Ask Carolyn
It’s October – a month of harvests and haunts. If you haven’t gotten in the spirit yet, here’s a list of haunted happenings in the triad to get you started. The first list covers kid-friendly events, while the second contains spookier events for adults. Click the dates to see the event website.
Events for Families with Kids
Complete Costume Creation – Winston Salem Kaleideum
October 9, 16, & 23, 4–6pm
Children can come and create their dream Halloween costume using tools and materials provided by The Prop Shop. Age is 5 and older, parents must be present.
Howl-O-Ween – Conservators Center (Mebane)
Oct 14 – 29, Saturdays 4 & 5pm, Sundays 3pm
Tour guides will lead children on a trick-or-treat adventure through the Conservators’ Center, educating them about the animals along the way. The Conservators’ Center has tigers, lions, singing dogs, and various other felids and canids. For a more grown-up tour, check out the Lore and Legends Tour.
Corn Maze & Pumpkin Patch – Smith Hollow Farm (Kernersville)
Weekends Oct 14 – 29, 11 am – 6 pm
Get lost in a corn maze, pick out pumpkins, go on a hayride, and more at Smith Hollow Farm’s seasonal celebration. No appointment is needed.
Ghoulash Fall Festival – Downtown Greensboro
Oct 21, 2–6 pm
Greensboro’s Ghoulash Festival features a pumpkin patch, bounce house, games, face painting, and most importantly, trick-or-treating. Make sure your child wears their best costume – there are costume contests for children up to 10.
Ghost Stories – Blandwood (Greensboro)
Oct 21, 7–8 pm
Find yourself spellbound as you sit in the history Blandwood West Parlor, illumined only by candlelight and a hearth, and listen to legends and tales about North Carolina as told by storyteller Cynthia Moore Brown.
Pumpkin Run – Kernersville Town Hall
Oct 21, check-in at 7:30 am
Enjoy live entertainment, a costume contest, prizes, and pumpkins at the annual Pumpkin Run. The event features both a 5k and a 1-mile run, and participants are encouraged to come in costume. The costume contests are open to adults, kids, and dogs.
Events for adults & teenagers
Spookywoods – Kersey Valley (Archdale)
Oct 6 – 7, 13 – 15, 19 – 22, 26 – 31; Nov 3 – 4; 7pm
So terrifying that one of its billboards was censored due to complaints, Spookywoods offers several different flavors of fear, including an Asylum, land of Folklore, and funhouse. Spookywoods is one of the top 13 haunted “houses” in the country, featuring ten themed attractions, 150 costumed actors, and a laser tag zombie game. Ages 12 and older.
Lore and Legends Tours – Conservators’ Center (Mebane)
Fridays & Saturdays October 6 – 28; 7:45pm Fri, 7:30 and 8pm Sat
Walk through the Conservators’ Center at night, as tigers and wolves peer out at you from the darkness. This spooky tour discusses the role of predators in legends and superstitions throughout history and ends with hot chocolate and cider. The tour is for those 14 and older.
Gary Taylor’s Dracula – Winston-Salem Festival Ballet
Oct 26 – 28; 7:30 pm Thursday, 8 pm Fri – Sat
A classic tale of lust and blood, Dracula has been a staple of horror since its publication in 1897, inspiring a multitude of derivative works. Gary Taylor’s Dracula re-envisions the story as a tale of desire told from Dracula’s point of view, and set in the 21st century.
by Venn Crawford