AMHERST — Halloween festivities for both children and adults, as well as their canine companions, are being staged over the weekend.
For children, Amherst Recreation is putting on the Halloween Spooktacular, in partnership with the Amherst Business Improvement District and the Amherst Area Chamber of Commerce, on Sunday afternoon.
The day begins at noon with trick or treating at some downtown businesses, with scavenger hunt items that can be collected and brought to the Bangs Community Center at 1 p.m.
There, for a $5 admission for each child 5 and over, children can experience Dr. Frankenstein’s Haunted House, do Halloween crafts, play at Dracula’s kiddie carnival and listen to a not-so-scary story time presented by the Jones Library.
Also that day, the Amherst Dog Park on Old Belchertown Road is hosting a dog costume “Halloween Pawty” beginning at 2 p.m. Local veterinarians and dignitaries will judge the costumes worn by the dogs, and give awards for spookiest, most original, owner/dog combo, funniest, and best handmade.
Cider doughnuts, apple cider and dog treats from Paw Street Bakery will be for sale, along with music from DJ Greg Stewart. A $5 donation is suggested.
In Hadley, the Hampshire Mall is bringing back its Mall-O-Ween promotion for the first time since 2019, with trick or treating at the Route 9 site Monday from 4 to 6 p.m.
Guests are also invited to enter the mall’s Social Media Costume Contest by snapping a picture of their costume during their Mall-O-Ween adventure and then post to Instagram.
There is a Mystery Voo-Doo party at Interskate 91 on Friday evening, a Scooby-Doo Mystery Costume Party at Interskate Sunday afternoon and the Western Massachusetts Ghostbusters on Sunday from 2 to 4 p.m. at Pinz, where money and nonperishable food items will be collected for the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts.
A ski and winter gear sale being held Saturday at the Simeon Strong House, 67 Amity St., will support the ongoing mission of the Amherst History Museum.
Running from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., the sale will have items for adults and children, along with Ski Tune-Up coupons that can be redeemed at a West Springfield shop.
“This one-day ski sale keeps getting bigger and better with more quality merchandise,” organizer Bonnie MacCracken said in a statement.
The museum’s collection includes decorative arts, paintings, household implements, agricultural tools and other items from the past 300 years.
The trustees for the museum continue to connect people to Amherst history, including through stories, exhibits and the History Bites series, and also by hosting a Juneteenth event and a concert series in the garden.
The next History Bites lecture will be Nov. 4 at 2:30 p.m. at the Jones Library’s Woodbury Room. Park ranger Kathy Parent will be the guest speaker to talk about the creation of the Wachusett Reservoir in Boylston.
A fall festival and open house will be staged Saturday from 1 to 3 p.m. at the Fort River Community Garden in Amherst.
Organized by the Fort River Garden Circle, the event will include kid-friendly art activities, such as pumpkin painting, adult activities such as dried flower wreath-making, and work with culinary and medicinal dried herbs. At 2 p.m., a story circle will be held by JuPong.
Food samples prepared by gardeners and their vegetables will be available, as well as opportunities to share stories and visions for the next harvest season.
The entrance to the gardens is at 44-48 Belchertown Road, next to Gil’s Auto.
Two talks are being held at the Jones Library’s Woodbury Room.
On Saturday at 3 p.m., Anne O’Regan will discuss “Hiking the Pacific Crest Trail,” recounting leaving her home in Boston in 2010 to backpack the 2,650 miles from the Mexican border in Campo, California to Manning Park, Canada five months later.
Then, on Nov. 1 at 7 p.m. in the continuing “Getting to Know …” series of historical figures that launched during the pandemic, Sheryl Faye will perform as Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in “I Dissent.”
WEDNESDAY: Planning Board, 6:30 p.m.
THURSDAY: Community Resources Committee, 4:30 p.m.