THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, October 25, 1996 TAG: 9610230118
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ERIC FEBER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 158 lines
With the leaves falling and the weather getting cooler, it's time again for costumes, tricks-or-treats, parties and lots of goodies to eat.
Here's a look at the frightening festivities in store for your little goblins and ghouls:
Kids' community center Halloween hauntings - The city's community centers are all offering Halloween fun for your children. They're safe, they're free and they offer a friendly, controlled environment.
Turn that bright orange pumpkin into a scary jack-o'-lantern at the Great Bridge Community Center, 212 Holt Drive, this Tuesday from 6 until 8 p.m.
Children and parents are eligible to participate in this seasonal art session. The center will provide special carving tools and cool patterns and designs. Bring your own pumpkin.
For more information and to register, call the center at 382-6292.
The South Norfolk Community Center, 1217 Godwin Ave., will throw a Halloween carnival from 6 until 8 p.m. on Wednesday.
Children 12 and younger are invited to enjoy an array of games, goodies, ghosts and surprises. Children younger than 9 are required to be accompanied by their parents. Call the center at 543-5721.
It'll be a ``Halloween Happening'' at the River Crest Community Center, 1001 River Walk Parkway, from 3:30 to 5 p.m. on Wednesday.
The event is open to kids under the age of 12. Featured at the Happening will be games, activities, refreshments and other Halloween fun. Children are encouraged to wear their costumes and bring along a trick-or-treat bag. Children under 9 must be accompanied by their parents.
For more information and to register, call the center at 436-3100.
The Deep Creek Community Center, 2901 Margaret Booker Drive, will be offering a Halloween Carnival and Costume Contest from 6 until 8 p.m. on Wednesday for children younger than 12.
The Deep Creek bash will include games, candy and several contests, including one for best costume. Make sure all children younger than 9 are accompanied by their parents.
Call 487-8841 for more details about the party.
Nothing beats hearing a good batch of scary stories during Halloween, and the Indian River Community Center at 2250 Old Greenbrier Road will present Halloween Story Time from 4 to 5 p.m. Wednesday for children under 12.
The event will feature lots of spooky stories along with a costume contest for prizes and lots of other treats. Parents must accompany children under 9.
For more information, call the center at 424-4238.
The Western Branch Community Center, 4437 Portsmouth Blvd., will stage a ``haunted house'' on Thursday.
From 6 until 7:30 p.m., ages 9-11 are invited to be scared and have some Halloween fun. Then, from 7:30 to 9 p.m., ages 12-15 will be allowed to enter the Western Branch Haunted Center.
Community center officials say they can't reveal what spooky doings will be encountered. But they do say it will be frighteningly fun. ``We cannot be responsible for who or what you may encounter,'' they say.
Call the center at 465-0211 for more information.
Teen costume contest - Usually kids 12 and younger get all the Halloween fun, but thanks to the Deep Creek Community Center, Chesapeake teens will be given the opportunity to dress up and have a few laughs.
The center will hold a special Teen Costume Contest and party for ages 12-15 from 5 to 6 p.m. on Halloween night.
The free event will feature the contest, refreshments and other surprises. Make sure you create a scary or clever costume.
For more information or to register for the contest, call 487-8841.
Halloween for the wee ones and parents - The River Crest Community Center hasn't forgotten about the moms, dads and their little stroller-bound children and their need to exercise.
The center will present ``Halloween Strollin' for Fun and Fitness'' Monday from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. Moms and/or dads will bring in their strollers and kids for a lap session around the center's controlled environment.
Monday's session will be kicked off with a special Halloween party and parents are urged to decorate their strollers in Halloween mode. There will be small prizes and door prizes.
Call the center at 436-3100 for more information and to register.
Spooky times at the libraries - Chesapeake's public libraries are always ready to offer spook-tacular events for the city's children and young at heart. There will be events for adults and many for children during this annual haunting season.
What could be better during the Halloween season than a mystery?
Elizabeth Griffing, in charge of adult programs at the Chesapeake Central Library, 298 Cedar Road, has put together a splendid celebration of mysteries and crime solvers this week.
Things will begin on an elementary note as Raymond Jones of WHRO presents the program ``Meet Mr. Sherlock Holmes'' from 7 to 9 p.m., Monday.
Jones will discuss the great detective's greatest cases and also talk about life as a Victorian detective.
The next session will go to the dogs. . . K-9 units, that is.
On Tuesday from 7 until 9 p.m., Sgt. Jeff Applewhite of the Chesapeake Sheriff's Office will be at the library with his trusty police dog Dutch to present the program ``K-9: Four-Legged Crime Solvers.''
Applewhite will discuss some successfully solved cases using K-9 expertise and then he and Dutch will demonstrate how a K-9 team works together.
The third and final program in this series will take place from 7 to 9 p.m. when David Cahoon presents a program on ``Mysterious But True Happenings in Hampton Roads.''
Cahoon will spook the audience when he offers selections from his forthcoming book of unexplained mysteries.
A drawing for a bag of mystery books will be held at the end of the week.
No registration is required for any of these programs. Call the library at 382-6591.
Pumpkin carving has become more than just sawing out a funny face. These days it has become another art form and Dennis Roberts of Old World Florist will be at the Central Library this Sunday from 2 until 4 p.m. for a free session on creating an artful or frightful pumpkin.
Bring a pumpkin, bring a knife and bring your imagination. Roberts will teach the technique.
Registration is required for this free event. Call 392-6591 for more information and to register.
Have your child test his or her costume at the Greenbrier branch, 1214 Volvo Parkway, before the trick-or-treat session on Thursday.
Children are invited to the library to show off their finery, try to scare the children's staff and receive a treat. It takes place all day and no registration is required. Just drop by and say Boo!
Once real monsters roamed the earth, they were called dinosaurs, which means ``terrible lizard'' in Greek.
Learn about these real monsters at ``Dinosaurs Galore'' taking place tomorrow from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Central Library Children's Department.
Children of all ages will hear dino stories, watch dino flicks and make dino crafts for a dino-mite time. Children are encouraged to come dressed as their favorite terrible lizard.
No registration is required. Call 382-6562 for more information.
The Children's Department at the Central Library will also present a slew of happy haunting movies at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday. These frightful flicks are for children of all ages and no registration is required.
Finally, the Indian River branch at 2320 Old Greenbrier Road will present ``A Halloween Spooktacular'' Monday at 3:30 p.m.
Children 6 and older will make skeleton candy, hear tales of terror and sing some creepy Halloween carols.
No registration is required. Call 420-3433 for more information.
Halloween at the malls - Have your child enjoy the holiday in a safe controlled environment at either Chesapeake Square Mall in Western Branch or Greenbrier Mall on Greenbrier Parkway.
Greenbrier Mall will offer trick-or-treat sessions from 6 until 8 p.m. this Thursday . Have your child show up in costume and make the rounds at all of the mall stores.
Call the mall at 424-7100 for more information.
Western Branch residents can take the kiddies to Chesapeake Square Mall for trick-or-treating from 6 to 8 p.m. on Thursday Besides distributing goodies, the mall will also hold a costume contest at 7 p.m.
Call the mall at 488-9636.
Scaring away cancer - The American Cancer Society's Halloween Bash will take place at the Khedive Temple-Greenbrier, 645 Woodlake Drive, from 7 to 11 p.m. today.
There will be entertainment by Joe Maniscalco and the Two-Can Jam Band, along with a silent and live auction, heavy hors d'oeuvres, cash bar and costume contest.
Tickets are $25 and all proceeds go to research, education and services for those now battling cancer.
For tickets or more information, call 853-6638.
Fright in the forest - It's b-a-ack.
That Chesapeake Halloween tradition, the Chesapeake Jaycees 22nd Annual Haunted Forest, is back to scare even more Chesapeake folks.
The forest, on the corner of Crossways Boulevard and Eden Way North, starts tonight and will run through Thursday, beginning at 7:30 p.m. each night.
Adults are $4 and a Family Pack for four is $10. Bring the family and enjoy a fun and scary evening. Children 5-12 are $3 and those younger than 4 are free.
For more information, call 548-8936. by CNB