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A weekly series focused on Bloomington-Normal's arts community and other major events. Made possible with support from PNC Financial Services.

3 things to do this weekend: Live music, a play and Christmas Under the Dome

Five people bundled in winter gear joyfully throw powdery snow in the air.

Here are 3 things to do for the weekend of Dec. 6-8, 2024, curated by WGLT's Lauren Warnecke. You can find more coverage on our Datebook - Arts & Music page or by subscribing to WGLT's Weekend Scoop email newsletter, which goes out every Friday.

Bloomington's halls are decked: Downtown Bloomington will be in full-festive mode with Christmas Under the Dome Friday and the Jaycee’s Christmas Parade Saturday morning. Friday night is slightly tuned to grown-ups, with spiked eggnog and cider. Plus, live music at the history museum while surrounding businesses and galleries stay open for First Friday. Saturday is more of a family affair, with Santa hanging out in the rotunda, plus games, crafts and caroling — amongst the best acoustics in town. Through 8 p.m. Friday and 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday at the McLean County Museum of History; free. mchistory.org.

The play is the thing: Heartland Theatre’s annual new play reading features scaled-down versions of unpublished scripts. For the 7th edition, Chicago playwright Jenni Lamb joins for a reading of her 2019 script Jumble of Bones, the story of an unlikely friendship that develops out of a client-patient interaction between a therapist-in-training and a paleontologist. Heartland artistic director Rhys Lovell directs. 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday; $10 suggested donation at the door. heartlandtheatre.org.

Free music everywhere: There are several opportunities to see a variety of live music this weekend — all free! Shyreeta Davis lends her silky R&B vocal to Illinois Wesleyan University's jazz combo Friday evening in Presser Hall. The Titan Choir also performs this weekend, giving a vespers concert Sunday afternoon at Holy Trinity Catholic Church. Normal First United Methodist has candlelight carols Sunday at 3 p.m. And Heartland Jazz Orchestra puts on its annual Christmas concert with a mix of jazz standards and big band arrangements of holiday tunes.

Lauren Warnecke is a reporter at WGLT. You can reach Lauren at lewarne@ilstu.edu.