forest or get acquainted with sea stars and sea urchins in the hands-on discovery tidepool. The planetarium and four-story rainforest accommodate only limited numbers, so arrive and get in line early if these are on your to-do list. 

Not the time for quiet contemplation, NightLife is a fun way to see San Francisco’s greenest museum, the recently reopened California Academy of Sciences, for more than half off. (These evenings have been such a hit other museums are following suit. This Chronicle article has a list of other institutions’ nighttime programming.)

What: NightLife at the California Academy of Sciences

Who: Anyone 21 and over

When: Thursdays from 6 pm to 10 pm

Where:  55 Music Concourse Drive, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco

How much: $10 per person. (Prices are going up to $12 in September.)