Thursday, May 21 VILLAGE PARTY Every third Thursday from spring until fall the Carmel Farmers Market hosts a free community party in Devendorf Park, a time and place to hang with friends, pick up some good eats and listen to live music. For May’s Third Thursday, Sunset Presents is bringing Big Sur’s indie psych pop band Pfeiffer Beach Hotel to the party. The band of accomplished professionals is known for fun, danceable tunes. No doubt they’ll bring a little more light and life to Carmel’s village. [PM] 4-7pm Thursday, May 21. Devendorf Park, Ocean and Junipero, Carmel. Free. (831) 620-2048, sunsetcenter.org. HIGH NOTES Maybe you find yourself nostalgic for simpler times (who can blame you?). We’re not saying the swing era was simple—for starters, you might have legit needed a password to enter a speakeasy and had to risk arrest to get there, not to mention the Great Depression— but once you enter, imagine the era of brass-heavy swing ensembles playing peppy, danceable rhythms in smokey bars and no cell phone distractions, leaving just music, dance and rich vocals. That’s the vibe singer Svetlana brings to the stage in Sunset Center’s intimate downstairs venue, Studio 105, for a night of swing music and jazz standards. Even if she can’t offer a portal to 100 years ago literally, she sure can do so sonically, thanks to what has been dubbed her “once-in-a-lifetime voice.” [SR] 7:30pm Thursday, May 21. Sunset Center Studio 105, San Carlos and 9th, Carmel. $70. (831) 620-2048, sunsetcenter. org. Friday, May 22 LADIES NIGHT To highlight and celebrate stories and performances by and for women, Soapbox Stageworks hosts a night of three plays by female playwrights, and to top it off, every woman in attendance gets a free glass of wine. The featured plays include Water, a solo performance filled with a slate of interesting characters by Kacie Devaney; Ms. Lamarr Goes to Washington, which tells the story of actress and inventor Hedy Lamarr; and The Cannery Girls, a one-act play set in 1942 in 24 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY MAY 21-27, 2026 www.montereycountynow.com ELIZABETH WRIGHTMAN Painter Elizabeth Wrightman is back with her unique magical world where art meets storytelling. This time she shows at the Pacific Grove Art Center with an exhibit titled The Hopefulness of Herons in the Third Watch of the Night. At the core of the show are six Whaler’s Cove paintings, which Wrightman describes as a breakthrough. In the piece shown above, we see the swimming Dragon of Whaler’s Cove, the first of the series. “With this group of paintings I see that I am now telling my own Celtic oral histories; not just those of my Scots-Irish forebears,” Wrightman wrote in an artist statement for the exhibit. On display until June 25. 568 Lighthouse Ave., Pacific Grove. Open noon5pm Wednesdays to Saturdays; 1-4pm on Sundays. [AP] 21-27 MAY HOT PICKS To see more local events, and add your own, visit montereycountynow.com/events ELIZABETH WRIGHTMAN COURTESY OF ENCINALES FAMILY VISUALS SALINAN Local Indigenous history is coming to Sol Treasures in King City as part of a collaboration with the Nacitone Museum. The Salinan exhibit follows the ancestral lines of two members of the Salinan Tribe, Laura Oldroyd and Kathy McCormack, who have discovered they are second cousins. The display features artifacts, photos and information about Salinan culture, aiming to dispel misconceptions and promote the tribe’s ongoing presence. An opening reception takes place 5-7pm on Friday, May 22 at Sol Treasures, 519 Broadway St., King City. The event will include a traditional Salinan owl song, performed with clapper sticks made out of elderberry trees, and storytelling. “When you read old newspaper articles, it says the last of the Salinans have died,” Oldroyd says. “We’re still here, and we’re still in the community.” The exhibit remains on display through June 30. [RH] Svetlana brings her acclaimed vocal skills to Studio 105 at Sunset Center for a night of swing music on Thursday, May 21. (The no-last-name-needed singer is pictured in the center, holding the umbrella.) Pfeiffer Beach Hotel, a group of talented Big Sur musicians, come to lead the party at Carmel’s Third Thursday event at Devendorf Park on May 21. HANNAH MORRISON
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