Halloween is a Saturday this year and the weather is cooperating. The National Weather Service forecast for Castle Rock, read Thursday morning, has Friday "Mostly sunny, with a high near 67," Saturday "Partly sunny, with a high near 64" with a low of 43 that night, and Sunday "Partly sunny, with a high near 63. Breezy." The showers do not arrive until Sunday night, and Monday turns wet and 56. That is three dry days for a weekend built around being outside after dark.
A quieter weekend than the last one, on paper. The big ticketed Halloween events (the Haunted Forest, the hayrides, Castle Pines' festival, Parker's Trunk or Treat) ran last weekend, and we found no town-run trunk-or-treat or parade on the 30th or 31st at any town, chamber or business-district calendar we read. What is left is the good kind of Halloween: a morning candy walk for the littlest kids, the farm's last lights, a free night at the Mansion, and a 1931 monster movie with a live orchestra. Then an extra hour of sleep.
Friday
Start with the kids who cannot stay up. The Fangtastic Festival runs 11 to 2 at Festival Park, 300 Second St. in Castle Rock, and the Town's listing is explicit about who it is for: "families and caregivers of homeschooled kids and little ones not yet in school." It is a booth-to-booth trick-or-treat through about 20 partner booths with Halloween music, a face painter and a balloon artist, produced by the Downtown Merchants Association, and it is free. Park at the Encore garage, the library, the county garage or The View and walk in.
Parker gets a new place to stand around with a taco. The Gathering Yard, the food truck and vendor yard at 11023 S. Pikes Peak Drive, holds its grand opening 5 to 8 with El Cuscatlan Mexican Food and Mother Clucker Wings on the trucks and a short row of local vendors (Baiko's Matcha, Elysium Tavern's baked goods, Soap Charmers). No admission price is printed, and we would not expect one. We have been tracking this one since the summer in the openings tracker.
Friday night is the last Harvest Glow at Lone Creek Farms, 3879 N. Highway 83 in Franktown. The farm's banner calls it "our last light show of the season," with the gates open 10 to 9; the walking light show is included in the $27.95 admission ($25.95 for seniors 63 and up and military, free for 3 and under), as are the corn maze, the hay wagon, the slides and the hourly live shows. After this the farm runs two daytime-only days and closes for the year.
For a different kind of Halloween, Paranormal Cirque Voodoo opens a six-show run at 7:30 in the Fairgrounds' upper lot, 500 Fairgrounds Drive: Cirque Italia's horror-themed circus, acrobatics and illusion under a black and red tent with strobe lights. Tickets are $20 to $65 depending on seat and age. The rule to know before you buy: nobody under 13 is admitted, and 13- to 17-year-olds need an adult with them. Friday's show was listed as more than half sold Thursday.
One more Friday listing, for the families it serves: Parker Recreation's Therapeutic Recreation program holds a Halloween Dance 6 to 7:30 at the Parker Recreation Center, 17301 E. Lincoln Ave., $12, costumes, crafts and treats, "all levels and abilities welcome." It is a program for participants with disabilities, not a general public dance, so we list it rather than recommend it to everyone.
Our pick, Friday: Festival Park at 11 if you have a preschooler, Lone Creek at dusk if you do not.
Fangtastic Festival
The Gathering Yard Grand Opening
Lone Creek Farms Fall Festival: Final Weekend
Paranormal Cirque Voodoo
Saturday, which is Halloween
The day starts on dirt. HRCA's Backcountry Wilderness Half Marathon goes off at 9 a.m. from the Rocky Heights Middle School lot, 11033 Monarch Blvd., a 13.1-mile single loop the race page describes as "100% dirt, gravel, and singletrack" with four aid stations. The page says DATE CHANGE in capital letters, so if you remember it as a different Saturday, it is this one. $95, and registration stays open online until the start, no cash. Packet pickup is in the lot from 7:30.
Midday belongs to the Fairgrounds and downtown Castle Rock. The All American Collectors Expo fills the Fairgrounds Event Center 10 to 5 (and 10 to 4 Sunday) with trading cards, sports memorabilia, Pokemon, comics, toys, LEGO, Funko Pops, video game collectibles and anime merchandise, plus giveaways, food trucks and face painting; tickets are sold online and at the door, with discounts at the door for teachers, military, first responders and seniors, and the county's listing prints no price. At 1 p.m. the Castle Rock Historical Society walks its Ghostly Stories and Tragic Tales tour of downtown, starting and ending at the Castle Rock Museum, 420 Elbert St. It is free with donations encouraged, but reservations are required, by phone at 303-814-3164 or by email to the museum, and the society says to dress for the weather. Lone Creek is open 10 to 5 without the lights.
Then trick-or-treat, and then two ways to end the night. The Highlands Ranch Mansion's Last Stop runs 6:30 to 9 at 9950 E. Gateway Drive and it is free, all ages, no reservations: kids trick-or-treat at the Mansion's front door, a DJ plays Halloween music, and there is a cash bar on the veranda with a signature cocktail. It is entirely outdoors; the Mansion's interior is closed. The catch is parking, which the Mansion says is limited, and it asks that nobody park in the surrounding neighborhoods, so carpool or walk over from the Town Center side.
The other ending is in Lone Tree. The Lone Tree Arts Center, 10075 Commons St., screens the 1931 Frankenstein, which was released without a score, while the Lone Tree Symphony Orchestra plays Michael Shapiro's music live under Jacinda Bouton. The costume contest is at 7, there is a pre-show chat in the Event Hall from 6:40, and the film starts at 7:30. Costumes are welcome with two rules, no full face coverings (masks or face paint) and no weapons real or fake. The Arts Center lists limited availability and does not print a price on the event page, so check before you drive. The Cirque runs at 6:30 and 9:30.
Two housekeeping notes for Saturday. HRCA's calendar lists an early closure of its recreation centers on the 31st, so check hours before a Halloween-day swim. And the county's voting centers are open 8 to 5, which we get to below.
Our pick, Saturday: the ghost tour at 1 (book it today), home for trick-or-treat, then the Mansion at 8 for the last of the candy.
HRCA Backcountry Wilderness Half Marathon
All American Collectors Expo
Ghostly Stories & Tragic Tales of Castle Rock
Last Stop: Halloween Night at the Highlands Ranch Mansion
Frankenstein (1931) with the Lone Tree Symphony Orchestra
Sunday
Daylight saving time ends at 2 a.m., per NIST, so the clocks go back an hour and sunset arrives before 5. Use the hour on the Highlands Ranch Farmers' Market, which holds its last Sunday of the year 10 to 2 at the Town Center, 9288 Dorchester St., rain or shine, with free parking in the garage; HRCA's page runs the season April 5 through November 1 and this is November 1. The Collectors Expo goes 10 to 4, Lone Creek Farms plays out its last day 10 to 5 (its regular-hours page still says 7, so if you want a late afternoon, call 303-800-1243 first), and the Cirque has shows at 5:30 and 8:30. The showers the forecast mentions are for Sunday night, and Monday is the day to stay in.
Our pick, Sunday: the market at 10, before the last of the squash goes.
Where nothing is happening
For the record, because people ask: Parker Arts has nothing between Wednesday's musical-theater retrospective and Nov. 5; the Outlets at Castle Rock's only Halloween listing is the Big Jack hide-and-seek scavenger hunt in the stores, which ends Saturday; Castle Pines' calendar is empty until Nov. 5; Lone Tree's city calendar is empty until Nov. 2; and Park Meadows lists no events. Downtown Parker's Trunk or Treat page is already a recap of last Saturday.
Election note
Friday is also the day nine more Voter Service and Polling Centers open, bringing the county to 13: Kirk Hall at the Fairgrounds (yes, the same Fairgrounds as the circus and the card show, so expect the lot to be full), the Ridge House, Northridge Recreation Center, Lone Tree Library, Louviers Village Clubhouse, Parker Fieldhouse, Parker Water and Sanitation, and South Metro fire stations 43 and 46, plus the four that have been open since Oct. 19. All 13 are open Saturday, Halloween, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and the last ten open Monday. The full list with addresses is in our voting-locations guide.
Do not mail your ballot now; the Secretary of State's mail-back date passed Monday. Use one of the 23 drop boxes, open around the clock until 7 p.m. Tuesday, or walk it into a center. Through Wednesday, 102,482 Douglas County ballots were back, per the state's Thursday release, and the turnout tracker updates every weekday. If you are still staring at the ballot, the cheat sheet is every race on one page.
We'll see you out there. If we missed something that belongs in next week's drop, the address is on the About page.