Halloween Fun

Pumpkins in the Park

BANGOR – Pumpkins in the Park, hosted by United Cerebral Palsy of Maine, will raise money to assist children and adults living with disabilities from 3:30 to 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 28, at the Bangor Auditorium. A community Halloween party for children and families, it will feature Maine’s best-decorated pumpkin patch displays, trick-or-treating for the kids and more.

Admission is $2 at the door. Children 3 and under enter free. An additional $1 per person will be charged for hayrides.

Pumpkins in the Park is made up of unique and detailed pumpkin patch displays. These displays are designed and decorated by volunteers – mostly local youth groups and businesses.

On the day of the event, UCP opens the Bangor Auditorium for parents to bring their kids for trick-or-treats at each pumpkin patch. The children also can enjoy hay rides, face painting, bounce houses and balloon animals from the Anah Shrine Clowns.

The annual Halloween party for children has become a tradition in its fourth year, drawing hundreds of parents to a warm, safe Halloween environment for children.

Last year’s attendance tripled from the year before. To accommodate guests this year, a second hayride wagon, an additional bounce house and increasing staff at the admissions booth have been added.

The event is supported and sponsored by Bangor Raceway and Hollywood Slots at Bangor.

For 52 years, United Cerebral Palsy of Maine has assisted thousands of children and adults with disabilities and their families.

Through UCP of Maine’s innovative programs, staff serve children and families with disabilities ranging from cerebral palsy to Down syndrome, spina bifida, attention deficit disorder, autism, mental illnesses and other disabilities.

UCP enables children and adults with disabilities to become active participants in families and communities. Learn more about UCP by visiting www.ucpofmaine.org.

‘Ghostbusters’ and Magic Lantern Show

BANGOR – River City Cinema is celebrating the creepiest holiday of the year – Halloween – with two film events. One movie hasn’t been seen in a Bangor region theater for more than 20 years and the other hasn’t been on the big screen for more than 100 years.

Bring the entire family to Phantoms of the Opera House, a day of Halloween events at the Bangor Opera House, 131 Main St.

The Penobscot Theatre will conduct a costume sale from its collection from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 21. All kinds of clothing, from many time periods, and an assortment of sizes will be offered for sale. Proceeds benefit the Penobscot Theatre’s Annual Fund.

At 6 p.m. on Oct. 21 at the Opera House, enjoy magic by Bob Brown, real Maine ghost stories from the Bangor Museum and Center for History, and a screening of “Ghostbusters,” the 1984 film that has become a classic.

Admission is $10, $5 children. Proceeds from the show will benefit the Children’s Miracle Network.

For more spooktacular fun, don’t miss the Halloween Magic-Lantern Show at 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 28, at Peakes Auditorium. One hundred years ago the public watched the magic-lantern show, a forerunner of silent movies, on the big screen. Colors swirled, animated cartoons cavorted, ghost stories unfolded. And as the audience sang, “The Worms Crawl In, The Worms Crawl Out,” a beautiful woman on screen dissolved into a skeleton.

Tickets, $10, $5 children 18 and under, are available at BookMarc’s and Borders. The event is sponsored by Klyne Studios and Bangor Savings Bank.

Halloween Party

BANGOR – The Bangor Parks and Recreation Department will hold its annual Halloween party 5-7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 30, at 647 Main St.

The party is open to children in kindergarten to fifth grade. Games, prizes, costume contest and haunted house will be featured. For more information, call 992-4490.

Creepy Critter Cuisine

BANGOR – You won’t believe what’s going on at the Maine Discovery Museum. The mad scientists here will stop at nothing. Last year it was a bug cooking workshop, slithering and squirmy bugs all around, and the kids gobbled it right up. This year it’s not only bugs, but alligator kebobs, I’m not kidding here, and yak with yams. How about 100-year-old Chinese duck eggs? I’m not eating anything a week old, let alone 100 years old. And sweets, don’t get me started on the sweets.

Here is the “dirt” on this sugary and gastrointestinal adventure: at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 28, are the Creepy Critter Cuisine Workshops, Beyond Bugs. Kids will have the opportunity to prepare and taste weird edibles from around the world. They say this workshop is for kids 3 and up, who are brave and curious omnivores, but I say, “You’ve got to be kidding, the kids will never eat this stuff, or will they?”

Now getting to the sweet stuff, Halloween is not all about getting hyped up on the sugar – I’m giving out play-dough and pretzels at our house this year, so you can imagine my surprise to hear that the mad scientists were cooking up a workshop all about sugary sweets at the museum.

“We’re fostering an environment of healthy, family play here,” I said, “how can you do this?”

Their best response was, “But Jenn! The kids need to have some fun this year. Halloween is still all about the sweets. Besides, we’re not creating monsters here, we’re just feeding them candy.”

I just keep telling myself, it’s a workshop about the science of the sweets, kids must be learning something right? Perhaps I should call in a team of experts, ages 3 and up, and get to the bottom of this Halloween mystery. Taking place 1 p.m. and again at 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 29, are the Sinister Sweets Workshops, Uncanny Candy. Tell the kids that chemistry and candy meet for a tasty experience of bubbly brews, ghoulish gum and sticky sweets. Find out what makes it sticky, gooey or bubbly and take home a one-of-a-kind Trick or Treat collection. This workshop, they say, “is for the fearless with a sweet tooth.”

Both workshops are going to be a howl. Last year it was standing room only, and this year is sure to be much of the same. We’re even offering each workshop twice so that more kids can enjoy. Space is still limited, hurry and sign up today. The maximum number of kids per workshop is 15.

The cost is $4 to museum members, $5 others, plus museum admission. Preregistration is required. Call the museum at 262-7200 for information or registration.

– Jennifer Chiarell