What To Do: Hagley Craft Fair, scary sites and more

Busy Fall schedule of local fun and interesting events

By Denny Dyroff, Staff Writer, The Times

One of the oldest and best annual craft events in the Brandywine Valley is the Hagley Craft Fair. Celebrating its 37^th anniversary this year, the event will be held October 17 and 18 at Hagley Museum and Library (Buck Road East entrance via Route 100, Wilmington, Delaware, 302-658-2400, www.hagley.org).

The popular annual show, which is being held inside Hagley’s Library Building and Soda House along with the grounds outside the building, is a juried craft fair with more than 50 top-flight artisans demonstrating, displaying and selling their crafts.

The Hagley Craft Fair, which was created to celebrate the history of the textile industry along the Brandywine in the late 18th and early 19^th centuries, will spotlight artists who specialize in wearable art, Shaker boxes, wood, pottery, jewelry, glass, soap, metal and other media.

The Craft Fair will run from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m.-4 p.m. on Sunday. Tickets are $5.

These days, it seems that there are pumpkins all around you. There are big pumpkins, tiny pumpkins, pumpkin M&Ms, carved pumpkins, pumpkin Oreos, illuminated pumpkins, huge pumpkins, pumpkin lattes, artificial pumpkins and even digital pumpkins.

This is also the time of the year when pumpkin celebrations are all around you. One of the premier pumpkin events in the state is the annual Pumpkin Days event at Tyler Arboretum. (515 Painter Rd., Media, 610-566-9134, www.tylerarboretum.org).

Tyler Arboretum’s Pumpkin Days event is a fun-filled family festival as well as being one of the nature-oriented site’s major annual fundraising events. This year’s event will be held October 17 and 18 from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. each day.

The wide array of activities includes hay wagon tours, scarecrow making, a moon bounce, face painting, a pumpkin patch, an inflatable obstacle course, arts and crafts, a haunted tree house and pumpkin painting.

Tickets are $11 for adults and $7 for children (ages 3-15). Free parking for Pumpkin Days is exclusively at the Penn State Brandywine campus, where visitors can catch the complimentary shuttle bus to and from Tyler Arboretum. Parking at the Arboretum is reserved for handicapped parking.

There is a big event for memorabilia collectors this weekend — the Philly Non-Sports Card Show. The event will be held on October 17 from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. and 18 from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. at Merchants Square Mall (1901 South 12th Street, Allentown, 717-238-1936, http://phillynon-sportscardshow.com). Tickets are $8 — $12 for a two-day pass.

There are two basic categories of trading cards — sports cards and non-sports cards. Sports cards depict athletes at all levels. Non-sport cards offer so much more. There are card sets dealing with music, movies, politics, nature, pop culture and history.

For more than a century, non-sport trading cards have documented trends in pop culture – providing people with history lessons provided by small, rectangular pieces of cardboard. Some of the most recent issues are “Minecraft,” “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” and “Minions.”

Twice each year, collectors from across the country come together in eastern Pennsylvania for this very special event. Now in its 32nd year, the event is the oldest show of its kind in the country. This weekend’s extravaganza, which will be held Saturday and Sunday at the Merchants Square Mall in Allentown, is the 63rd edition of the show.

Many of the hobby’s top manufacturers will have exhibit booths at this weekend’s show and will be distributing free promo cards. There will be a huge array of non-sport cards, sets, singles, wrappers, chase cards, promos, and related memorabilia.

Time is running out. You have just a few days left if you want to check out the special display called “Founders Exhibition” at the Chester County Art Association (100 North Bradford Avenue, West Chester, 610-696-5600, http://www.chestercountyarts.org).

The display will feature 17 rarely-viewed N.C. Wyeth paintings in hallmark exhibit in CCAA’s Allinson Gallery. These impressive paintings by internationally acclaimed artist and CCAA Founder N.C. Wyeth will be exhibited now through October 18 from 9 a.m.-8 p.m. daily (11 a.m.-6 p.m. on Sundays).

Most of these works make up a unique and stunning set which is on loan from The Hill School in Pottstown, Pennsylvania. The only one form a different source is “The Giant,” which is on loan from Westtown School. Each of The Hill School’s 16 paintings illustrates a literary work by an American poet such as Walt Whitman and Henry Longfellow, and depicts a momentous event in our history.

Under normal circumstances, “The Giant” can be found as the central attraction in the dining room of the Westtown School.  As the largest painting in the Founders Exhibition, CCAA will enjoy the privilege of including it with the same central billing.

N.C. Wyeth was a pre-eminent early 20th century painter who helped to establish the “Brandywine tradition” of painting.  Admission to this exhibition is $15.

In conjunction with this event, the Brandywine Artisan Wine Trail (http://www.brandywineartisanwinetrail.com) will offer a special attraction.

To help promote this important exhibition, each of the Trail’s wineries will have art cards with one image from the N.C. Wyeth exhibition. If you collect five or more different cards, you can receive two-for-one admission at the door to the Chester County art show. If you write your name and contact information on the back of the card, you may be the lucky winner of a basket of Chester County wines from our area wineries.

This art card collection game is free with no obligation to purchase anything. It is designed to encourage people to visit different wineries in the area, and go to the Chester County Art Association Exhibition. The wineries of the Trail are extending an invitation to come for the wine and enjoy the art.

Members of the Trail are Black Walnut Winery, Borderland Vineyard, Chaddsford Winery, Flickerwood Wine Tasting Room, Galer Estate Winery, Grace Winery, Historic Hopewell Vineyards, Kreutz Creek Vineyards, J. Maki Winery, Paradocx Vineyard, Penns Woods Winery, Stargazers Vineyard & Winery, Ten Gallon Hat Winery, Va La Vineyard and Wilson Vineyard.

On October 17, The Kennett Symphony of Chester County (610-444-6363m, http://www.kennettsymphony.org) will start its 2015-2015 with a concert called “MASTERWORKS 1: Kennett Symphonys 75th Anniversary Opening Night Concert.”

The show, which will get underway at 7:30 p.m., is being held at Unionville High School.

The KSCC will celebrate its diamond anniversary with a commission by the acclaimed young composer Anthony Constantino. The concert will feature Michael Hall as Conductor and Timotheos Petrin on cello.

In addition to Constantino’s “KSCC 75th Anniversary Commission/World Premiere,” the performance includes Saint-Saëns’ “Cello Concerto No. 1,” Puccini’s “Crisantemi” and Respighi’s “The Pines of Rome.”

The evening’s program features “Kennett Symphony 75th Anniversary Reflections with Michael Hall” at 6:15 p.m., Historical Exhibit on Display at 7 p.m., the concert at 7:30 p.m. and a post-concert Q & A with Michael Hall.

Adult ticket prices are $53, $45, $30 day of concert with student (age 18 and under) tickets priced at $10.

The Chester County Hospital Fall Festival is scheduled for October 17. The free event will run from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. at Penn Medicine Southern Chester County (455 Woodview Road, West Grove, http://www.chestercountyhospital.org).

There will be an array of kids’ activities including moon bounce, large slide, face painting, story time, crafts and more — all of which have been coordinated by the early education and cosmetology students at the Technical College High School Pennock’s Bridge Campus.

There will be a one-day farmers’ market featuring local vendors — including Sweet Peas of Jennersville, Wayne Carlisle Produce, Swallow Hill Farm, Katt and Mathy Farms Black Angus Beef, Compass Farms Cheese, Mushroom Cap and Nunamaker Farms along with the Southbound BBQ Company food truck.

At “Touch-a-Truck,” there will be a special appearance by the PennSTAR medical transportation helicopter. Other attractions include health fair and screenings, an “Open House” of the medical center, cookie decorating by the culinary students at the Technical College High School Pennock’s Bridge Campus.

On October 18 from 11 a.m.-3 p.m., Finding Shelter Animal Rescue and Upper Merion Township Department of Parks and Recreation (Upper Merion Township Building, 175 West Valley Forge Road, King of Prussia, 610-272-2293, www.findingshelter.org) will join forces to present Sproutfest 2015.

The free event will feature children’s activities, food and drink vendors, live music and raffle prizes. It will also bring together a number of animal rescue organizations to encourage adoptions and to educate the public about the plight of abandoned animals.

Finding Shelter Animal Rescue began on January 1, 2010 as a no-kill rescue for dogs and cats. Finding Shelter was inspired by Sprout, a blind Chihuahua who was abandoned on the side of the road in November, 2009.

Sprout was sick and afraid and was expected to live only two, short weeks. He had quite a bit of fight in him for such a small guy, but on February 1, 2012, Sprout lost his battle with hydrocephalus. Finding Shelter Animal Rescue will continue to honor and celebrate his life through this event.

On October 18, the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University (1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia, 215-299-1000, www.ansp.org) is celebrating oceans and things found in the world’s oceans with its Fourth Annual Philadelphia Shell Show.

Billed as “The largest show of its kind in the Northeast,” the event features competitive displays by collectors and amateur scientists. It also provides visitors with the opportunity to participate in mollusk dissections, make crafts, shop an international shell market, and go behind the scenes to see some of the 10 million specimens in the Academy’s Malacology Collection (which is the third largest in the world).

The show will be held from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. on October 18. Admission is $17.95 for adults (age 13 and older) and $13.95 for children (ages 3-12).

It’s a real stretch to link Medieval activity with Delaware County but that’s what will be happening on October 17 and 18 at the that the Colonial Pennsylvania Plantation (Ridley Creek State Park, Media, 610-566-1725, www.colonialplantation.org).

If there were anything going on in the Delaware Valley back during the Middle Ages (1066-1485 A.D.), it would be activity among the local Native American tribes such as the Lenni Lenape and the Unami.

So, it may seem a little odd that the Colonial Pennsylvania Plantation (Ridley Creek State Park, Media, 610-566-1725, www.colonialplantation.org) hosts an annual event called “Medieval Days.”  If it’s a fun day, it need not be historically correct.

On October 17 and 18, the Colonial Pennsylvania Plantation is inviting visitors to “come see what life was really like during the Middle Ages in Europe — to see how 500 years of European culture thrived and changed.”

The scenic historic site, which is located in the middle of Ridley Creek State Park, will be host to a variety of encampments that look back at different aspects of medieval life from the Vikings to the age of Columbus. Re-enactors as Romans, Saxons, Normans and Vikings will portray life from this era of western civilization.

According to the Plantation’s website, visitors to the event will be able to witness the changes that technology made by the late Middle Ages by viewing Irish encampments and the 15^th-century War of the Roses.

Also included with admission is “Oxen through the Ages,” a talk and demonstration on the importance of oxen to farming. It will be presented on Saturday at 1 and 3 p.m. and again on Sunday at 2 p.m.

“Medieval Days” is scheduled to run on October 17 from 11 a.m.-5 p.m. (with last entry at 4 p.m.) and on October 18 from 11 a.m.-3:30 p.m. (with last admission at 3 p.m.). Tickets are $12 for adults and $8 for children (ages 4-12).

The 1696 Thomas Massey House (Lawrence Road, Broomall, 610-353-3644, http://www.thomasmasseyhouse.org) will be celebrating autumn with its Harvest Day Festival on October 17. The free festival features demonstrations of a variety of colonial crafts by period re-enactors and other special activities from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m.

Visitors will be able to learn how to make apple butter, churn butter and make candles. There will be a working walk-in fireplace as well as a working blacksmith shop. Live music will be provided by the Marple Community Band.

Stoudts Brewery (2800 North Reading Road, Adamstown, 717-484-4386, http://stoudts.com) is hosting a “Cancer Benefit Brew Fest” on October 17 with an afternoon session from noon-4 p.m. and an evening session from 6-10 p.m.

Tickets include four hours of unlimited sampling of craft beer, live music performed by The Youngers (matinee session) and the Good Lovin’ Jam Band (evening session). Admission price for either session is $35. October is Cancer awareness month and this event is being held with “Living Beyond Breast Cancer” as its beneficiary.

There will be brews from a wide array of beer crafters including Victory Brewing, Stoudts, Golden Avalanche, Evil Genius, Saucony Creek, Union Barrel Works, Ohio Brewing Co., Otto’s, Long Trail, Appalachian, St. Boniface, Climax Brewing Company, Fegley’s Brew Works, Lancaster Brewing Company,  Neshaminy Creek Brewing Company, Snitz Creek,   Wacker Brewing, and Wyndridge Farm.

For those whose preference is wine rather than beer, there is another special event for you this weekend. On October 17 and18, the Lehigh Valley Wine Trail (http://lehighvalleywinetrail.com) will introduce visitors to the region’s official wine grape during Chambourcin Weekend.

Chambourcin is the only wine grape that is grown by all nine wineries. In the greater Lehigh Valley, there are more than 40 acres of Chambourcin that ferments into approximately 150,000 bottles of wine annually.

Each winery will feature its own activities such as wine tastings, live entertainment, vineyard tours and food and wine pairings. Event hours at all of the wineries are Saturday from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. and Sunday from noon-5 p.m. Chambourcin Weekend is a free event but some of the wineries charge for wine tastings.

The nine wineries on the Lehigh Valley Wine Trail are Amore (Nazareth), Big Creek (Kresgeville), Blue Mountain (New Tripoli), Clover Hill (Breinigsville), Franklin Hill (Bangor), Galen Glen (Andreas), Pinnacle Ridge (Kutztown), Tolino (Bangor) and Vynecrest (Breinigsville).

The Historic Odessa Foundation (Main Street, Odessa, Delaware, 302- 378-4119, http://www.historicodessa.org) will present a pair of special events this month. One will be a chiller and the other will warm the spirits.

The Delaware Shakespeare Festival will put audience members in a nicely-spooked state with two performances of “Shakespeare/Poe: A Night of Readings from the Dark Side.” On Oct. 16 and 23, actors will read seasonally spooky selections from the plays of Shakespeare and the poems and short stories of Edgar Allan Poe.

The weird sisters of Macbeth will meet again and the raven will certainly come knocking on the chamber door, but this year’s “Shakespeare/Poe” event will also offer readings that have not appeared in previous installments of this popular autumn show.

The readings will take place at Historic Odessa’s Stone Stable with a starting time of 7 p.m. each night.

On October 17, there is an event that will warm both your spirit and your body.

will be presented from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Collins-Sharp House.

Guests can enjoy the hearthside bounty of fall at a hearth cooking class and luncheon hosted by costumed interpreters at the historic house. Using 18^th-century cooking techniques, tools and recipes, participants will create and enjoy a meal that recaptures the flavor of Odessa’s colonial past.

The Historic Odessa Foundation offers tours to the public, families, groups and schools of its landmark Delaware properties — the Historic Houses of Odessa. The tour also provides a look at the foundation’s collection of more than 6,000 objects and furnishings that span an interpretive period in regional decorative arts from 1760-1850.

The Historic Houses of Odessa are open to the public March through December, Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m., and Sunday 1-4:30 p.m. General Admission is $10 for adults, $8 for seniors and students,  and free for children (under six).

It may be hard to believe but Halloween is just two weeks away. The spirits of the night are starting to come alive. They know that Halloween and All Saints’ Day (also known as All Hallows Day) are coming soon and they’re ready to cause some havoc.

Halloween, the holiday that features trick-or-treating and other ghostly fun events, takes its name from All Hallows Evening (Hallow e’en). All around the area, Halloween activities are already in high gear.

There is a wide array of special sites, holiday activities and scary events to satisfy almost any taste. The following is a chronological look at many of these events.

The 25^th annual edition of “Haunted Hayride, Bates Motel and Haunted Corn Trail at Arasapha Farm” (1835 N. Middletown Rd., Gradyville, 610-459-0647, www.thebatesmotel.com) will be scaring visitors through November 1.The haunted hayride through the woods features monsters, special effects and actors. The Bates Motel has haunted rooms with special effects and computerized lighting. A haunted trail is cut through a cornfield inhabited by monsters. Admission prices are: Haunted Hayride, $20; Bates Motel, $15; Haunted Corn Maze, $15; combination tickets, $40. There are reduced rates for children.

“Valley of Terror” (1215 Wawaset Rd., Kennett Square, 484-886-6080, www.valleyofterror.com) will be held now through November 1 on Friday, Saturday and Sunday each weekend and will offer two attractions — “Zombie Safari,” which features a zombie-killing ride in the back of a 40-foot military truck stocked with individual, bolted-down paintball guns, and “Gateway to Hell,” which is an unguided and unlit stroll through scary territory. Admission is $20 for “Gateway to Hell,” $25 for the “Zombie Safari” and $38 for a “Combo Ticket.”

Pennhurst Asylum (100 Commonwealth Drive, Spring City, 484-866-8964, www.pennhurstasylum.com), which is open through November 1, is on the site of a former mental asylum which has been shuttered for over a quarter of a century. It has been transformed into a haunted attraction with huge sets, detailed rooms and live actors. Visitors can also explore the labyrinth of underground tunnels. Tickets are $16 for “Pennhurst Asylum”, “Dungeon of Lost Souls” or “Tunnel Terror,” $20 for “Ghost Hunt” and $45 for a four-event combo.

“Hurricane Hill Farm Maze” (Baldwin’s Farm, 704 East Reeceville Road, Coatesville, 610-384-6952, www.hhfmaze.com) will be open Saturdays and Sundays until November 1. This event features miles of trails through a five-acre corn maze along with a corn slide, hayrides, a pumpkin patch and a farm animal display. Tickets are $13 for adults and children and $10 for seniors (ages 60 and over).

Corn mazes, hayrides, a pumpkin patch and scarecrows will be featured at Ramsey’s Farm (500 Ramset Road, Wilmington, Delaware, 302-477-1499, http://www.ramseysfarm.com) on weekends now through November 1. The theme for the Corn Maze at Ramsey’s Farm this year is a trip around the world with sections for North America, Europe, South America, Africa, Australia and Asia. Tickets are $7 for the corn maze, $4 for the sorghum maze, $3 for the hay maze, $2 for pumpkin painting and $3 for a hayride.

Another popular corn maze in the area is running now through November 7 at Cherry Crest Adventure Farm (150 Cherry Hill Road, Ronks, 717-687-6843, www.cherrycrestfarm.com). The main attraction is Cherry Crest’s “Amazing Maize Maze.” Billed as “the world’s most dynamic and interactive corn maze,” it is a five-acre corn maze with over two-and-one-half miles of paths, scenic bridges, and clues. There will also be a “Flashlight Maze” every Friday and Saturday night .Tickets are $17 on Thursday and Fridays and $20 on Saturdays.

For “Count’s Halloween Spooktacular at Sesame Place” (100 Sesame Place, Langhorne, 215-752-7070, www.sesameplace.com), the popular amusement park has been converted into a Halloween-themed safe venue for kids with trick or treating, pumpkin decorating, hayrides and a hay maze.

Featured attractions, which will continue until November 1, are “Abby Cadabby’s Magical Halloween Maze,” “Rubber Duckie Costume Party,” and “The Not-So-Spooky Hayride.” Admission to the park is $45.

 “Halloween Haunt at Dorney Park” (3830 Dorney Park Road, Allentown, 610-395-3724, www.dorneypark.com), which runs now through November 1, features scary creatures roaming the park and scarecrows lining line the walkways while frightening activities take place at the following attractions — “Fright Lane Including Skeleton Key,” “Chamber of Horrors” and “CarnEvil” along with seven mazes and four “Creepy Scare Zones.” Admission is $37.

The  “24th Annual Fright Fest” (Six Flags Great Adventure, Route 537, Jackson, NJ, 732-928-2000, www.sixflags.com), which is running now through November 1, features family-oriented activities during the day and much scarier attractions after dark for teens and adults including “Asylum,” “Blood Shed,” “Voodoo Island,” “Total Darkness,” “Wasteland,” “Circus Psycho,” “Bone Butcher Terror-tory,” “The Manor,” “The Bloody Fountain” and “Skyscreamer of Doom.” Tickets start at $49.99.

Ghost Tour of Philadelphia (215-413-1997, www.ghosttour.com), Ghost Tour of Lancaster (717-687-6687, www.ghosttour.com) and Ghost Tour of Strasburg (717-687-6687, www.ghosttour.com) operate through November and offer an eerily entertaining evening of true ghost stories and real haunted houses. Tickets are $17 for adults for Philadelphia and $15 for Lancaster and Strasburg and $10 for children at all locations.

The “30th Annual Jason’s Woods” (99 Stehman Road, Lancaster, 717-872-5768, www.jasonswoods.com), which is running through November 7, is a horror show complex that features a combination of live actors, impressive animation and scary special effects. Popular attractions include “Horrifying Hayride,” “Chamber of Horrors,” “Zombie Apocalypse,” “Lost in Jason’s Woods,” “Carnival of Fear,” “Fields of Fright” and the “The Grand Jason’s Woods Theater.” Admission prices are for combo tickets are $25 for three attractions and $40 for six.

“Valley of Fear” (300 W. Bristol Road, Feasterville, 215-942-9787, www.valleyoffear.com), which is open through November 1, features four “heart pounding attractions” — “Haunted Hayride,” “UnderWorld,” Zombie Escape Maze” and “Operation Z Paintball.”  Admission prices start at $19.

“Terror Behind the Walls” (Eastern State Penitentiary, 2124 Fairmount Avenue, Philadelphia, 888-763-NITE, www.easternstate.org), which continues through November 7, takes place at a site Penitentiary that was once was an active prison and is now a National Historic Landmark. It is a scream-inducing event featuring laser and special-effect lighting, digital sound, sinister scents, animatronic creatures and 3-D illusions. Admission prices, which vary with the date, range from $13-$39.

“Pumpkinland” (Linvilla Orchards, 137 West Knowlton Road, Media, 610-876-7116, www.linvilla.com), which is open through November 1, features fairy tale characters from nursery rhymes along with a huge scarecrow and a really tall storybook. Other activities include train rides, a straw bale maze, hayrides, pick-your-own apples and pony rides. Another attraction, which runs through October 30, is “Hayride to the Witch’s House.” Admission is free and hayrides are $9 per person.

 “Field of Screams” (Stone Battery Road, Lancaster, 717-285-7748, www.fieldofscreams.com), which is open now through November 9, features “Den of Darkness” (three-story horror house), “Frightmare Asylum” (walk-through haunted barn), “Extreme Blackout,” “Nocturnal Wasteland” and the “Haunted Hayride” (a 25-minute fright-filled ride featuring state-of-the-art special effects, pyrotechnics and animatronics). Admission is $34.

“Candlelight Ghost Tours” (Fort Mifflin, Fort Mifflin and Hog Island roads, Philadelphia, 215-685-4167, http://fortmifflin.us) are scheduled for October 17, 24 and 30. Visitors can tour historic (and haunted) Fort Mifflin by candlelight from 7-10 p.m. each night and hear true stories of ghostly encounters. This event is billed as an “authentic experience.” Tickets are $20 for adults and $15 for students (12 and under).

“Paranormal Friday at Fort Mifflin,” which runs from 7 p.m. until midnight, will introduce novice ghost hunters to the long history of hauntings at Fort Mifflin with a guided “Ghost Tour” and a workshop highlighting the technology and equipment used in paranormal research.

Participants will be able to take part in small group investigation of five “hot spots” with experienced paranormal researchers using all the latest technology. The event, which costs $45, takes place “rain or moonlight” so visitors are advised to dress appropriately.

October 17 and 24 are the dates for “Ghosts in the Graveyard” (Old Swedes Historical Site, 606 Church Street, Wilmington, Delaware, 302-652-5629, www.oldswedes.org). From 6:30-9 p.m. each night, visitors will be able to stroll through the complex, meet some of the ghosts who reside in the site’s burial grounds and maybe even solve the mystery of the late night bell ringing at Old Swedes Church. Tickets are $10 for adults and $6 for students (ages 12-17).

Another event scheduled for October 17 is the All Hallows Eve Fall Festival at Pennypacker Mills (5 Haldeman Rd, Schwenksville, 610-287-9349, www.montcopa.org/pennypackermills). The event is free but there is a suggested donation of $2 per person.

The annual event, which is slated to run from 1-4 p.m., features tractor-pulled hayrides, pumpkin painting for kids, fall crafts, an apple cider press, corn shucking, a “Hay Pile Jump” and a bean bag toss.

The “Great Pumpkin Express Trains” (West Chester Railroad, Market Street Station, West Chester, 610-430-2233, www.westchesterrr.net) are scheduled for October 18 and 25. The “haunted trains” with ghoulish characters leave West Chester’s Market Street Station at noon and 2 p.m. Tickets are $18 for adults and $15 for children.

“West Chester Halloween Parade” (Market and Church streets, West Chester, 610-436-9010, www.west-chester.com), which is slated for October 28, starts at 7 p.m. on Market Street between Church and Darlington streets and features performances by local high school bands and cheerleading squads. Rain date is October 29 at 7 p.m.

From October 22-24, “The Great Pumpkin Carve” (Chadds Ford Historical Society, Route 100, Chadds Ford, 610-388-7376, www.chaddsfordhistory.org) will return to its annual haunt. The popular event will start with the carving competition on October 22. Live entertainment, hayrides and hot food are featured all three days. Admission is $10 for adults (18 and older) and $5 for children (ages 7-17).

 “Boo at the Zoo” (Brandywine Zoo, 1001 N. Park Drive, Wilmington, 302-571-7747, www.brandywinezoo.org) will be held on October 23 and 24 from 5-7:30 p.m. each night. The popular annual non-scary family event features games, animal enrichment programs, live critters and trick-or-treating. Children (and their grown-ups) are encouraged to wear costumes. Tickets are $4 for adults and $2   for children