SATURDAY
Morisset Shop & Feast Markets 9am to 2pm, Morisset Showground.
The Olive Tree Markets 9am to 2pm, Civic Park, Newcastle.
Pelican Foreshore Markets 9am to 1pm, Lakeview Parade, Pelican.
Weekends in Wallsend Handmade Markets 10am to 1pm, Wallsend Rotunda, Tyrrell Street, Wallsend.
Anglican Parish Telarah Rutherford Artisan Market Day 8am to noon, cnr Capp and South streets, Telarah.
Glendale Farmers & Artisan Market 8am to 2pm, Stockland Glendale.
Handmade in the Hunter Markets 9am to 2pm, Sobels Wines, Pokolbin.
Hunter Wine Country Markets 9am to 2pm, De Bortoli Wines, Lovedale.
Sustainable Living Festival 9am to 2pm, Ferodale Oval, Medowie. (CANCELLED due to predicted rain, new date TBA)
Concrete Waves Invitational 11.45am to 5pm, Croudace Bay Skatepark. Rollerskating competition.
Let's Surf Lake Mac Pro Junior Saturday and Sunday, Redhead Beach.
Sharing Culture Storytime - Uncle Amos Simon from Muurrung Marai 11am to 11.45am, Wallsend Library.
BAD Sydney Crime Writers Festival Livestream 10.30am to 1pm, Wallsend and Newcastle libraries.
Living Light Wesleyan Methodist Church Car Show 8am, 34 Dunkley Street, Rutherford.
The Australian Conservation Society - Community for Creatures 11am to 4pm, Maitland Park, Les Darcy Drive, Maitland.
Wellbeing and Mystic Festival; Children's Day 10am to 5pm, The Rectory, 48 Sturgeon Street, Raymond Terrace. A free, family friendly event with market stalls, drumming sessions, yoga demonstrations, make your own teddy bear, psychic readers, crystals and more.
2023 Bitter & Twisted Boutique Beer Festival Saturday and Sunday, Maitland Gaol.
Party Party Boom Boom 2pm and 7pm, The Playhouse, Newcastle. Tantrum Youth Arts.
Fort Scratchley's Music of the Guns 6pm to 8pm. A two-hour performance by the Australian Army Band Newcastle and the Waratah Brass Band, plus the firing of Fort Scratchley's historic Mark VII guns. Games at 5pm.
Clarence Town Swim 9.15am, main street parade featuring ex-military vehicles (including WWII amphibious vehicles).
Bands In Concert 2pm, Singleton Civic Centre. Singleton Strings, vocalist Kate Flannery and a combined primary schools' band.
Christmas Lights Spectacular 5.30pm, Hunter Valley Gardens. Also on Sunday.
Newcastle Roller Derby 5pm, Newcastle Showground Exhibition Centre. Double header with Newcastle Junior Roller Derby.
Raspberry Pi Jam: Maker Jam 5pm to 6pm, Lake Mac Libraries Fab Lab, Pacific Highway, Swansea. A gathering of makers, tinkerers and tech enthusiasts.
Cultural Immersion Day (Get Together) - Balar Malar Tamil School Newcastle 4.30pm to 8pm, EastLakes Salvos, 360 Pacific Highway, Belmont North.
Shine a Light Walk 6pm to 7.30pm, Dixon Park, Merewether. A fundraiser for the Lung Foundation Australia.
What Were You Wearing? Australia Fundraising Ball 6.30pm, Stockton Library.
Saturday Night Showcase 7.30pm, Newcastle Comedy Club, 1a Darby Street, Newcastle.
SUNDAY
Maitland Community Markets 9am to 1pm at Maitland Showground.
Homegrown Markets 10am to 2pm, Speers Point Park.
Nelson Bay Legacy Markets 9am to 3pm, Neil Carrol Park, Shoal Bay Road, Nelson Bay.
Newcastle City Farmers Markets 7am to 1pm, Newcastle Showground.
Adamstown Lions Markets 8am to noon, cnr Brunker and Glebe roads, Adamstown.
Newcastle Rowing Club Annual Sprint Regatta Throsby Creek, Carrington.
2023 Cessnock Mitsubishi Australian Postie Bike Grand Prix 9am, TAFE NSW Cessnock.
Newcastle Jets vs Western Sydney Wanderers - Double Header McDonald Jones Stadium, Broadmeadow. A-League Men's kick-off at 3pm; A-League Women's kick-off at 5.45pm.
Cathedral Brass 2pm, Christ Chruch Cathedral, Newcastle.
MUSIC
Fish Fry 30th Birthday Saturday, 7pm, The Underground at The Grand Hotel, Newcastle.
Boom Crash Opera, Bachelor Girl Saturday, 4pm, Toronto Hotel.
Soyboy Saturday, 7pm, The Hamilton Station Hotel, with The Sweaty Betty's, Tyrants and Maicey.
Safia Saturday, 7pm, King Street. RAAVE Tapes Saturday, 8pm, King St Warehouse, with Lupo.theboy, Atlas Franklin Alexandar and Evangeline.
Cass Eager Saturday, 8pm, The Stag & Hunter Hotel.
ART
Blackstone Gallery Chromatic Festival, Saturday and Sunday, 10.30am to 3pm. Works by Andrew Styan, Helena Bezzina, Merillia Lyra, Giselle Penn, Carolyn McKay, Zach Allen, Louise Magrics, Estelle Leishmann and Nicole Lekach.
Lake Mac Open Studios Saturday and Sunday, 10am to 4pm, event map can be found online at arts.lakemac.com.au.
The Creator Incubator The Shadows Speak, by Andrew Shillam and Rindi Salomon (opening reception on Saturday, 6pm to 8pm).
Museum of Art and Culture, yapang Off The Wall. BIG DRAW: postcard project. Suburban Interventions, by Ian Strange. Lateral Landscapes. ARTSPACE on Sunday, 10am and 11am.
Newcastle Art Space Reclaimed, an exhibition by artists with traumatic and acquired brain injuries.
Cooks Hill Galleries Private collection.
SEEN@Swansea The 2023 Sustainable Neighbourhoods Waste to Art exhibition.
Multi-Arts Pavilion (MAP mima) Suburban Interventions, by Ian Strange.
Maitland Regional Art Gallery Crownland. Collecting in Colour: Stories of Fashion and Art. Suspended Moment. Where The Seeds Grow, by Helen Fenner. Eco Zine. MRAGM Art Sale.
The Lock-Up Disclosure, by Julie Gough. Saturday, 10am and 11am, Arts in the Yard.
Back to Back Galleries Reflections, by Hilda Botha and Wendy Thompson.
Art Systems Wickham Collegial, by Andy Collis and Richard Morris.
