Halloween is here, and with it, myriad fun events that will amuse everyone from the tiniest goblin to the most discerning theater buff.
One popular Halloween-themed event is in our own backyard. Each year, Como Park Zoo hosts ZooBoo, a whimsical festival that draws crowds from around the state. Guests wind through the lanes of the zoo while collecting treats, meeting more than 200 costumed characters and playing games.
You can catch the last two nights of ZooBoo from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 24, and Sunday, Oct. 26. Tickets can be purchased for $6 in advance here or at the gate for $7. All proceeds support Como Park Zoo and Conservatory.
St. Anthony Park Elementary School, 2180 Knapp St., will hold its annual Fall Festival and Silent Auction from 5:30 to 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 24. Festivities will begin with a family-friendly Pumpkin Fun Run around Langford Park (check in at 4:45 p.m., run begins at 5:15 p.m.), then all are welcome to attend a community-building evening that will include live music, a pumpkin-carving contest, creative crafts, a silent auction and many more activities for the whole family.
Admission is free, but tickets may be purchased for activities, food and refreshments. All proceeds go to enrichment programs at the school.
Gibbs Museum welcomes one and all to Olde Halloween from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 25. Celebrate Halloween the way the pioneers did: make popcorn balls, hunt for pennies in a haystack, compete in costume contests and trick-or-treat at the farmhouse.
Tickets are $8 for adults, $7 for seniors and $5 for children over 4. Find out more at www.rchs.com.
Hold on to your brooms, because BareBones Productions’ 21st Annual Halloween Outdoor Puppet Extravaganza at Hidden Falls Regional Park in St. Paul is explosive. The show, “Metamorphosoup,” promises to be “a spectacle pageant of larger-than-life puppetry, drama, stilting, dance, fire, song and music that honors the circle of life by celebrating its seasonal arc of death in the fall,” according to the BareBones website.
After the performance, the audience is invited to partake in refreshments served by Sisters’ Camelot, a Minneapolis free organic food-distribution collective, along with rousing live music performed by local bands, including Gypsy Brass-Americana party band the Brass Messengers.
Hidden Falls Regional Park is located at 1313 Hidden Falls Drive, just off S. Mississippi River Boulevard in the Highland Park neighborhood. Shows will be held at 7 p.m. on five nights: Saturday, Oct. 25; Sunday, Oct. 26; Thursday, Oct. 30; Friday, Oct. 31; and Saturday, Nov. 1. The show is considered appropriate for all ages. There is a suggested donation of $5-$20.
The People’s Gallery, 2496 University Ave. W., will hold a reception for its Halloween exhibit, “Shadowed Visions,” from 6:30 to 10 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 25. The exhibit, which features more than 40 pieces by 25 local artists, will be on display through Saturday, Nov. 14. You can find out more about the show and the gallery’s hours at peoplesgallery.org.
