Recommend

Comment

Email this article

Print this article

Get news alerts

RSS Feeds

Share Digg Mixx Linked In Facebook Twitter Delicious

There’s no mistaking the fact that Halloween is bearing down on us: the signs—and spirits—are everywhere, and sweet tooths (the other possible plural, “sweet teeth,” just seems wrong) are anticipating their annual orgy of overindulgence

Of course, if Halloween is on the horizon, it must be time to head over to the Quogue Wildlife Refuge for the 16th annual Spooky Walks, offered this year on Friday, October 23, and Saturday, October 24, from 6:30 to 9 p.m. This beloved and wonderfully wicked tradition dares all adults and families with children over 7 to hike the dark and haunted Refuge trails in order to come face to face with the ghouls and goblins that take them over at this time of year.

The guided walks last approximately 40 minutes, and the earlier walks book up first, so it’s wise to reserve early. Reservations are required and the fee is $10 per person; call 653-4771 to reserve a time slot.

For the younger and more impressionable set, the Refuge offers the Enchanted Forest Trail, with walks offered on Sunday, October 25, from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Children age 2 to 7 with an adult will follow their guides to meet whimsical, fun and educational characters on the forest trails, the parking lot will be full of games and activities, and costumes are welcome. Call 653-4771 to make the required reservations for a time slot; the fee is $7 per person.

Next week, in preparation for the actual All Hallows’ Eve, the Refuge will offer a pumpkin carving workshop for families and adults on Thursday, October 29, from 3 to 5 p.m. Carvers are invited to choose a pumpkin from the Refuge patch or bring their own to work on out on the front lawn.

The carving workshop is $5 per person, or free for QWR members, and reservations are required.

The volunteers of the Quogue Fire Department will once again host the ever-popular annual Halloween Spook Parade down Jessup Avenue on October 31, and, since Halloween falls on a Saturday this year, it should be a truly spooktacular monster of an evening.

The ghostly gathering at the corner of Jessup Avenue and Quogue Street will mobilize at 5 p.m. sharp and head down the street to the firehouse, where there will be prizes and snacks, including Lily Chip cookies from the Lily Pad. All creatures of the night are invited to assemble for a fun and safe evening.

The Hampton Theatre Company production of “Picnic,” William Inge’s Pulitzer Prize-winning drama about loneliness, love, and lust, opens for a three-week run tonight, Thursday, October 22, at 8 p.m. at the Quogue Village Theater in the Community Hall.

Winner of the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for best play of the season when it opened in 1953, the production earned Joshua Logan the Tony Award for best director. Mr. Logan would go on to direct the motion picture version of the play, starring William Holden (looking impossibly buff in movie posters that can be viewed on IMDb.com) and Kim Novak. The film won two Academy Awards and was nominated for four others, including best director and best picture.

All the qualities that made the play and the film so compelling in the 1950s are still in play in this timeless classic. The Hampton Theatre Company production is directed by the company’s resident authority on Inge’s work, George Loizides, who was at the helm for last season’s successful production of the playwright’s “Bus Stop.” For ticket information, call OvationTix at 1-866-811-4111 or visit www.hamptontheatre.org.

At Quaquanantuck hopes that culturally minded citizens of our fair village have already made their reservations for the October 24 special art program at 3 p.m. at the Quogue Library, “Celebrate and Create: Art and Culture of the Indigenous Peoples of Africa.”

Scheduled in part as a celebration of United Nations Day, this program, which is appropriate for creative types age 12 through adult, features local artist Amy Hess helping participants create a design on a silk scarf. Participants will paint patterns and motifs reminiscent of the unique cave paintings found in the most remote caves of Africa while they listen to master storyteller Susan Bailey expound on the origins and practices of the !Kung people, one of Africa’s first indigenous hunter-gatherer groups.

Space is limited for this very special program; call the library at 653-4224 to register.

The Hurricane Booster Club Roast Beef Dinner will be offered this year on Sunday, October 25, from 5 to 8 p.m. at Micole’s Restaurant, 141 Montauk Highway. The $20 dinner includes salad, entrée and dessert, for dining at the restaurant or to take out. For more information, contact Donna Conti at 653-5130.

The Lily Pad on Jessup Avenue is now selling elliptical auto window stickers, like the ones with GB printed on them for Great Britain, or VT for Vermont. The new stickers seem to refer to a meteorological condition that rhymes with Quogue, FOG, until one reads the explanation for the acronym below: “Friend of George.”