The weekend before Christmas, Ajijic’s El Piano Rojo was the venue for three performances of the live female celebrity impression act starring Chi Chi Rones and Joanna – otherwise known as the Dueling Drag Divas.

At the Ajijic Auditorio on Thursday, December 19 there was great excitement and standing room only for some, even though additional chairs were brought in. People turned out in droves for the CREM (Centro Regional de Estudios Musicales) annual “Concierto de Invierno,” featuring the Orquesta Víctor Manuel Medeles and the Orquesta Infantil y Coro del CREM.

A surprisingly small audience at the Auditorio de la Ribera gathered for the concert of the Big Band Jazz GDL on December 15. It is difficult to know whether the low turn-out was due to the early (noon) start, it being a Sunday, or to the show being in competition with the many other events taking place at Lakeside over the festive season.

Last weekend’s Purépecha Festival at the Ajijic plaza drew big crowds of eager shoppers looking for deals among the superb selection of hand-made goods while sampling the sights, sounds and flavors of life in the state of Michoacan.

Lakeside Little Theatre’s production of “Over the River and Through the Woods,” written by Joe DiPietro, is a delightful jigsaw of family ties, achievements and values, many pieces of which will be all too familiar to its audiences.

Few members of the audience at the Auditorium in Ajijic last Friday could have anticipated the treat that awaited them at The Hermosillo Family and Friends’ Christmas Concert. Presented by ¡Viva La Música!, it featured operatic and Christmas music in a “Tribute to Harlan Snow,” who died in 2010 aged 82.