Halloween is fast-approaching, so get your costumes, candy and scary decorations ready. This weekend has a number of activities to amuse kids—or your own inner child. It looks like it will be a beautiful, crisp few days to get outdoors, admire the foliage, and embrace the autumn season, whether you’re wearing a scarf or dressed as ghost.
Want to see your event included in What You’ll Do? We pull these ideas off our community calendar, which you can find on the right side of WYDaily.com. Submitting to the calendar is free and easy, so make sure to add upcoming events for your group or organization.
Halloween Festivities
WOLF Martial Arts Academy is partnering with the Boys and Girls Clubs of the VA Peninsula and the York County Club to offer a Halloween Safety and Awareness Workshop at 6 p.m. Friday. The workshop aims to help children understand the potential dangers of trick-or-treating and prepare them for a fun and safe Halloween. Visit the calendar to find out more.
Go Ape Treetop Junior, an outdoor adventure course at Freedom Park, will be open Friday and Saturday evenings for Treetop Junior Nights at Height. Children must be at least 3’3” tall to participate, and costumes are encouraged for an adventure through a haunted forest. For full details, including admissions pricing, please see the calendar.
At Trunk or Treat on Saturday, Williamsburg Indoor Sports Complex staff will decorate their cars and pass out candy, along with indoor activities and a costume contest. The cost for the event is $10 per family. Learn more on the calendar.
Bundle up for Halloween Tales at Freedom Park, a free outdoor event 6 p.m. Saturday with arts and crafts and a trunk or treat event. There will also be a screening of “Pooh’s Heffalump Halloween Movie.” The calendar has the full details.
Finish the Halloween weekend with a concert by the William and Mary Symphony Orchestra. The student orchestra will perform popular themes from Star Wars, Harry Potter and Psycho. Guests are welcome to come in costume, and can compete for prizes — expect the musicians to be appropriately outfitted as well. Ticket information can be found on the calendar.
Markets to Shop
The Community Services Flea Market is open the last Saturday of every month from 7 a.m. to noon. The indoor market features antiques, crafts, jewelry, collectables and more. See the calendar for more details.
The Toano Farmer’s Market, on the corner of Forge and Richmond Roads, is open year round on Saturdays starting at 8 a.m. It showcases Bob’s Sausage Company, Rainbow Eggs, Heidi’s Home Grown, plus an array of produce vendors during the year. The calendar has more information.
The Williamsburg Pottery will feature fresh local produce and other items at their farmer’s market from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Seasonal fruits and vegetables will be offered for sale. The calendar entry has more information.
Art, Film and Music
Three local exhibitions are on display, but only through this Saturday. They are: “Art by the Kids in Buddy Art” at Prince George Art & Frame, “The Flora of Virginia Project” at Gloucester Arts on Main, and “Emerge” by Anne Fleury at ArtCafé26. Read more in the Hometown article about these exhibitions.
This Century Art Gallery offers a number of art classes this weekend. On Thursday, create your own papier mache project while learning about its history and technique at 3 p.m, or focus on composition, color, and technique at Beginning Acrylic and Oil Painting at 6 p.m.. For the younger set, there’s an Elementary School Art class at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, geared to first- through fifth-graders and covering a variety of mediums, and the Teen Art Class at 3:30 p.m. Friday, focusing on foundations of drawing. Advance registration is required for all classes.
The Williamsburg Regional Library’s Thursday Afternoon Film Series continues this week with “Seabiscuit” (2003). See the Academy Award-nominated film at 2 p.m., which tells the true story of the small horse Seabiscuit and his rise to fame. Find out more about this film and others scheduled for the month in the calendar.
On Friday at 7:30 p.m., tune in for a free Chamber Music Concert at the Williamsburg Library Theatre. More than a dozen musicians, most of whom are members of the U.S. Air Force Heritage of America Band, will be accompanied by pianist Andrew Austin. The music spans the baroque era to the 20th century. To read more about the program, visit the calendar.
Enjoy the Outdoors
Attend the “Pink Day” raffle and bake sale on the Homestead Garden Center on Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. to help raise money for women who cannot afford mammograms and other treatments, as part of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. All the proceeds from the bake sale and raffle will go to the Sentara Auxiliary Group Ways and Means Organization. Anyone wearing pink will receive a special discount on purchases at the garden center. See the calendar to see the full list of items and gift cards included in the raffle.
Get moving to end Alzheimer’s with an Alzheimer’s Association walk on Saturday morning at Matthew Whaley Elementary School. Click here to read the Hometown story about the walk.
The City of Williamsburg invites residents and visitors to the 3rd annual Wallerpalooza, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at Waller Mill Park. The event is fall-themed, and open to children of all ages, with a $5 vehicle entrance charge. There will be crafts, games, prizes, Giggles the Clown and for the first time this year a six-hole disc golf course. For more information, visit the calendar.
Tribe Pride
This weekend marks William and Mary’s Homecoming celebration, which is packed with sports, arts, music, and commemorative events. Read the rundown in the Hometown section.
The Tribe takes on the Pride at William and Mary men’s soccer vs. Hofstra. The game is at Albert-Daly Field at Martin Family Stadium at 7 p.m. Saturday. All the details are on the calendar.
For Bookworms
William and Mary’s Swem Library hosts the 2nd Annual Children’s Author Breakfast from 9 to 11 a.m. Saturday. Along with a full breakfast, guests will hear from children’s book authors Anne Marie Pace (class of ’87) and Sara Lewis Holmes (class of ’85). The event is free, but books will be available for purchase and signing. To find out more about the authors, go to the calendar event.
Go to the William and Mary Bookstore to pick up a new book, and have it signed by its author. Signings this weekend include People & Places of Williamsburg, by artist Lynn Hosegood, Laughter at Dawn by Jo Ellen Capps, The Fourteenth Day: JFK and the Aftermath of the Cuban Missile Crisis by David Coleman, Hark Upon the Gale by Wilford Kale, The Craving and the Cross by Herb Wright, Goshen Revisited by Jack and Judy Witt. See the calendar events for more information.
Classes and Retreats
VCE Family Focus offers Active Parenting Now, a class for parents of children ages 5 through 12. The class meets at 10 a.m. Thursdays and will address the topics of courage and self-esteem, responsibility, cooperative and problem solving for children. For more information, visit the calendar. Also on Thursdays are Infant Massage and Beyond the Delivery classes, taught by a nationally and internationally certified instructor. Check the calendar for more details.
Attend Thursday’s Historic Jamestowne Lecture Series event for a roundtable discussion with members of the Pamunkey and Patawomeck tribes, descendants of Virginia’s indigenous peoples. At 5:30 p.m., they will discuss the history of Virginia tribes, their present status and plans for the future, all on the 400th anniversary of Pocahontas’ capture. Learn more on the calendar event.
All women are invited to the Fall Women’s Retreat with Williamsburg United Methodist Church. The Friday retreat will be held at Two Rivers Country Club, and has the theme “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is Freedom.” Visit the calendar to find out more.
