Everything This Week Is in Costume. Even the Bikes.
Monday and Tuesday are quiet. Then the sheriff hands out candy, dogs walk a haunted trail, an orchestra plays Return of the Jedi, witches ride golf carts through Skye Ranch and Dracula opens a circus at the Van Wezel.
Heads up, this one's from Oct. 19. The newest Coming This Week is Halloween Is Saturday. Sunday Hands You an Extra Hour to Recover. (Oct. 26).
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Halloween is on a Saturday this year, which is apparently not enough for us. I went through both counties' calendars this morning, and starting Thursday, almost everything has a costume on. The deputies. The dogs. The orchestra's movie. A bicycle in Skye Ranch, probably, by Saturday night.
Eight things, each checked against the organizer's own page. One of them is just food trucks and Pilates. I put it first so you can stretch before the week gets weird.
01 · Ranch Nite Wednesdays
Wed., Oct. 21 · Waterside Place, 1560 Lakefront Drive, Lakewood Ranch
Time: 6–9 p.m. · Price: No admission listed; food and drinks priced by the vendors
Local food trucks, a drink to go from a restaurant's outdoor bar and live music, with a rec cornhole league that Lakewood Ranch says is the largest in the nation. Third Wednesday of the month means sunset drop-in Pilates with BODYBAR Pilates at 6 p.m. in Gateway Park. That one needs registration.
Pilates at 6, a food truck at 6:50. That's not undoing your workout. That's a schedule.
02 · Manatee Sheriff's Spooktactical Night
Thu., Oct. 22 · MCSO Operations Center, 600 301 Blvd. W., Bradenton
Time: 5:30–8:30 p.m. · Price: Free
Trunk-or-treating, unit demonstrations, face painting, food trucks, and free hot dogs, chips and water while they last. Free parking is at the former DeSoto Square Mall across the street.
This is the only night of the year your kid walks up to a sheriff's vehicle, holds out a pillowcase and says "trick or treat," and everybody involved is happy about it.
03 · Haunted Trail featuring Bark-o-Ween
Fri., Oct. 23 · Arlington Park walking trail, 2650 Waldemere St., Sarasota
Time: 4–7 p.m. · Price: Free
Carnival games and spooky surprises along the park's half-mile trail, plus the annual Bark-o-Ween. Dress your dog up, walk the trail at your own pace and stop at the treat booths. Check in at the entrance to enter the costume contest categories. Kids under 5 need an adult with them.
The dog did not ask to be a hot dog. The dog will win anyway. That's how this works.
04 · Sarasota Orchestra: Star Wars: Return of the Jedi
Fri.–Sat., Oct. 23–24 · Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, 777 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota
Time: 7:30 p.m. · Price: From $52
The whole movie on the big screen while the orchestra plays John Williams' score live, with Chris Confessore conducting. It runs about two and a half hours with an intermission. This one finishes the original trilogy for the orchestra, and its own page says the best seats and prices are Friday.
A full orchestra in formal black, playing the music for a forest full of teddy bears beating the Empire with rocks. Nobody laughs. That's the professionalism you're paying for.
05 · Fruitville Grove Pumpkin Festival
Sat.–Sun., Oct. 24–25 (also Oct. 31–Nov. 1) · Fruitville Grove, 7410 Fruitville Road, Sarasota
Time: 10 a.m.–5 p.m. · Price: $5, free for ages 6 and under; free parking. Rides and extras $1–$10.
Hayrides, pony rides, a petting zoo, a craft show, a food truck rally, a free circus show at noon and 3, and a children's costume contest Saturdays at 2. There's a walk-through haunted house with live actors that the farm recommends for ages 8 and up. Most vendors are cash only, and there are ATMs on site.
The daily activity list includes "Hug-A-Goat" and "Hold a Skunk." I've lived here a long time, and I have never seen those two phrases on the same list before. I'm going.
06 · Skye Ranch Witches Ride
Sat., Oct. 24 · Turner Park at Skye Ranch, 9185 Little Dipper Lane, Sarasota
Time: Fall festival and market 2–5 p.m.; parade 5:30 p.m. · Price: Free. The Boos & Brews afterparty is 21+, tickets in advance.
Year five. A vendor market and kids' activities in the afternoon, then at sunset the witches ride through the neighborhood on decorated bikes and golf carts and toss candy. This year's beneficiary is the Child Protection Center. Public parking is off Lorraine Road and Little Dipper Lane. The Sarasota Children's Museum is bringing its STEAM Machine to the festival.
The organizers say the witches "take flight." On golf carts. I respect a group that commits to the bit and still follows the posted parade route.
07 · Candlelight: A Haunted Evening of Halloween Classics
Sat., Oct. 24 · St. Boniface Episcopal Church, 5615 Midnight Pass Road, Siesta Key
Time: 6:15 p.m. (doors close five minutes before; no late seating) · Price: From $45.50
A string quartet playing Halloween music by candlelight for an hour: "Thriller," the "Ghostbusters" theme, "Beetlejuice," "Danse Macabre," and "Time Warp" on the tentative program. Ages 8 and up.
"Thriller" played on a cello in a church on Siesta Key. If you don't at least do the shoulder thing in your seat, I don't know what to tell you.
08 · The Vampire Circus
Sun., Oct. 25 · Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, 777 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota
Time: 6 p.m. (doors an hour before) · Price: $41–$81, fees included
Ninety minutes of acrobatics, dance, comedy and illusion. The plot: it's 19th-century Bohemia, and Count Dracula is using a traveling circus as a disguise.
His disguise is a circus. He's a vampire, and he decided the low-profile move was trapeze and clowns. Honestly, it would work here. Nobody on the Tamiami Trail looks twice at anything.
Sandy's sign-off
Sunday at 6, Dracula is indoors and the full moon is outdoors. The Hunter's Moon rises at 6:23 that night, so the moon people and the vampire people are going to pass each other in the Van Wezel parking lot. I wrote up where to watch it rise. Face east. Pick a side.
— Sandy
Times and details can change, check the organizer's page.
More from the crew
Can't pick? Pull a random one From the food, wine and myth-busting pile. No old game slates.