Trick or Treat, Check Out These Streets

The top 25 spooktacular neighborhoods in Boulder County and beyond

From the spooky to the sweet, little costumed trick-or-treaters deserve the best. While there has been a reported 74% decline in trick-or-treaters in 2023, these neighborhoods in Boulder and Weld Counties are not ready to let the tradition die out. From homeowners who go all out on decorations, music, and food to fun town-orchestrated events, your little monster is sure to have a great time and make the most of the holiday.

Erie

• The Most Popular: Erie Village

Starting at the Erie Town Square and working your way through winding streets, Erie Village is the perfect place to stay safe and hit a lot of houses. Local mom, Diana Carty states, “It will be our fifth year trick-or-treating in this neighborhood. It is a blast!” With residents who go out of their way to make the Victorian-style homes look extra spooky while many of the homeowners dress up themselves, kids and adults alike will have a great time.

• The Most Fun: Meadow Sweet Farms

If you are ready for a party, head to Meadow Street Farms. Kids will stock up on candy, adults can partake in Jell-O shots and beer, and  everyone can look forward to hotdogs.

• The Safest: Colliers Hill

On the Weld County side of Erie, the planned community of Colliers Hill offers a quieter energy. With houses just a short walk apart and lots of young families, there is plenty of opportunity for little ones to stock up on candy without worrying about reckless drivers or getting lost in the crowd.

• Maximizing stops: Vista Ridge

Jean Tam, a long-time resident, boasts of her neighborhood: “Folks at Vista Ridge have everything from haunted houses, displays synchronized with music, and full-blown displays.” She adds that she is so glad that her kids experienced the holiday magic growing up in this neighborhood.

• For the Littles: Erie Safety Stop

Swing by the Erie Police Station for a trick-or-treat safety stop. The 2025 theme is “Toy Story,” so come prepared for your little ones to meet some of their favorite characters and have a safe indoor trick-or-treating experience. 

• Halloween Warm-Up: Boo on Briggs Street

Music, activities, and trick-or-treating, downtown Erie gets everyone warmed up for the holiday on October 25 with Boo on Briggs. Supported by local businesses and residents, this is the perfect way to finish trick-or-treating early while enjoying what the town has to offer.

Longmont

• The Most Popular: Prospect New Town

With festive houses, lots of families, and winding neighborhoods, Prospect New Town is not only the perfect place for a local Longmonster but also worth the drive for those in quieter towns. According to local parent Windy Coleman Lohr, “The winding streets are fun, massive turnout always, and the neighborhood really does it up big!”

• The Most Fun: South of Loomiller Park

Located near Longmont High School, the neighborhood to the south of Loomiller Park is a perfect grid for candy collecting. In particular, 15th Street is not to be missed, as the residents coordinate their houses and sweet offerings, making it fun for all. Head to Loomiller Park at 11:30 a.m. on Halloween to take part in the holiday drum circle.

• Maximizing Stops: Thompson Park/ Olde Town Longmont

Here, you can start your night off at the newly renovated playground to get some of the wiggles out before running a sweep of the houses in downtown Longmont. Located next to Central Elementary School, the area is safe, and houses are kid-friendly with decorations and enthusiasm.

• Halloween Warm-Up: The Longmont Halloween Parade

Get ready for Halloween a little early at the Longmont Halloween Parade. Starting at 9:30 a.m. on October 25, local business owners and employees parade up and down the street, handing out candy, dancing, and showing off some creative costumes. If an early bedtime might interfere with trick-or-treating, or you just want to make the most of the holiday, this is a great way to get your little ones excited for the big day.

Boulder

• The Most Popular: Four Mile Creek

This neighborhood is so popular that it is recommended that you arrive early before it gets too busy. Located in North Boulder, the residents often enlist local bands to play in their yards, and many houses go big with the decorations.

• The Most Fun: Table Mesa

Table Mesa neighborhood has a little bit for everyone. One block up from Bear Creek Elementary School off of Ithaca Drive, a Halloween parade begins at 5 p.m. To see some wild decorations, head to haunted Heidelberg Drive, where the residents go all out to make their short road something to be admired.

• The Safest: Martin Acres

For a family of social butterflies, Martin Acres is one of the busier neighborhoods. Lots of kids means lots of candy, and the homeowners know their audience.

• For the Littles: Pearl Street/Munchkin Masquerade

For the ultimate safe and easy Halloween, take the family to Pearl Street. From 3-6 p.m. on October 31 for the Munchkin Masquerade. The shops and restaurants of Pearl Street set up for trick-or-treaters and their families. With early hours, this is a perfect option for small children with early bedtimes or a slightly older crowd that may want to maximize trick-or-treating in a few neighborhoods.

Superior

• Most Popular: Rock Creek

Tucked behind Colton Road, Rock Creek is a safe and quiet neighborhood. With houses a little closer together than other areas of Superior, it will be easy for your little goblins and ghosts to get to as many houses as possible while staying safe from cars. 

• Halloween Warm-Up:  Monster Mash

The Monster Mash Party is held at the Superior Community Center on the Saturday before Halloween. This free event is a great way to get your little ones used to their costume while enjoying sweet treats, crafts, and games.

Louisville

• Most Popular: Dutch Creek 

South of Community Park in Louisville, this older neighborhood with winding and quiet streets comes alive with spooky decorations and roaming trick-or-treaters. You can take a play/ candy break at Elephant Park halfway through your candy mission or push through and enjoy a bite to eat downtown afterwards.

• For the Littles: Louisville Library

On October 30th, the Louisville Library will have a silly-spooky story time, followed by trick-or-treating. Designed for ages 2-5, this is a great way to get your little one in the mood for the holiday while abiding by naptime windows.

• Town Tradition: Main Street Trick or Treat

Starting at 9 a.m. on Halloween morning, Main Street Louisville closes down for the local elementary school, or any other interested kids, to parade up and down the street, collecting treats from local businesses. This event has been held every year since 1968.

Lafayette

• Most Popular: Old Town Lafayette

With less traffic, sidewalks, and houses that are closer together, Old Town is a favorite for Halloween trick-or-treating. Additionally, take a walk down Public Road and hit up some of the shops set up for trick-or-treating.

• Lafayette Fire Department

The Lafayette Fire Department is holding their first Halloween safety event on October 11. Children 6 and under can look forward to trick-or-treating, a not-so-spooky haunted house, and touch-a-truck.

Niwot

• Town Tradition: The Great Pumpkin Party, Petting Zoo & Parade

Niwot loves holidays, and Halloween is no exception. Hosted by The Niwot Group the Saturday before Halloween, this event takes place at Compass and the Niwot Business Association where kids, families, and kid-friendly dogs can trick-or-treat, play games, and show off their costumes.

Broomfield

• The Most Popular: Broomfield Heights

With parking at the Broomfield Heights Middle School; you can spend the evening in this an older neighborhood with houses close together and a dense population of families, meaning they understand the importance of trick-or-treaters going for a big candy haul. 

Firestone

• Halloween Safe Night Firestone

One week before Halloween, the town of Firestone will be hosting their safety night. Complete with trick-or-treating, music, games, and food trucks, it will be a fun way to get the family out of the house and have a great (safe) time.

Frederick

• Town Tradition: Tiny Terror Town

On October 18, the town of Fredrick goes all out for a family-friendly Halloween with Tiny Terror Town. With two trick-or-treat opportunities, one at Crist Park and the other located downtown, local businesses and community members will be handing out candy to the parading candy-seekers from 3-5 p.m. For your furry (or scaly) friends, there is a pet costume contest, and for those wanting a good scare, the evening ends with haunted house tours at the Miners Memorial Museum.

Westminster

Bonus: Bug-a-Boo at the Butterfly Pavilion

Taking place on October 18, 19, 25, 26, and a special after-dark addition on October 31, the Butterfly Pavilion is hosting indoor trick-or-treating among the butterflies and aquatic displays. Additionally, there is a special spider zone where visitors can walk among free-roaming spiders. This event is included in the standard entry price.

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The post Trick or Treat, Check Out These Streets appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

After realizing that our interns had never heard of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” we sent them to a screening to experience it.

Boulder Theater Marque Reads: The Rocky Horror Picture Show by Morgan Taylor

The 1975 film “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” is an absolute cultural institution that defies generational boundaries, or at least that’s what I’ve always thought. Although the film came out almost a full decade before I was born, I was always surrounded by this film. Growing up in the ‘90s, the local newspaper’s movie section, which was the only way to look up movie times back then, would have all the new movies and then the one listing for “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” that played at the same theater every Saturday night at midnight. Everyone I grew up with knew how to do the “Time Warp.” I rented the movie when I was a teenager and watched it for the first time at home, knowing that I wanted to go see a live performance of it someday. I finally got my chance in college when a whole bunch of us took a trip to the local shadow cast performance. But even before I went to my first screening of the movie, I knew about callbacks, I knew what a shadow cast was, and I even knew about the virgin sacrifice.

In some ways, the movie is particularly important to queer culture. The film plays with gender and sexuality in ways that are very relatable to the queer community. For a lot of trans women, myself included, going to a screening of “Rocky Horror” was one of the first times we were able to feel safe crossdressing. Unfortunately, the writer of the original stage musical, Richard O’Brien, is a bit of a controversial figure, having at one point identified as transgender but then years later saying offensive things about transgender people’s identities not being real. But, at this point, the film belongs to the queer community more than it belongs to O’Brien anyway. Furthermore, some people feel the film hasn’t aged well with its outdated use of the term “transvestite” and the questionable attitude that Dr. Frank-n-Furter has towards consent. Still, it’s such an important part of queer history that, while problematic, I feel like we need to consider it in the context of the time it was made.

But while the film is important to the queer community, I’ve never thought of it as solely a queer cultural phenomenon. It was so ubiquitous to me growing up that I always felt, whether you’re queer or not, this is a movie everyone should know. So imagine our surprise when our editor-in-chief, Shavonne Blades, and I were doing an initial orientation with our interns to talk about how to load events in our calendar and, while discussing the screening of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” at the Boulder Theater on Halloween night, we found that none of our interns had seen this iconic film, with some of them never having heard of it.

We came up with the idea, then, to invite our interns to check out the film and report back on it for their first writing assignment. We got two volunteers: our editorial intern, Owen Houtakker, and our marketing intern (who’s planning to switch over to editorial), Morgan Taylor. We sent them, completely uninitiated, into a Halloween night performance, always the biggest night for the film, and below is what they had to say as newcomers to an event that, for many of us, is a big part of our history.

Morgan Taylor

I don’t know what I was expecting, but it definitely wasn’t that! This was my first experience at the renowned “Rocky Horror Picture Show”. I initially thought I was just walking into a regular movie-like setting, but immediately knew I was in for a treat. 

The line to enter was all the way around the block. While waiting, I was offered a mysterious “throw bag,” which I ended up declining. Upon entering, it was incredibly packed to the point that I could barely even find a seat. We ended up sitting on the aisle steps of the balcony. Many others surrounded us, anticipating the movie.

A crowd of people enter the Boulder Theater on Halloween night by Morgan Taylor

When I finally was able to look to the front, I was met with actors who were performing the movie live while it was playing behind them. This was apparently called a shadow cast. This made the whole experience a lot more exciting, with actors using extreme gusto to evoke the audience’s emotions more.

The shadow cast made the entire experience different. You could tell they loved to embrace the culture of this film when performing and were extremely comfortable and liberated doing so. I felt it made everyone else in the theater just as comfortable and ready to engage in the performance. 

The audience participation was crucial in deciding whether the show would be unforgettable or uneventful. Passionate fans would yell callbacks and shout out phrases that play on the movie’s dialogue to make the audience members connect with those around them in a playful way. I finally got to the moment when I discovered what the “throw bags” were for when I saw toilet paper and playing cards thrown through the air. 

At that moment, being in such a fun and participatory audience felt like I belonged to a big community. I finally understood why this film was called a “cult classic.” I felt I experienced a unique involvement while watching this film with the group I did. When I realized it was nearing the end, I was a little sad to know we would all have to disburse and that the night would be over. 

I think this movie helped those in the LGBTQ community feel seen, comfortable, and able to express themselves in the 1970s when others made that difficult. It also promoted sexual empowerment for not only men but females as well. When a shadow cast was added in 76’ I think this enhanced the cult culture and formed a community with those who feel the movie speaks to and for them. 

Being able to experience this film in 2024 and seeing the love and support it gets from people across multiple generations just shows how impactful it was for this community and those around it. Having this movie be an outlet for the LGBTQ community to feel like they can express themselves and have that feeling last for decades is inspirational. 

As someone new to this “cult classic” and never having experienced anything like “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” the atmosphere makes you feel a part of this community whether you identify as LGBTQ or not. It was interesting to know this film was released about 50 years ago and yet has so many different representations of different sexualities that are often under-represented in recent cinema. It was honestly an incredible experience to be able to be a part of this community and fan base. I would definitely recommend everyone to watch and experience this film. 

Audience Members throw toilet paper rolls at the RHPS shadow cast by Morgan Taylor

Owen Houtakker

I had never even heard of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” before it was off-handedly mentioned in a meeting. Once my boss heard that a great majority of the interns had not even heard of it, she felt it was necessary to fill that cultural gap in our knowledge by sending us to the aforementioned show at the Boulder Theater.

I do not think I could ever have been prepared for what I was attending, and any attempted explanation would have fallen drastically short. In a sense, I do not think an explanation could ever do a show of this cultural magnitude justice simply due to its impact. Overall, though, after finally being introduced and seeing the show, I would say no other description fits better than it is a one-of-a-kind experience, akin to having your eyes fully opened to the world around you.

The coordination between every single piece of the show was something I had never even considered a possibility until I saw it enacted in front of my very eyes. The timing of each and every line creates a wonderful coalescence between the entire cast, the film, and the viewers themselves. It was a true hoot, with a mixing of old and new that somehow makes it feel nostalgic and current at the same time.

The atmosphere was one of acceptance and celebration, yet intense in a way, showing people’s true passion for being whatever they want to be. This acceptance showed through the performances, with every line being delivered with passion and love not only for the material itself but the message that was being sent. The entirety of the theater embodied that message, allowing for a raucous attitude that never felt intimidating or out of place. This gave the atmosphere a feeling of comradery and togetherness that I have not felt with such passion in many other places in my life.

I struggle to express how engrossing the seemingly boundless quirks the show provided left you wondering what smart or audacious trick they would surprise you with next. I can only imagine how eye-opening this show would have been in the 1970s, as my eyes were opened, and as we know, our current society is much more accepting and open to these types of concepts.

Overall, experiencing “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” for the first time this Halloween was a wonderful experience that opened my eyes to a fuller spectrum of people in this world and how to make them feel comfortable and accepted in our current society.

“Rocky Horror” shadow cast at Boulder Theater Oct. 31, 2024 by Morgan

I’d like to think that our interns are outliers in not knowing about this film, but I fear they’re not. And that’s a shame because, even without having been as immersed in the culture of “Rocky Horror” as I was, they had similar experiences to mine upon their first time getting to see a live shadow cast performance of the film. Maybe the film’s time has passed at this point, but I would like to think that this movie, which was so vital to the budding queer community in 1975, still has enough significance that it can teach something to young people in 2024. And, in light of the dawning of a new Trump administration, it seems that it might have a lot to teach a new generation.

It’s interesting that both of our interns mentioned how liberated the whole crowd felt. That’s always been a central theme of both the film and the live events that have grown around it. “Rocky Horror” is a remnant of another time when liberation was harder to come by, a time when those brief moments of liberation were heavily frowned upon. In 2024, we’ve seen queer rights come a long way, but we’ve also seen some really horrific backlashes to those advances in recent years. When society becomes more repressive, a movie like “Rocky Horror” becomes even more necessary.

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The post “Rocky Horror” in 2024: Can it Still be Relevant for a New Generation? appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Bryan Asbury looks to build off the success of his first self-published book with a new short story collection and film adaptation. 

It has been a busy year for Colorado-born author Bryan Asbury. When I spoke to him in the summer of last year, he talked about the process of self-publishing his first book, “A Windowless Room: Excursions into Horror,” and his excitement at the prospect of turning a story he was working on, “The Mariachi Man” into a feature film. Now, he not only has a new book out under a new publisher but has also been making headway on the film.

Asbury’s new short story collection, “Waking the Dead,” represents a significant evolution of his literary style. While he is still heavily influenced by classic movies such as “Falling Down,” and directors like Rob Zombie, he has started to branch out from thrillers and psychological horror. He said that his new stories are a lot bloodier and more grotesque than his older ones, with a violent, gory edge that marks an exciting evolution in his art style. When looking at his new stories, his stellar dialogue writing and excellent eye for characters are still very much present, but they’re paired with a shocking, more violent tone that works remarkably well. They won’t appeal to everyone, but they work remarkably well for horror fans who either don’t mind or prefer an edgier bend to the stories they read. Asbury noted that, at first, this sort of stylistic change was a foray into unfamiliar territory, yet now it’s become something he has settled into with ease.

“Waking the Dead” also significantly evolves Asbury’s writing career. It is his first book published under his new deal with Evil Cookie Publishing, a renowned presence in the world of horror literature. His first book, “A Windowless Room,” was self-published. In an interview last year, Asbury said he got it out into the world by talking with individual store managers at Barnes and Noble stores throughout Boulder. Eventually, something stuck, and he was able to get a deal to sell his book at their stores. This new publishing deal marks an even bigger step forward, as he noted that the sheer resources available to him from Evil Cookie Publishing positively dwarf what he was capable of when he was self-publishing. They have given him the exposure necessary to get his book out into the world, in corners of the digital realm where people are much more likely to see it. 

To top off these exciting changes in Asbury’s writing and career, he has begun the process of turning his story “The Mariachi Man” into a feature film. When I spoke with him last year, he noted that he had just started writing the story with the help of his wife and was hoping to turn it into a feature film with Danny Trejo in the lead. Now, about a year later, not only is the story done, but Asbury has begun working on turning it into a script alongside renowned Mexican horror director Henry Bedwell. Bedwell, who has dabbled in both the written word and motion pictures, met Asbury through a connection at Avatar Entertainment.

Asbury said that, after finishing “The Mariachi Man,” he turned it into a script on his own and began taking it around to various Hollywood movers and shakers. He noted that it was a challenging process, but eventually, he connected with Larry Robinson, president of Avatar Entertainment. Robinson connected Asbury and Bedwell, and ever since, the two have been working on revising Asbury’s original script. While the process is still very much ongoing, Asbury said he was beyond excited about it all. He noted how his emphasis on dialogue has made the development of the script surprisingly easy and how working with Bedwell is a very new but very welcome creative process.

Taken all together, Asbury has achieved quite a lot in the last year. When I last spoke to him, nearly everything he’s accomplished today was something that he desperately wanted to do. It is certainly incredible to consider that he went from having stories read on horror podcasts to self-publishing, and now, a publishing deal and a potential feature film adaptation of his work are coming up. The man is nothing if not tenacious, persistent, and a fine writer to boot.

The post Colorado Horror Author Eyes First Feature Film appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Spooky 90’s Cabaret @ The Louisville Underground

640 Main Street, Louisville, CO  Saturday, October 19, 2024, 6:00 p.m. or 8:00 p.m.

Tickets available HERE

Halloween Costume Party @ The Dairy

2590 Walnut St, Boulder, CO October 27, 2024, 11:00 a.m.

Tickets available HERE

Spooky Business After Hours @ The Fox Hill Club

1400 State Hwy. 119, Longmont, CO Thursday, October 24, 2024, 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.

Register HERE

Halloween Monster Mash Party (Hosted by SYLC)

Superior Community Center, 1500 Coalton Road, Superior, CO Saturday, October 28, 2024, 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

Halloween Silent Disco (21+ Party) @ The Louisville Underground

640 Main Street, Louisville, CO Saturday, October 26, 2024, 8:30 p.m. – 11:00 p.m.

Tickets available HERE

The post Entertainment Picks | September 2024 appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Halloween is heavily associated with the American suburbs, with children walking door to door to get candy from friendly yet momentarily spooky neighbors. The basic appeal for kids — free candy and a time to dress up — is undeniably irresistible but over the last few decades we’ve seen Halloween night morph from a family affair, to a wild college weekend, to even gaining international popularity and becoming a night adults look forward to as well.

For those of us who want to take it to the next level, creating your own haunted house can be a daunting task if you are new to the idea. From hosting neighborhood kids, to throwing an adult-style party, to just celebrating the macabre and embracing the Fall season with some spooky decor, here are some tips to get started on your journey to your ideal haunted house.

Themed rooms

One of the easiest ways to start with any task is to break it down into manageable chunks and approach each of them individually. Same goes for a haunted house of any scale. It is a good idea to follow the flow of your space, let the rooms speak to you, and hear them calling out for decor. But seriously, try to conform the spooky spots to the layout and function of the rooms you already have.

Examples include a large hard-to-move table or kitchen island. Set it up as a haunted dinner scene with abandoned food and broken candles. Use it to tell a story that keeps visitors guessing. What spooked this family to leave dinner unfinished? Maybe it’s been abandoned for a long time. Are things rotting? For children, lay out a pirate’s booty with a chest as a centerpiece, overflowing with gold coins, crossbones, and cobwebs. Bonus points if the coins are edible.

Use a room with a naturally more sterile feeling for a mad scientist’s lab. Tile floors, white walls, and clearing out some moveable furniture will go a long way in setting the scene. Various sized cups and glassware filled with different colored liquids — Gatorade or juice for kids — to create potions of unknown power. This is a place where a little liquid nitrogen can go a long way as well! Remember that science kit you bought your kids a few years back? Use it for additional props. If you are not planning on including children, this is also a great space for a small make-your-own potion cocktail bar using a green liquor like Chartruese.

Use your largest rooms and open spaces as a maze with scares around every corner. This part takes some planning, building, and likely purchasing tarps and other decor, but it can be worth it to slowly build up a collection over the years, expanding as you go. This part is also potentially the most dangerous, and not in a fun Halloween way. Exits need to be clearly marked and unobstructed. If anyone does become disoriented or a little too overwhelmed, make sure the lights can be turned on quickly. Most importantly, understand your local fire codes and ensure you do everything in your power to make it a safe and scary environment, but not a potentially harmful one. For a great beginner guide, check out “How To Operate A Financially Successful Haunted House,” by Philip Morris and Dennis Phillips. Its an older book but even if you are not planning on charging an entrance fee the steps into making a small haunted house are invaluable.

Finally, no one knows your home better than you. Where are the natural blind spots? Tight corners? Unexpected closets? Use those spaces for quick jump-scare-type opportunities. A fake spider hanging from a fishing line, an unexpected pair of eyes, or a well-placed old doll can evoke both sudden gasps and nervous laughs.

Engage all the senses

One of the pitfalls of many beginner haunted houses is failing to engage the senses. Humans use many senses to understand our surroundings and feel out situations. The visuals are very important, no one wants the reaction to be of laughter and smirks at the decorations, but small things like audio, shifts in temperature, and even having someone hidden, silently standing nearby, can all make the hairs on our arms stand up.

One of the first ways to include other senses is through audio. You can always loop a scary movie in the background or play a spooky soundtrack, but the key is to vary the volume. Sudden volume increases make people jump. Subtle sounds barely heard and low frequencies both make people uneasy. To take it to another level, try to have a soundtrack for every space, whether its an occasional witches crackle off a YouTube channel, an old scary movie playing, or nearly inaudible mumbles and murmurs. This is where you can really freak people out.

Another way to make those spooky senses tingle is by using fans to create a breeze. It can be used to make a ghost appear to float or an empty white dress dance through the room, but the sudden lack of any air movement can also signal danger. If you use fans in one room, make the next one dead still. Have a small closet or storage space with a door? Place a personal fan behind an old doll, a hanging spider, or other unexpected object so that it creepily taps the door, prompting people to open it for a surprise.

Photo credit: Peter Hermann, Unsplash

Scent is likely the most unexpected way to draw someone into the moment. The smell of cookies contraposed with a creepy abandoned home scene can make it unsettling. Using herbs — not lit candles — in jars can transform a spooky set-up in multiple ways. Have a graveyard walkthrough outside? Take some fresh potting soil and strategically use it to create an even more realistic scene, complete with that freshly dug smell. Don’t use anything disgusting though, no one wants to smell rotting food even an a haunted house.

Finally, lighting really is king. Make sure decorations are lit up or dimmed properly, that people can see but it is still scary, and that lights can still be turned back on if needed. Unable to dim the lights? Switch some of them out for colored and very dim light bulbs, use blacklights, or bring out old out-of-style lamps that have been sitting in the garage for ages. Using lamps is especially ideal, not just for the antique spooky vibe they can bring, but because it allows you to leave the ceiling lights alone, easily able to be switched on in case the room needs to be lit if someone drops a contact lens or just gets too overwhelmed.

Safety:

It may be the night of the living dead, but even if it “breaks the immersion,” keeping all visitors safe is the top priority. Most of these tips are for true “Haunted Houses” but even house party planners can never be too safe.

• Fire escapes and exits must be clearly noted
• Nothing can obstruct exits
• Need the ability to quickly turn on lights
• No real candles, no real knives! (Even for pumpkin carving)
• Read local fire codes, consult with local government if building a maze

Budget:

Not all haunted houses and theme parties need to break the budget. There are likely plenty of items already laying around that can be used to add some extra flair to a haunted space.

• Empty wine bottles with fake candles can create a low-light creepy atmosphere
• Old serving platters, dishes, various glass containers tucked away in kitchen cabinets can make a mad scientist’s lab, witches’ brew, or haunted dinner scene
• Put scary movies on loop in a dark room, the older the TV the better
• Stacks of old books can be piled up with cobweb decorations

Decor:

There are still some smaller things you can do to either spruce up the spirits or help fill in the details of an intricate ghoulish decor.

• Witch’s Parking: Make a creepy sign for “Witch’s Parking Only” and hang it in a corner. Lean some brooms nearby, and include a mop or vacuum for a little laugh as well.
• Water station: If you plan on serving alcohol or serving dinner, having a water station is crucial. “Disguise” it with a skeleton and a plea to not die of thirst. Or make it a witchy water station, and tempt them to try the potion, complete with apple slices as a snack
• Make it interactive: For kids, and adults who are kids at heart, have a pumkpin painting station. You can use an outdoor space as a “pumpkin patch” for people to choose their living canvas to decorate with small brushes and paints. Inspirations in form of pictures, previously painted pumpkins, and decorations nearby will help. Just dont set up a carving station, no one wants to see real blood on Halloween!

The post Making Your Own Haunted Halloween House Party appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

This month: Five Frightfully Fun Haunted Houses on the Front Range!

Terror in the Corn, Erie, $39+

Haunted Field of Screams, Thornton, $40+

Slaughter Gulch, Franktown, $26

13th Floor, Denver, $20+

The Frightmare Compound, Westminster, $60

The post French’s 5 | October 2023 appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

This month: Five Halloween Events for your Freaky Fun (all on Oct. 31)!

Lotus at the Fox Theater, 6:30 p.m., $35+, FoxTheatre.com

$UICIDEBOY$ at Red Rocks, 5:30 p.m., $79+, RedRocksOnline.com

Matroda at Boulder Theater, 7 p.m., $27.50+, BoulderTheater.com

Reptiles and Samurai Oingo Boingo Tribute at The Owl Saloon in Denver, 9 p.m., $10

Tenia Nelson at Magnolia Hotel in Denver, 4 p.m., free, MagnoliaHotels.com

The post French’s 5 | September 2023 appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Looking for the best places to spend the spooky season celebrating? We got you covered!

Tots Opps

44th Annual Halloween Parade & Trick or Treat Street
Saturday, Oct. 28, 10 a.m.-1 p.m. at Roosevelt Community Park, Longmont
The costume parade and Trick or treat Street is back for another year to march down Main Street Longmont.

Apex Foundation Trick or Trot 5K & Halloween Candy Hunt
Saturday, Oct. 28, 9 a.m. at 13150 W. 72nd Ave., Arvada
Proceeds from this Halloween-themed fun run and candy hunt go to the non-profit Apex Foundation.

Family Fun Friday – Halloween Bingo
Friday, Oct. 20, 6-7:30 p.m. at Eagle Pointe Recreation Center, Commerce City
Come play bingo in a costume and be entered for a prize.

Halloween Kids Fest
October 28, 29, & 31 at the Denver Aquarium
Kids in costume with an adult receive half-price admission cost. Festivities include a not-so-haunted train ride, pumpkin painting, monster mural coloring, science experiments, and shows. 

Halloween Spooktacular!
Sunday, Oct. 23, 2:30 p.m. at Boettcher Concert Hall, Denver
Featuring Halloween music from films, television, and more. Families can attend wearing costumes. 

Happy Halloween – Broomfield Children’s Chorus
Tuesday, Oct. 31, 4:30-6:30 p.m. at 1700 W. 10th Ave., Broomfield
A no-rehearsal concert put on by the Broomfield Children’s Chorus.

Munchkin Masquerade
Tuesday, Oct. 31, 3-6 p.m. at Pearl Street, Boulder
Recommended for children 12 years or younger, Pearl Street opens for trick-or-treaters on Halloween night.

Shows & Events

Candlelight: A Haunted Evening of Halloween Classics
Friday, Oct. 27 and Sunday, Oct. 29, 6:30 p.m. and 9:15 p.m. at Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum, Denver
A candlelight concert to Halloween-inspired music.

Boos and Brews Halloween 5k
Saturday, Oct. 28, 10 a.m.-1 p.m. at Number Thirty Eight, Denver
Finish the 5K course and celebrate with a free beer.

Boulder’s Halloween Pub Crawl
Saturday Oct. 21, 4 p.m., check in at 1534 Pearl St., Boulder
Enjoy drink specials while participating in fun games and contests along the way.

Denver Happy Hour Halloween Weekend Bar Crawl
Saturday, Oct. 21, 4-11 p.m. at Market St., Denver
Come ball crawling in costumes in Denver. Get cover fees waived and discounts on drinks or win big during the costume contest.

Elitch Gardens Fright Fest
Wednesday, Sept. 30 through Oct. 29 at Elitch Gardens, Denver
Elitch has normal family-fun during the day and fright by night.

Exotica Erotica Ball
Tuesday, Oct. 31, 9 p.m.-2 a.m. at the Riverside, Boulder
Wear adult-themed masquerade and indulge in risqué interactive entertainment at Colorado’s longest-running Halloween event.

Ghosts & Goblin 5k
Sunday, Oct. 22, 9 a.m. at City Park, Denver
Join in a Halloween-themed run.

Halloween Dance Class on the Rooftop
Saturday, Oct. 28 from 9-10 a.m. at the Museum of Boulder
Take a fun, Halloween-themed Zumba class on the rooftop to kick off the Halloweekend.

Halloween Doll Making Class
Thursday, Oct. 5, 6-8 p.m. at Park Hill Treasures, Denver
Create a spooky Halloween decoration out of old ceramic or rubber dolls.

Halloween Goat Yoga
Saturday, Oct. 14, 5-6 p.m. at Yoga Six Northfield, Broomfield
A goat yoga session when costumes are encouraged.

Halloween Themed Date Night: Stained Glass & Chill
Tuesday, Oct. 31, 6:30-8 p.m. at Colorado Glassworks, Boulder
Make a stained glass piece during a special Halloween date night class.

Motown Haunted Prom (A Halloween Dance Party)
Saturday Oct. 28, 8-11 p.m. at Roots Music Project, Boulder
Groove to live Motown hits in your costume for the 3rd annual Motown Haunted Prom.

Nightmare on Shimmy Street, A Theatrical Bellydance Halloween Event
Saturday, Oct. 14, 7- 9 p.m. at Althea Center for Engaged Spirituality
Egyptian deities, witches, and more will perform a Halloween-themed performance.

Oddities and Curiosities Expo
Saturday, Oct. 7, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. at Colorado Convention Center, Denver
The expo showcases all things weird including horror and Halloween-inspired pieces.

Spooktacular Critters
Wednesday, Oct. 25, 6-6:45 p.m. at Louisville Recreation Center
Learn about snakes, spiders, bats, and create a critter craft, for ages four and up. 

The Burton Bar – A Halloween Pop Up
The month of October at Denver Pavilions
This seasonal speakeasy honors Tim Burton through a spooky and immersive bar experience.

Wicked Wolverine Halloween Bar Crawl
Saturday, Oct. 28, 5-11 p.m. at various bars in Boulder
Mingle with other Halloween lovers and get food and drink deals along the way.

Women’s Resource Center Halloween Open House
Tuesday, Oct. 31, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. at University Memorial Center, Room 457, CU Boulder
CU students, faculty, and staff are welcome to connect with new and old friends while decorating masks and cookies, playing board games, and enjoying free food.

Mazes ‘n’ Pumpkin Patches

7th Generation Farm
Hours and dates of the pumpkin patch are TBA for 2023, at 1536 Courtesy Road, Louisville
This farm offers pre-picked or U-pick pumpkins. Visitors can get lost in the hay bale maze or climb the big bale hay mountain. Visitors can see the cows, sheep, horses, goats, chickens, ducks, geese, pigs, and two dogs living on the farm.

Anderson Farms
Sept. 20 through Oct. 30, Sunday 9 a.m.-2 p.m.,? Thursday through Saturday 3-8:30 p.m. at 6728 County Rd. 3 1/4, Erie
The farm is home to the first corn maze in Colorado and has a long history dating back to 1911. Visitors at the farm can experience the fall festival, terror in the corn, private campfire sites, and the pumpkin patch.

Cottonwood Farms
Open every day after Sept. 23 through Oct. 31, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. at 10600 Isabelle Rd., Lafayette
Visitors can buy pumpkins, squash, and decorative fall items. There is a corn maze for the family and a straw bale maze for the kids. Prepaid admissions are encouraged on weekends and can be purchased a week in advance.

Munson Farms
Open through October, 9 a.m.-6 p.m. at 7455 Valmont Rd., Boulder
This U-pick patch has many varieties of pumpkins along with a farm stand. Admission is free, and produce is priced by the pound.

Rocky Mountain Pumpkin Ranch
Every day in October, from 9 a.m.-6 p.m. at 9059 Ute Hwy Co 66, Longmont
Visitors during the week can experience a more mellow visit. Groups like daycares, schools, and recreational groups are welcome. The weekends are more robust with carnival rides, a petting zoo, face painting, a food truck, and U-pick pumpkins.

The Bee Hugger Farm
Open everyday in September and October from 8 a.m.-8:30 at 12590 Ute Hwy, Longmont
Open almost always, except for when private events are booked, the farm is open for self-guided experiences and operates on an honor system — pay for pumpkins using cash or Venmo, but entrance is free. Visitors can explore and climb on the tractors and observe the bees. Hay rides and pony rides can be arranged along with group or photographer experiences.

VT Pumpkin Patch
Oct. 1-31 every Friday 2-6 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m.-6 p.m., Sunday 10 a.m.-6 p.m. in Boulder County
Started in 2021, this family-friendly patch is great for people of all ages to come pick out their perfect pumpkin.

Local Costume Shops

Crimson Rose Masquerade
Wednesday through Saturday 11 a.m.-6 p.m.; Sunday 12.-5 p.m. at 1456 South Broadway, Denver
Crimson Rose offers a selection of high-end costumes, fancy dress apparel, corsets, and masks.

Disguises
Monday through Friday 11 a.m.-8 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m.-7 p.m., and Sunday 12-6 p.m. at 9797 W. Colfax Ave., Lakewood
One of the largest costume stores in the region, it offers a large selection of costumes for purchase and rental.

Gott-A-Costume
Monday through Friday 12-7 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at 15167 E. Hampden Ave., Aurora
This costume store offers costume purchases and rental options as well as character rentals for parties.

Reinke Brothers, Inc.
Halloween season hours: Sunday through Thursday 10 a.m.-10 p.m., Friday and Saturday 10 a.m.-midnight at 5663 S. Prince Street, Littleton
Not only a costume store, Reinke Bros. has a haunted mansion inside. They offer a child-friendly version of the haunted mansion with lights staying on.

The Ritz
Monday through Wednesday 12-7 p.m., Thursday through Saturday 12-8 p.m., Sunday 126 p.m. at 959 Walnut Street, Boulder
Bringing costume visions into reality, customers can rent or buy their costumes with the help of friendly staff.

The Wizard’s Chest
10 a.m.-7 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday through Friday at 451 Broadway, Denver
This magical toy store and costume shop has costumes for all ages.

Haunted Houses & Other Scares

Boulder Escape Room
Open daily 12-8 p.m. at 13th Street #LL60, Boulder
Locally owned and operated, solve puzzles and explore the underworld of Pearl Street.

Boulder Ghost Tour
Fridays and Saturdays at 6 p.m. at Pearl Street, Boulder
Meet the ghosts of Boulder’ s Pearl Street Mall during a haunted walking tour.

Terror in the Corn
Sept. 22 through Oct. 29, purchase tickets for specific time slots, Anderson Farms, Erie
A mile-long immersive haunted corn maze filled with your darkest fears.

The Empty Grave Haunted House
October, tickets available for select times, at 218 Kimbark Street, Longmont
Come face to face with your fears as you survive one night during the graveyard shift of the workers at the Longmont Food Co.’s turkey factory.

The post Halloween Directory 2023 appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Ah, the crisp smell of a cool overcast day as the clouds gradually threaten rain. Leaves the color of sunset dance a wind-led ballet across the street, parting as a woman ambles through the neighborhood, sipping spiced apple cider from some local shop. A black cat curls into a cinnamon bun on their human’s lap as she surfs the web for jack-o-lantern ideas. A man peruses the candy aisle, searching for a bag that has all his personal favorites. 

At the time of writing, it’s still 97 degrees outside and my seatbelt hasn’t stopped trying to fuse to my arm. Not one of the above has come to pass yet, and if you’re like me – a person that becomes a cornered animal in the heat – then Spooky Season always comes as a welcome change of pace. While it’s never too early to talk about and plan for Halloween, it is admittedly much easier and more practical as the season draws near.

Starting with the most mysterious of any of the traditions I could find, we have the Headless Horseman of Lafayette – cue thunder crack. Every year on All Hallows Eve an unknown pumpkin-headed horseman rides around the city. This nightmarish figure has strayed a touch west of his original haunt –but he is just as terrifying, if not significantly less violent, than his depiction in Tim Burton’s Sleepy Hollow.

While it’s never too early to talk about and plan for Halloween, it is admittedly much easier and more practical as the season draws near.

Moving north, we’ll stop at Briggs Street in Erie on October 28th. Boo! on Briggs Street is an annual event between Moffat and Cheesman with trick-or-treating, a costume contest, and a storefront decoration contest. Trick-or-treating starts at 3pm and lasts until the event ends at 6 pm. The event is completely free, but if you want to flaunt your creative chops in the costume contest, there is a small $5 registration fee. Registrations start at 3 at the stage at Briggs and Moffat, with the contest kicking off at 4:30.

A newcomer to the arena is the Monster Mash Party. While this is only its second year, its first was a smashing success. Hosted by the Superior Youth Leadership Council at the Superior Community Center on October 28th from 6 – 8 pm, this free event includes a costume contest – split up by age group for fairness – live DJ playing all your favorite spooky songs, pumpkin decorating, a variety of games, and all the treats and snacks you can eat. If that isn’t enough, there are plans this year to partner with the Superior Chamber of Commerce to offer a Trick-or-Treat Street like the aforementioned Boo! Details are still in the works, so make sure to follow the Superior Youth Leadership Council on Facebook to stay up-to-date.

Moving up to Longmont, we have nearly a full month of free Day of the Dead celebration. Starting Saturday, October 14th, and going until November 5th, the Dia de Muertos exhibition at the Longmont Museum’s Swan Atrium will feature art from Local Artists and community-built altars. Opening day of the exhibit, Longmont will also host its annual Dia de los Muertos Family Celebration from 11am to 3pm at 4th Avenue and Main Street. The celebration will feature street food, arts and crafts, music and dance, cultural education, altars, and the iconic Gigantes Procession–a parade that features various mini-floats and decorations to honor the season. If this sounds like a lot, it is, which is why a free shuttle service will be available to ferry you between activities so you can experience everything this mini-festival has to offer!

Also in Longmont, Outworld Brewing is hosting a Halloween costume contest on the 31st, and given the atmosphere and decor of this incredible bar, this will be an unmissable event. Celebrations start at 11am and continue until just about midnight meaning you can spend the entire day here if you wanted.

… given the atmosphere and decor of this incredible bar, this will be an unmissable event.

On to a very family-friendly event in Louisville, we have the Halloween Spooktacular on October 30th at the Louisville Public Library. Open to kids 2 to 5 years old – as well as their caregivers – this event kicks off at 10:15am in the Library Meeting Room and goes until 11am. During this time, enjoy spooky stories, and songs, and crafts – as well as trick-or-treat around the library.  

Over in Westminster we have Boo at the View. This event is returning for its second year after a very successful debut in 2022; over 1,000 people showed up the first time around. Hosted on Saturday, October 28th – a very popular day for Halloween celebrations – from 3-6pm at the West View Recreation Center Part tailgate, part trick-or-treat, children will be able to walk around the parking lot, collecting candy from car to car. This free event will also have onsite hayrides, crafts, face painting, and a balloon artist.

Out in Lyons is the Lyons Emergency & Assistance Fund Rave to the Grave on Friday, October 27th. Details are still being finalized for this event, but if last year is anything to go by, Rave to the Grave stands to be a resounding success. Featuring live music at Lavern Johnson Park, Rave to the Grave managed to raise over $39,000 in 2022. With a pre-rave happy hour starting at 6, and various food trucks, this 21+ event drew in hundreds. Registration is required to enter, with a suggested $25 donation to LEAF.

For something more family-friendly in the Lyons area, be sure to check out the Lyons Spooktacular Parade the following day, Saturday, October 28th. Games and activities abound, all culminating in downtown trick-or-treating. I made sure to confirm the return of one key activity; the Stone Cup Chili Cookoff. Activities kick off at Lyons Elementary from 4-5:30pm, with the parade and trick-or-treating following shortly after. Be sure to keep an ear to the ground for the most up-to-date information.

Moving on to Thornton we have Harvest Fest on October 7th and its two satellite events: the Fishing Derby at Grandview Ponds and the Pancake Breakfast at the Thornton Active Event Center. Harvest Fest is a community event held at Thornton Parkway and York Street at Community Park that will feature live entertainment, food vendors, a beer garden for those no longer disadvantaged with youth, business booths, craft booths, and a skate park competition. The event will run from 10am to 5 pm on Saturday, October 7th.Admission for the Pancake Breakfast is $3 for Children and Seniors and $5 for Adults. Once you’ve had your fill, stop by the Fishing Derby at Grandview Ponds from 8 am to 11 am. This event isn’t for us lame adults, but is open to children 4 to 12 years old and is just $1 per kid.

With all of this happening in one day, there’s something for everyone.

Stanley Masquerade Ball hosted by, of course, Seayonce, will start Saturday at 7pm in Estes Park and features “the spookiest and most glamorous Halloween celebration of the year.” Not your typical masquerade, there will be comedy, a mystery, cabaret, and drag to keep you entertained and in the spirit. Can’t wait for the night to get started? Join the Magical Brunch Event that morning from 10am-1pm but make sure to reserve your spot.

And finally, last on the list–but certainly not least  is Boulder. If dancing is more your speed, check out the Motown Haunted Prom on, you guessed it, Saturday, October 28th. Featuring a live band covering all of your Motown & Stax Records favorites, this single-night dance party is guaranteed to have you dancing in the street. And if you love to dance but are terrified of any public attention no matter how small, liquid courage will be served at a full bar on site. Doors open at 7 pm so you could feasibly add this to the end of your night after one of the other mentioned events. Motown Haunted Prom is located at Roots Music Project,  4747 Pearl Street V3A in the big blue building. There will  even be a giant hand pointing to the door in case our excellent directions aren’t concise enough for you. Tickets are $25 ahead of time, $30 at the door, and there are $200 booths that can accommodate up to 5 people if you prefer something more private.

We would be remiss if we didn’t mention Meow Wolf. For the uninitiated, Meow Wolf is an immersive art exhibit/psychedelic experience that is near impossible to do justice with words.

But I’ll try.

This year, Meow Wolf is putting on two separate events during the month of October! Starting off with Wednesday, October 4th at 5:00 pm, Adulti-Verse: Spooky-Verse is a 21+ immersive experience celebrating everything spooky. To give a better idea of what the event has to offer, perhaps it is best to use their own description from their website: 

“Wander in the realms of the wonderfully weird as we celebrate this spooktacular season at Convergence Station. Costumes highly encouraged!” 

While that might not clear much up at all, with Meow Wolf at the helm, this is guaranteed to be an experience you won’t soon forget.

Following this, on Saturday, October 28th is the 2nd Annual SpooKiKi Ball. Once again, I think it is best to go to the source for information on this event: 

“In 1979, Ballroom Icon, Paris Dupree, created the revolutionary dance movement known as vogue. Vogue was and still is the celebration of Black and Latino Trans and Queer people highlighting their beauty, talent, and ability to leave their mark in a world that tries to erase them. The House of Flora (@kikihouseofflora) is a KiKi house that originated in Portland, Oregon est. 2016 by Legendary Passa Flora, and in 2018, the house expanded its roots in Denver, CO, under the direction of Valentino Valentine, AKA Mother Flora…. The House of Flora has been seen elevating the subculture of Denver, collaborating with both local and large-scale companies, and building safe spaces for BIPOC QTs since 2018.”

The post Something Spooky This Way Comes appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

When asked about his stories, author Bryan Asbury notes that, while they may not be the goriest or the scariest, they excel at being eerie, moody, and creepy – full of open endings and complicated, with realistic characters caught in strange situations.

He’s been writing since he was in high school, but only got his big break of sorts last year, when his short story ‘The Chair in the Closet’ was selected for the podcast “Chilling Tales for Dark Nights.” Since then, he’s written even more stories, and has compiled them into a book, “A Windowless Room: Excursions into Horror.” 

Asbury is a long time fan of horror and short stories. He noted that his biggest inspirations come from author Stephen King and director Rob Zombie. More than anything, he’s a big fan of realistic dialogue and characters. Growing up, he was obsessed with King’s short story collection “Night Shift,” which played a big role in teaching him the power of short fiction. Around that time, he started writing his own horror stories. He recalled how he presented one of his stories to his friends, and they got, “creeped out,” a reaction he liked. It told him his stories were working as intended. 

Though he enjoyed writing, he didn’t take it too seriously, and didn’t publish anything. It got to a point where, a couple years ago, he realized his computer was full of unfinished stories, just begging to be completed and maybe, just maybe, sent somewhere to be published. 

That led him to “The Chair in the Closet,” an eerie story about a haunted office chair and the desperately stressed office worker that can’t escape it. It starts on an almost funny note, with a short prologue about another poor office worker having a horrible fit of diarrhea on the chair, after which it’s interned in a closet for years. 

The story is a great highlight of Asbury’s strengths as a writer. The main character, David, is a simple and relatable sort of everyman, but also pretty abrasive. Asbury managed to make him complicated in a very short amount of time, both sympathetic and hate-able. The story itself is strange and moody, with poor David seeing the strange chair everywhere he goes, eventually breaking down and almost going mad at the sight of it.

It should be reiterated that Asbury’s biggest inspirations come from film, namely directors Rob Zombie and 90s films like “Falling Down.” He grew up in the 90s, and has a real soft spot for the films he watched as a kid. All of this is important because Asbury doesn’t just want to stop at writing. More than anything he wants to make a movie, no matter the budget or scale. 

Ever since self-publishing his book, he’s started asking around Hollywood, trying to get any sort of in to get some of his stories published. Right now, actually, he’s working on a story with his wife, tentatively titled “The Mariachi Man,” about a mysterious elderly Mariachi man he envisions being played by Danny Trejo. Once it’s finished, he’s hoping to get in contact with Trejo’s people and try as hard as he can to get a movie made. 

All of this goes to show that Asbury is extraordinarily motivated and persistent. He self-published “A Windowless Room,” and got it into Barnes & Noble stores across Colorado, Nevada, and Arizona through sheer tenacity. He talks about how, once he started publishing the book, he talked to Barnes and Noble managers across Colorado, looking to get his book onto store shelves. He lucked out with a manager in Littleton, a horror fan who helped him get his book into the store. Since then the book has expanded to Barnes & Noble stores across the west, a damn fine feat for a self-published book by a relative newbie on the writing scene.

With this in mind, Asbury said that, to him, the key to making it as a writer is persistence, talent, and a vision. He recommended that upcoming authors focus first and foremost on writing the best stories they can and knowing what they want to make and why. From there, all that’s left is to fight like hell to make a name for yourself and achieve whatever it is you want out of your writing. For Asbury, that’s a movie. For others, it might be a novel or a writing gig on a well known podcast. As Asbury puts it, “Write good stories and the rest will come.”

The post Exploring the short story horror genre with Bryan Asbury appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Editor’s Note: Press Releases are provided to Yellow Scene. In an effort to keep our community informed, we publish some press releases in whole.

MEOW WOLF ANNOUNCES THREE HALLOWEEN PARTIES IN AND OUTSIDE OF CONVERGENCE STATION + SPOOKY SURPRISES ALL WEEKEND

• 10/26: MONSTER MASH BASH ADULTI-VERSE (21+)
• 10/28: KENT WASHINGTON III & FRIENDS
• 10/29: HALLOWED HOWL AT FILLMORE AUDITORIUM FEAT. SG LEWIS & FOLAMOUR
• 10/29: HOUSE OF FLORA’S SPOOKIKI BALL AT CONVERGENCE STATION
• HALLOWEEN FRIGHTS ‘N THRILLS THROUGHOUT THE EXHIBITION ALL WEEKEND LONG

Denver, CO (October 20, 2022) – Aliens of the Converged Worlds may not fully understand Earth customs, but it doesn’t stop them from celebrating with maximalist zeal. This Halloween will be no different. Meow Wolf, the immersive arts and entertainment company with a popular location in Denver, is announcing many chances to celebrate this spine-chilling season inside and out of the Convergence Station exhibition. In addition to these ticketed events, the alien worlds of Convergence Station will come alive all weekend long with haunting Halloween delights. Guests are highly encouraged to wear costumes.

October 26th: Monster Mash Bash Adulti-Verse at Convergence Station (21+) – TIX
Wander in the realms of the wonderfully weird as we celebrate this spooktacular season with creature-feature cocktails in hand. Surprises, delights and frights will reveal themselves throughout the Converged Worlds such as monster movies, thriller dance lessons, Frankenplushes for sale, and more! Costumes are highly encouraged for this event – but a reminder, masks covering the entire face are not allowed.

Adulti-Verse takes place the 1st and last Wednesday of the month, and is for grown-lys only at Convergence Station. Enter the Adulti-Verse from 5-10pm and browse our exhibit at your own 21+ pace. After 5pm, ALL visitors must be 21+ and over (photo ID required). During these adults-only exhibition hours, all normal admission rules apply.

October 28th: Kent Washington III & Friends – an INTLHAUS Showcase (18+) – TIX
Kent Washington III is a culture cultivator and recording artist out of Colorado Springs for over ten years. He’s debuting and headlining his own International Hip-Hop and R&B Series called @intlhaus. INTLHAUS was created by Kent Washington III to provide an eclectic international hip-hop and R&B experience for music lovers worldwide. Joining Kent Washington III are DNA Picasso, LPEEZ, Myell Westcoast, Ivvy Jones, Indigo Jones, and DJ sets from DJ Ronin, Hexkitten, and KYJU. Halloween costumes are encouraged!

October 29th: Hallowed Howl at the Fillmore Auditorium Featuring SG Lewis and Folamour (18+) – TIX
Meow Wolf has joined forces with Live Nation to bring a night of deep house and funk to the Fillmore Auditorium with SG Lewis and Folamour playing our Hallowed Howl party. Brought to you by the team behind Vortex, the recent festival that 303 Magazine called “a living, breathing embodiment of Denver’s artistic community” and “a totally unique sensory experience,” this party aligns the same spirit but imbued with modern disco vibes.

The immersive concert experience will feature art installations by Andrea Fischer, Gigi Douglas, and Victor Rivera. Concert-goers can also interact with performers ranging from dancers and acrobats to magicians. For example, Frick Frack Blackjack is a troupe that plays Blackjack with guests (not using money) and identifies as “a team of traders, collectors, and oddities hustlers, but they don’t want your money, they’re after your shoelaces.” Tickets are on sale here.

October 29th: SpooKiKi Ball at Convergence Station Featuring House of Flora (18+) – TIX
Celebrate Halloween and the revolutionary dance movement of Vogue with House of Flora! Vogue is an art form that highlights the beauty, and talent of Black and Latino Trans and Queer people–and celebrates their ability to leave their mark in a world that tries to erase them. The House of Flora (@kikihouseofflora) is a KiKi house based in Portland, OR est. 2016 by Passa Flora. In 2018 the house expanded its roots in Denver, CO under the direction of Valentino Valentine AKA Mother Flora. The SpooKiKi Ball will feature a competition in different categories with plenty of flora flavah.

DECEMBER 3RD’S DANCEPORTATION: DEEP DARK & DANGEROUS TAKEOVER

MEOW WOLF’S SIGNATURE IMMERSIVE DANCE PARTY WILL BE CURATED BY DEEP DARK & DANGEROUS AND FEATURES:

• LIVE PERFORMANCES BY HEADLINERS TRUTH + OTHER DJS AND PRODUCERS ON THE LABEL
• ACCESS TO THE ENTIRE EXHIBITION
• SURPRISE IMMERSIVE PERFORMANCES THROUGHOUT VARIOUS ALIEN WORLDS
• MORE SPECIAL GUESTS TO BE ANNOUNCED

TIX ON SALE NOW

Denver, CO (October 25, 2022) – Danceportation is an immersive dance party pulsing through the worlds of Convergence Station. Concert-goers can experience stunning live performances on several stages scattered across psychedelic projections and sentient universes. December’s Danceportation features a takeover by the music label Deep Dark & Dangerous. World-renowned producers and DJs TRUTH headline the all-night dance party along with other special performances curated by the label: Distinct Motive, Coltcuts, Mesck, Woven Thorns, Digital Vagabond, Die By The Sword, Yoko, Sling Wave, plus visuals by Glass Crane and Actualize. Additional musical guests will be announced leading up to Danceportation. In true Meow Wolf fashion, the evening will be peppered with magical surprises. Tickets are $70 and available here.

About Meow Wolf
Recognized in Fast Company‘s World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies (2022 and 2020), Meow Wolf is a Santa Fe-based arts and entertainment company that creates immersive, interactive experiences to transport audiences of all ages into fantastic realms of story and exploration. The company’s first location in Santa Fe opened in 2016 and showcases the THEA Award-winning, international sensation House Of Eternal Return, where two million visitors have now discovered a multidimensional mystery house with secret passages, portals to magical worlds, and surreal, maximalist and mesmerizing art exhibits. In 2019, Meow Wolf expanded beyond Santa Fe and opened Kaleidoscape, the world’s first artist-driven ride at Elitch Gardens in Denver. Meow Wolf opened their second permanent installation, Omega Mart, at AREA15 in Las Vegas and their third permanent installation in Denver opened in September 2021, Convergence Station. The next permanent exhibitions will open in Grapevine, TX in 2023, and Houston, TX in 2024. Meow Wolf is proud to be the only certified B-Corporation in the themed entertainment industry, with a team dedicated to social impact and building a more inclusive and sustainable economy.

About Live Nation Entertainment
Live Nation Entertainment (NYSE: LYV) is the world’s leading live entertainment company comprised of global market leaders: Ticketmaster, Live Nation Concerts, and Live Nation Sponsorship. For additional information, visit www.livenationentertainment.com.

The post MEOW WOLF: Halloween is approaching! + Deep Dark & Dangerous Takeover for Dec 3rd DANCEPORTATION appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Editor’s Note: Press Releases are provided to Yellow Scene. In an effort to keep our community informed, we publish some press releases in whole.

The Lafayette Fall Harvest Festival is a fun-filled fall event featuring a marketplace with vendors selling seasonal, farm fresh produce, as well as other farmers market type offerings such as handcrafted, artisan foods. Pick up honey, salsas, chocolate, breads, pies, pastries and more! Stop by the food court for some breakfast or lunch. Stroll the event and visit the petting zoo. Pick up a pumpkin or two and feel free to dress up in costume. There will be a parade with pets in costume to benefit RezDawg. Enjoy live music! Hard cider, wine and beer will be available for consumption.

Admission is FREE!
Saturday, October 29, 2022 • 10am – 4pm
E. Harrison St. between E. Simpson St. and E.  Geneseo St.

The post Lafayette Fall Harvest Festival appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

This Month: Five Halloween events to check out!

The post French’s 5 | September 2022 appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Colorado is one of the most beautiful states in the country. Our mountains stand proudly over us like great protectors, awe-inspiring in their majesty. There are fields of green that roll on forever. Waterfalls hide in evergreen forests and the birds seem to sing just a little sweeter. But under the beauty lies a darkness. Colorado is home to some of the strangest, most horrific occurrences in our nation’s history. Murders, hauntings, massacres, acts of pure depravity, these have all happened under the mountains’ gaze. These are three of the most horrific happenings in Colorado’s history to remind you why you should be afraid of the dark.

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock

Cheesman Park 

Cheesman Park is beloved by the people of Denver. When the sun is shining, people flock to it, bringing with them their dogs, frisbees, coolers of beer, the makings of perfect summer days. But when the sun goes down, Cheesman is one of the highest reported places for hauntings in the state. We aren’t here to speak to the existence of ghosts, but there is darkness below that soft grass. 

Cheesman wasn’t always a park. It was originally Prospect Hill Cemetery, final resting place for criminals and vagrants and paupers. It operated as such until 1890, when a senator named Henry Teller convinced Congress to let him convert the land into a public park. Family members of the deceased were notified of the coming change and were given a few months to collect the bodies of their loved ones. However, due to the people buried there being among the lowest class at that time, only a handful of families could actually afford to claim their dead. It is estimated that some 5,000 bodies remained unclaimed. 

This posed a problem for the city. To rectify it, they hired an undertaker named E.P. McGovern. His and his crew’s job was to unearth the bodies, put them in coffins, and move them to another cemetery across town. This is where the story becomes truly macabre. McGovern, being a man of low morals, was getting paid per coffin and realized a way to make more money. He could ship more coffins if the coffins were smaller. He and his crew began to dismember the bodies and put the smaller pieces in coffins meant for children, taking the valuables they found on the deceased for themselves. However, it wasn’t long before the city started noting an inordinate amount of children’s coffins being shipped from the former cemetery and McGovern’s scam was quickly shut down.

“He and his crew began to dismember the bodies and put the smaller pieces in coffins meant for children…”

This again left the city with a problem. What to do with the rest of the bodies? They decided to leave them where they lie and commence construction of the park. Cheesman Park officially opened in 1907, with an estimated 2000 bodies still buried below it. To this very day, there are reports of workers coming across old bones. When it rains, bodies have been known to come to the surface. So, next time you feel like taking your nightly jog through the park and you hear footsteps running along behind you, it just might be one of those poor souls that was never allowed to rest.

Photo credit: Marc Pineda, Unsplash

Headless Hatchet Lady of Red Rocks

Red Rocks is a singular place, hallowed grounds, stories tread into its pavement by the thousands that walk it weekly. It is home to many ghost stories but there is one in particular that stands out: The Headless Hatchet Lady. 

The urban legend is a popular one in that part of the state. Rumor is that the Hatchet Lady targets young lovers and those who misbehave. She has been said to appear to the young, the lustful, those trying to fill their cars with smoke and sweat. Out of the haze, she appears, hatchet in hand and makes sure those youths don’t reach adulthood. 

Now, this is an urban legend, of course, a story told by parents to stop their children from getting high and horny. But it is based in fact. There are two stories that are believed to be the inspiration behind the Headless Hatchet Lady of Red Rocks.

The first is that of a woman known as Old Mrs. Johnson. She was a virtuous and proud woman that loved her state, her home, the natural beauty that surrounded her. Mrs. Johnson came into a conflict with a wealthy man named John Walker in 1905. Walker was a greedy man and saw those beautiful red rocks and dreamed of building a stage between them. This infuriated Mrs. Johnson and she tried to sabotage construction at every turn until her death, going so far as to cover her head in a hood and swing a hatchet at the construction workers. It is said her anger was so deep and so profound, that she now haunts the rocks searching for revenge for the destruction of her home. 

There is another story. There was a poor couple that lived near the rocks in the early 1900’s. He was sickly and prone to fits, unable to work. She was viscous, quick to anger and already beginning to slip mentally. After some time, he died and she couldn’t afford to keep their house so she found her way to a nearby cave and made it her home, using a hatchet to hunt for food. As time passed, her sanity worsened and she became more bold, being said to wander the outskirts of Morrison waving her hatchet caked in dried blood at all she encountered. She became a sinister presence in the area until she apparently died of illness or old age.

“Out of the haze, she appears, hatchet in hand and makes sure those youths don’t reach adulthood.”

The Headless Hatchet Lady seems to be an amalgam of these stories, stories I hope you remember next time you see a show at Red Rocks. Stay close, don’t wander off, and be on your best behavior. You never know when the Hatchet Lady is about.

Photo credit: Peter Hermann, Unsplash

Denver’s Spider Man 

This is the story of a man named Phillip Peters and the man who murdered him in 1941. Phillip Peters was a retired railroad worker who had lived with his wife in their home for three decades. Together, they were members of the Denver Guitar club. In the weeks leading up to his murder, Peters had the house to himself. His wife, Helen, had broken her hip and was recovering in the hospital. During this time, Peters met a man named Andrew Coneys, a poor, unusually tall and gaunt drifter that had been afflicted with health issues since he was a child and a fellow member of the Denver Guitar Club. One night, Coneys went to the Peters residence to ask for some money and some food. Philip Peters, being old and home alone, declined. A few nights later, Coneys broke in to steal food. Peters, hearing the man rummaging around, went to confront him. In response, Coneys beat Peters to death with an iron stove shaker and seemed to disappear without a trace. 

The police investigated but no leads were found and the case went cold. Helen Peters returned from the hospital a widow. In the months to follow, Helen and a friend that she had hired to live with her as a sort of nurse began noticing strange occurrences. Food would go missing. Unfamiliar sounds would echo through the house. The two women became convinced of a haunting. Helen then vacated the home she’d known for thirty years, the home she’d raised a family in, and went to live with her son in Grand Junction.

“Coneys beat Peters to death… and seemed to disappear without a trace.”

Reports of strange sounds and a powerful odor emanating from the vacant house persisted. Police investigated multiple times but they couldn’t seem to figure out where it all was coming from. As more and more reports came in, two detectives were sent to survey the property. One night, the officers noticed what appeared to be a man moving around inside the former residence. They rushed in to see a pair of legs hanging from the attic door and were fast enough to grab them and pull whatever was haunting the place down. It was Coneys. He’d been living in the attic of the former Peters home since the murder, some nine months. He had been collecting his waste in a corner and hadn’t bathed the entire time, the smell so bad that one of the arresting officers vomited on the scene. Detective Fred Zarnow then told the press that “A man would have to be a spider to stand it long up there,” thus leading the media to dub Coneys as “The Denver Spider Man.” 

Coneys was sentenced to life in prison and died there in 1967. He’s gone on to influence several pieces of pop culture, including an episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. He now serves as a reminder to check the places in your home that are dark and dank. You never know what kind of spider may have found its way in.

The post Bones in Our Backyard: 3 True Horrific Happenings in Colorado’s History appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Tots Opps

Shows and Events

Mazes and Pumpkin Patches

Costume Shops

Haunted Houses and other Scares

The post Halloween Directory 2022 appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

by Morgan Alynn

I think that my true appreciation for spring, as a season, began in March 2020, amidst the COVID shutdown. I was jogging — my new favorite pastime and seemingly the only activity that allowed me some fresh air. I rounded into a clearing of a snow-kissed meadow and saw a blue robin’s egg glittering in the snow. I held it carefully in my hand with the intention of adding it to my altar. I should mention, I am a witch, and I take that title very seriously. 

As I arrived home to place my new treasure amidst my stack of candles, totems, and tarot cards, I pondered the pandemic and the shutdown, as my mind had done a hundred times before. This time, for once, it was a joyous thought that had entered my mind. Despite all that anguish, all the pain and fear and death that the human world was currently experiencing, despite the fact that life as we knew it was grinding to a frightening halt, the outside world seemed surprisingly unaffected. Spring came all the same, as it always has. The Wheel of the Year, as it is referred to in Pagan practices, keeps turning evermore.

This thought process is the basis of Paganism because Paganism, in its purest form, is the practice of honoring the cycles of this Earth: life, death, and rebirth. In doing so, we then learn, in turn, to honor those cycles within ourselves. We all have a springtime — fresh sprouts that begin to share our new leaves with the world. Then summer follows — we grow into our adult bodies and gain a knowledge of self. Then, into fall and eventually winter, where the luckiest of us are able to spend our golden years quietly gazing out at nature, watching the seasons go again around the wheel, turning all around us. So, if we were to bring this idea back into Paganism, springtime is symbolically a time of birth and renewal.

The Wheel of the Year is divided into eight parts. The axis falls on summer and winter solstice, named Litha and Yule respectively.

These are the longest and shortest days of the year in terms of sunlight. Next, you cut the equinoxes, which fall directly between the solstices. These are the fall and spring equinoxes, called Mabon and Ostara. Then, the tertiary sabbats fall directly between each of those, and these are: Imbolc, Beltane, Lammas, and Samhain, which flow into the Wheel, giving us eight distinct sabbats or festivals. Now, why are these important, and what do they have to do with the practice of Pagan witchcraft? To explain this, we must first understand how these sabbats came into being.

Each of the sabbats is the culmination of many different holidays and practices from around the world. What is so fascinating is the fact that many cultures celebrate similarly despite the vast geographical distances. One such example is Yuletide Balefires, a ritualistic fire built with the purpose of willing the sun to return during the darkest and coldest part of the year. Balefire practices took place in many early European countries and date back thousands of years. Similarly, worship of fertility symbols, such as rabbits and eggs, can be found across a wide span of human cultures.

Humanity has, for so many centuries, been agriculturally based. Agriculture is, arguably, the greatest reason that we have thrived as a species.

Our ability to manipulate and support the creatures and plants of this Earth around us is the reason that humanity has made it this far. However, I believe that somewhere along the way, in more recent history, we have become frightfully disconnected from this process. As the age of media takes over our minds and assaults our senses at every turn, the connection that we once had with nature, both the physical and spiritual connection, has begun to dwindle and has thus created a decline in Earth-worship practices. In a way, we almost have to distance ourselves from Mother Earth — We are aware of what our pollution is doing and how difficult it is for her and her ecosystem to cope with the damage. In some ways, to look too closely at her is to be in pain, as she is.

You see, religion has for many millennia been making a major shift. Old religions and Pagan traditions (Paganism is not one rigid religion but rather a melange of practices from around the world spanning thousands of years) were very ‘down-and-in’ religions, which focused on the Earth, her cycles, the dirt beneath our feet, and the animals we raise in exchange for their meat, milk, or eggs. Modern religions focus more on an ‘up-and-out’ mentality, meaning that the godhead or spiritual world is upward, in space or in the heavens, away from this almost ‘ball-and-chain’ of Earth.

As we shift from more hands-on, smaller agricultural practices into more industrialized ones, we see a shift in humans as well.

I once heard human beings described as the ‘shepherds of the Earth,’ a phrase which has stuck with me for most of my life. I believe that we were, as part of our evolution, entrusted with maintaining and even bettering our planet. Our dependence on plants and animals is undeniable, yet modern humans shy away from this truth. We have no idea where most of our food comes from. We no longer remember which wild berries are edible and which are poisonous. We deliberately kill some of the world’s most potent pain management plants, calling them weeds and spraying them with harsh chemicals to make room for grass, which has no purpose to our lives beyond aesthetics.

When you sum all of this up, it is no wonder that the human world is finding itself so painfully disconnected from the Earth. If we see ourselves as being atop the Earth and worshiping forces which exist above us, it releases us, in a way, from having to look down on the Earth. Paganism, in essence, is the practice of forcing ourselves back down, back to the dirt, back to basic agricultural practices. It is the practice of seeing the Earth as she is, frigid or blossoming, and celebrating each season as necessary and beautiful.

The modern Pagan struggles with many of the traditional practices, as almost every sabbat and style of worship is centered around the natural world. Specifically, which animals and plants would have come to fruition, which animals were up for slaughter, and where the sun was situated in the sky – showing us where on the wheel we ought to be at any given time. In paganism, there are three harvests: Lammas, Mabon, and Samhain. Each harvest represents a specific plant that comes to fruition at that time. The most classic and recognizable sabbat, Samhain, worships the harvest of pumpkins, falls on Oct. 31, and is synonymous with, you guessed it, Halloween. It is no secret or surprise that almost every Pagan sabbat has a correlating holiday that we already celebrate in Western culture. Almost every modern holiday has Pagan roots, and the most notorious of these ‘witchy’ festivals is Halloween, which has long been associated with symbols of Paganism and Wicca.

The iconography of ‘witch’ has been reduced to a single image of an elderly woman, a hag, with no purpose or identity beyond scaring small children.

So many things that we associate with Halloween, such as the cauldron and the broomstick, are Pagan iconographies, dating back to a time when Pagan women fought to continue their practices of witchcraft under the guise of religious and governmental overthrow of Pagan religion. Cauldrons and brooms became extremely popular tools among witches because these were common household items women used and therefore did not raise suspicions. The cauldron has long been a symbol for the ancient womb of creation, and several deities, such as the Celtic goddess Cerridwen, are often depicted stirring a cauldron, a symbolic grand womb for souls. The broom became a type of wand, a tool used to sweep energy around or wield.

Looking at springtime, we see symbols such as eggs, rabbits, and bulb flowers, which are associated with Ostara, the spring equinox. This is a time that represents the ‘rebirth’ cycle of the Earth. Rabbits, birds, and other animals are producing their young at this time, and the early flowers are beginning to blossom again. These ubiquitous symbols make spring one of the best and easiest times to start aligning ourselves with Earth worship. This is what spurned my excitement about adding more agricultural practices into my life and into my spirituality. In fact, I do not see much of a difference between my agricultural and spiritual practices. They are one and the same in Paganism. After all, Paganism is simply the worship of seasons, and seasons are at the root of all agricultural practices.

I live in suburbia and have difficulty feeling close to the Earth in such a human-designed place. I have, throughout the years, found ways to keep my connection to the Earth and to farming, even in small ways. Here are a few options to inspire you to become more connected to the world around you.

• The first, and in my mind, most important step, is to consider growing food rather than ornamental plants. The really special thing about planting and harvesting in conjunction with Pagan sabbats is that they really do line up almost perfectly with their respective sabbat. Lammas, the corn and grain harvest, occurs in August, when my first ears of corn are beginning to emerge. I cannot express to you the excitement of watching my garden blossom. Pulling pumpkins from my garden just before Samhain brings such immense joy. I have only one medium-sized garden bed for growing and still manage a surprising yield.

• Another great option for the backyard farmer is poultry, specifically chickens, where allowed. I have kept chickens my entire adult life, and besides being one of the most hilarious and cheerful reasons to get up in the morning, my girls keep me connected to the cyclical nature of the year. Eggs are plentiful in the spring months as are new chicks (if I am so lucky). Then, my girls will molt and stop egg production as the weather grows cold. Even this very small act of agricultural awareness brings me closer to my food and to my practices. The joy of eating a fresh egg smothered with homegrown herbs is beyond description. Some folks do not have the luxury of yard space, in which case, I would recommend keeping potted herbs or seasonal plants.

In the end, I find that even the simplest acts like growing food or herbs can help move us toward a more ‘down-and-in’ process of spirituality and a stronger connection to the Earth and soil. If you are interested in Paganism, then I highly recommend the beginner book “The Sabbats” by Edain McCoy. This is a wonderful piece of literature with historical backgrounds, practices, and even recipes for each Sabbat, and it can help you explore becoming a modern Pagan witch, if you so desire.

The post Modern Paganism and Earth Witches appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

This month: Five big events that happened on Halloween in history. Source: on-this-day.com

1864 – Nevada becomes the 36th state to join the US.

britannica.com

1914 – The Ottoman Empire joins the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Bulgaria).

britannica.com

1922 – Benito Mussolini becomes prime minister of Italy.

britannica.com

1984 – Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi is assassinated by two Sikh security guards.

britannica.com

1993 – River Phoenix, 23, dies after collapsing outside The Viper Room in Hollywood.

people.com

The post French’s 5 | October 2021 appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Festivities to sink your teeth into this spooky season. Click one of the sections below to skip down to that section.

Tots Opps • Shows & Events • Mazes ‘n Pumpkin Patches • Local Costume Shops • Haunted Houses & Other Scares

Tots Opps

Halloween Movie Nights (Westminster)

Oct. 8, 15 & 22 | 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Catch family-friendly movies this October. Participants must bring their own chairs, dress up and dress warmly as the movies are shown outdoors. Dinner will not be offered at showings. The following movies will be shown:
Friday, October 8: “The Goonies”
Friday, October 15: “Jumanji”
Friday, October 22: “Hocus Pocus”
The Orchard Town Center, 14697 Delaware St, Westminster | theorchardtowncenter.com

Beyond Babysitting @Junkyard Social ~Halloween Party!~ (Boulder)

Oct. 23 | 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Parents can bring costumed children, ages 3 to 10, to this spooky yet mindful Halloween party for a chance to have a date night. Children will enjoy a night of fantasy and yoga. The space includes an indoor museum and an outdoor adventure playground. Pricing for the event is $55 for one child, $95 for two siblings and $120 for 3 siblings. Scholarship opportunities are available for low-income families.
2525 Frontier Ave, Boulder | yogiful.net 

Spooktacular Critters (Louisville)

Oct. 28 | 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Truths-n-Treats will reveal truths about snakes, spiders, bats and bones. Participants can create a critter craft to take home. Halloween costumes are welcomed. Space is limited, and registration is required before the event. Masks are encouraged if six feet social distancing cannot be maintained.
Louisville Recreation & Senior Center, 900 Via Appia Way, Louisville | eventbrite.com 

Halloween Fest 2021 (Denver)

Oct. 29, 30 & 31 | 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Families can join Sharkey and his aquatic friends at the aquarium in games, prizes, costume contests, crafts, and activities. Children wearing costumes can receive a half-price ticket with the purchase of an adult ticket. Activities include guessing the weight of the giant pumpkin, animal appearances, and trick or treat.
Downtown Aquarium, 700 Water St, Denver | allevents.in

42nd Annual Halloween Parade & Trick or Treat Street (Longmont)

Oct. 30 | 9:30 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Participants may watch or march in the parade. Costumes are welcome and businesses along the parade route will be trick or treating. Strollers or wagons are recommended for small children. No motorized vehicles allowed. Dogs must be leashed and large animals are not allowed.
700 Longs Peak Ave, Longmont | longmontcolorado.gov 

Halloween Spooktacular! (Denver)

Oct. 30 | 12:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
This child-friendly event features a family-favorite concert playing music from films, television, and more. Costumes are encouraged and the musicians participate in the Halloween fun.
Boettcher Concert Hall at Denver Performing Arts Complex, 1000 14th St, Denver | tickets.coloradosymphony.org

Munchkin Masquerade (Boulder)

Oct. 31 | 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Children, recommended 12 and under, are welcome to wear costumes and trick or treat along the Pearl Street Mall. COVID policies will be updated closer to the event.
boulderdowntown.com

Shows & Events

Trick or Drink: Denver Halloween Bar Crawl (Denver)

Oct. 29, 30 & 31 | 6 p.m. to 2 a.m.
The venues participating in the bar crawl include Brothers Bar & Grill, Mile High Spirits, Illegal Pete’s, Giggling Grizzly, Sonny’s Tacos, Icehouse Tavern, Swanky Vittles, with more venues added later. A pre-purchased bar crawl wristband is required. Check-in is at Brothers Bar & Grill in LoDo where participants will receive a map of participating venues, wristbands and drink specials. Registration for Oct. 29 is from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. Registration on Oct. 30 and 31 is from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m.
1920 Market St, Denver, CO 80202 | eventbrite.com

Halloween Bash with the Genitorturers (Denver)

Oct. 30 | 5 p.m. to 11 p.m.
The Genitorturers are an American industrial metal band. Their influences include 1990s punk and electronic music. They called themselves “The World’s Sexiest Rock Band.” Wear costumes to enter into the costume contest to win prizes.
1451 Cortez St, Denver | thevenuedenver.com

12th Annual Paranormal Palace (Denver)

Oct. 30 | 8 p.m. to 1 a.m.
This ball encourages participants to dress to impress. Top brands of alcohol will be served at the open bar. Featured at the ball are a cash prize costume contest, 30 plus performers, DJs and more.
McNichols Civic Center Building, 144 W Colfax Ave, Denver | denverhalloween.org 

The Motet – Halloween 2021 at Boulder Theater (Boulder)

Oct. 30 | 8:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.
Drink brews and listen to the American funk, soul, and jazz influenced band The Motet.  There will be goodies and swag.
Boulder Theater, 2032 14th St, Boulder | axs.com 

All-Out Kooky-Spooky (Arvada)

Oct. 31 | 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.
The race offers 1 mile, 5K, 10K & half marathon courses that hug the shores of Arvada’s Blunn Reservoir via the Ralston Creek Trail. Runners and spectators can dress in G-rated Halloween costumes while racing. Early and race day packet pickups are available.
19500 W 64th Pkwy, Arvada | runguides.com

Exotica Erotica Ball (Boulder)

Oct. 31 | 9 p.m. to 2 a.m.
The ball is Colorado’s longest running adult-themed event. Adults can attend the party to indulge in risqué, interactive entertainment. This Hedonic Halloween party explores your fantasies through proactive live entertainment, kink & fetish stations, sensual lounge and a costume contest. Costumes are required, naughty costumes encouraged.
1724 Broadway, Boulder, CO | exoticaball.com

Día de los Muertos Celebration (Denver)

Nov. 6 | 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Día de los Muertos activities will include a Mercado, events, virtual options and programs. The Gardens is celebrating 10 years of the celebration. Due to COVID-19, face painting will not be offered this year. Participants and organizations are invited to create nichos to be displayed during the Día de los Muertos celebration. For consideration, participants must complete an application.
Denver Botanical Gardens, 1007 York Street, Denver | botanicgardens.org

Mazes ’n Pumpkin Patches

Munson Farms (Boulder)

Sept. 18 to Oct. 31 | Open daily 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
This u-pick patch has many varieties of pumpkins along with a farm stand. Admission is free and produce is priced by the pound.
7355 Valmont Road, Boulder | munsonfarms.com

7th Generation Farm (Louisville)

Hours and dates of the farm are TBA for 2021
This farm offers pre-picked or u-pick pumpkins. Visitors can get lost in the hay bale maze or climb the big bale hay mountain. Visitors can see the cows, sheep, horses, goats, chickens, ducks, geese, pigs and two dogs living on the farm. There’s a $5 entrance fee for all ages.
1536 Courtesy Road, Louisville | 7thgenerationfarm.com

Cottonwood Farms (Lafayette)

Sept. 25 to Oct. 31 | Open daily 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Visitors can buy pumpkins, squash and decorative fall items. There is a corn and a straw maze. Children 5 and under and adults over 65 can enter for free and ride on the wagon. Admission tickets are $5 per person. Prepaid admissions are encouraged on weekends and can be purchased a week in advance.
10600 Isabelle Rd., Lafayette | cottonwoodfarms.com

The Bee Hugger (Longmont)

Always open
The Bee Hugger offers a u-pick sunflower field and pumpkin patch. They sell honey and allow visitors to feed their animals. Open almost always, except for when private events are booked, the farm is open for self-guided experiences and operates on an honor system. Visitors can explore and climb on the tractors and observe the bees. Hay rides and pony rides can be arranged, along with group or photographer experiences.
12590 Ute Hwy Longmont | facebook.com

Rocky Mountain Pumpkin Patch (Longmont)

Sept. 17 to October 31 | September hours: Friday-Sunday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; October hours: open daily 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Visitors during the week can experience a more mellow visit. Groups like daycares, schools and recreational groups are welcomed. The weekends are more robust with carnival rides, a petting zoo, face painting, a food truck and u-pick pumpkins.
9059 Ute Hwy Co 66, Longmont | rockymtnpumpkinranch.com

Anderson Farms (Erie)

Sept. 22 to Oct. 31 | Sundays: 9 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Monday, Wednesday & Sept 23: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Thursdays: 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Fridays: 10 a.m. to 11 p.m.; Saturdays: 9 a.m. to 11 p.m.
The farm is home to the first corn maze in Colorado, and has a long history dating back to 1911. Visitors at the farm can experience the fall festival, terror in the corn, zombie paintball, private campfire sites and the pumpkin patch.
6728 County Road 3-1/4, Erie | andersonfarms.com

Local Costume Shops

The Wizard’s Chest (Denver)

10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday
This magical toy store and costume shop has costumes for all ages. 
451 Broadway, Denver | wizardschest.com

Disguises (Lakewood)

Monday through Friday 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Sunday 12 p.m. to 6 p.m.
One of the largest costume stores in the region, they offer a large selection of costumes for purchase and rental.
9797 W. Colfax Ave., Lakewood | disguisescostumes.com

Gott-A-Costume (Aurora)

Monday through Friday 12 p.m. to 7 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
This costume store offers costume purchases and rental options as well as character rentals for parties.
15167 E. Hampden Ave., Aurora | gottacostume.com

Reinke Bros. (Littleton)

Halloween season hours: Sunday through Thursday 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., Friday & Saturday 10 a.m. to midnight
Not only a costume store, Reinke Bros has a haunted mansion inside. They offer a child-friendly version of the haunted mansion with lights staying on.
5663 S. Prince Street, Littleton | reinkebrothers.com

Crimson Rose Masquerade (Denver)

Wednesday through Saturday 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Sunday 12 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Crimson Rose offers a selection of high-end costumes, fancy dress apparel, corsets, and masks.
1456 South Broadway, Dever | facebook.com

Haunted Houses & Other Scares

The Frightmare Compound (Westminster)

Sunday through Thursday 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.; Friday & Saturday 7 p.m. to midnight
Family-operated for over 38 years, this compound offers a haunted house, haunted museum, mini escape rooms, and a coffin simulator ride.
10798 Yukon St., Westminster | thefrightmarecompound.com

Fright Acres (Parker)

7 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Colorado’s biggest outdoor haunted experience, visitors can experience the reaper’s hollow cemetery filled with tales and creatures.
11321 Dransfeldt Road, Parker | frightacres.com

Boulder Escape Room (Boulder)

Reserve tickets ahead of time
This escape room features spooky escape rooms including the “Psycho Killer,” “The Abduction,” and “Captive.”
1966 13th Street #LL60, Boulder | boulderescaperoom.com

The post Halloween Directory 2021 appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

A Jupiter tree grows out of Todor Glava’s grave. Legend claims that the tree grows from the stake in Glava’s heart. Jupiters are rot-resistant, and have been commonly used for fences (and stakes) throughout time. Photo by Zoe Jennings for Yellow Scene Magazine.

In an unsuspecting municipal cemetery in Lafayette lies Todor Glava, a coal miner who died in 1918 from influenza. Are you scared yet?   

The gravesite is filled with strange trinkets like a plastic chicken, fresh flowers, bubble gum, and a cigarette butt. Crudely carved into his headstone is his birthplace, Transylvania. Totally scared, right?

“Probably within two weeks of working at the museum I had heard about the Lafayette vampire,” said Krista Barry, director of the Miners Museum, Lafayette Historical Society. “It immediately piqued my interest.”

Barry has talked to many about the vampire, from students doing a podcast to YouTubers out to debunk the legend. 

The only documents to support this legend are Glava’s obituary and his draft card. The only connection to vampires is his homeland and the tree growing from the grave, supposedly growing from the stake in his heart.

Glava shares his grave with fellow countrymen and coal miner John Trandafir from Romania, who died on the same day, also from influenza. Glava and Trandafir are buried in Potter’s Field, the poor section of the cemetery.

The coal mines in the Lafayette area readily recruited Eastern European immigrants to work during the early 1900s. “They were the cheap, exploitable labor,” Barry said. “Every wave of new immigrant brings the opportunity to underpay and have them do the dirty work. They need to do some type of work, and they take what they can get. It’s the sad cycle of American labor history.”

Fresh flowers and trinkets decorate Todor Glava’s grave. Photo by Zoe Jennings.

Barry predicts that the folklore surrounding Glava began in the 1950s and 1960s by high school students because vampire pop culture was in vogue.

Tuberculosis brought the first vampire hysteria across New England in the early 1800s. “People were legitimately fearful that their family members were becoming vampires,” Barry said. “They were digging up their loved ones and putting stakes in their hearts.” (That’s what happened to our friend, Glava, whose birthplace allegedly scared locals into digging him up to stake him, to make sure he stayed dead.)

Families constructed cast iron cages as grave toppers to deter the buried party from escaping the grave at night.

Someone suffering from tuberculosis usually experienced paleness and gum recession that led to blood-stained teeth. “You’d look like someone was consuming you from the inside out,” Barry said.

After death, loved ones were shocked to see the deceased’s hair and fingernails continuing to grow — a normal phenomenon without the help of modern dead body preservatives, Barry points out. 

By the time of Glava’s death, about one hundred years later, most mentions of vampires in newspapers are considered “silly superstitions” and considered to be legend rather than a legitimate concern, Barry said. 

“The likelihood that Todor Glava was believed to be a vampire in 1918 when he died was pretty slim to begin with,” Barry is clear. “The fact that he dies in 1918 during a pandemic, and it says in his obituary that he was sick and he died of the flu, I don’t think too many people were worried about staking him back in the day.”

The post The Myth of the Lafayette Vampire: Stakes and All appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Ever wonder what the most popular Halloween candy was when you were a kid? Gotcha covered. Source: dailymeal.com

1950s: Atomic Fireballs

candyaisle.com

1960s: SweeTarts

Pinterest

1970s: Laffy Taffy

Pinterest

1980s: Sour Patch Kids

Pinterest

1990s: Air Heads

The post French’s 5: Halloween Candy | September 2021 appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Click images for direct link.

Your stomach will drop long before your mine shaft elevator does. Colorado Springs’ Haunted Mines offer a genuinely unique open air fear expedition as the omniscient designers take advantage of the authentic cold and creep of Colorado’s stoney, dark tunnels that wind below the Earth like catacombs keeping souls in the night. They were unsettling long before the Western Museum of Mining and Industry tried to make them so. (Mine walkers were already stalked by pervasive recollections of documentaries about Black Lung and severe awareness that sun-loving human bodies don’t belong under the weight of the crust, not to mention bats spotted outside of their usual cute, wrapped-in-a-blanket-sweetened spotlights on Instagram.) Since the purveyor of fear itself, Hell Scream Entertainment, bought the attraction-in-need some years ago, however, it has amplified all of those little stressors to create one colossal, sweaty, adrenaline-filled yikes spot.

Taking its unsuspecting paid customers-seeking-a-terror-induced-laxative deep into the bowels of the Earth starting this past September 26th, the Haunted Mines will continue to terrify all the way through November 1st. Tickets are available starting at $22 for entrance Sunday through Thursday. Price options range to $56 for VIP admission to both the Haunted Mines and neighboring Hell Scream Haunted House on weekdays and weekends. Feel your knees give as you wobble your way across shifting floors and through shifting feelings of suspicion and skittering flight. Get lost physically and emotionally in the maddening maze. Experience your neck hairs tingle and lift as a silent watcher eyes you from a quiet corner. Check out the Haunted Mines. (If that’s your thing.)

The post A Guide to the Ghastly & Ghoulish appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Planes don’t crash too often, but that doesn’t mean they won’t, (queue the ominous music). Halloween is upon us and so are the memories of those who came before us. Since their inception there have been 1540 plane crashes in Colorado. 700 of those are well-documented military crashes stemming from early WWII training missions. Reckless flying, difficult terrain, treacherous weather, and for some, unknown causes led to these fatal events. During October, the haunted begin to stir and they definitely don’t wish to be disturbed so don’t go looking! Some of these areas are said to appear and disappear depending on who’s looking for them, some end up seeing things they never wished to see, and for others, the very thought of scorched earth, dismantled engines, contorted frames, and scattered pieces is enough to sear the horrors of aviation into their minds forever. Whether these crash sites are morally off-limits or they’re just another part of history waiting to be discovered, no matter the reason you may go looking, remember the lives that were lost, and remember to not get lost while looking for them.

Caution: some locations are difficult to find and require excellent backcountry navigation skills, if you do not know how to take care of yourself in the backcountry, do not attempt. Please do not remove any items from the crash sites, they are a part of history now.

The horrors and nightmares of reality will always outweigh the stories we tell one another, so remember this Halloween, that stories of doom and tragedy are scattered throughout the mountains that cradle our beloved town to the West. That although you may not be able to see them from the comfort of your homes, these sites are very real, and they’re out there, ever so gently lying there, a memento of the past, ever-present.

Navajo Peak DC-3

January 21, 1948

40° 03’25.8”N  105° 38’32.7”W

At 12,900ft lie the remains of this DC-3. Located on the North-Northeast side of the mountain approximately 500ft below the summit, the DC-3 is nothing more than scraps. With no survivors, it tells the story of how high rising peaks and formidable weather can easily impede the success of flights in Colorado. To get there, park at Long Lake Trailhead in the Brainard Lake Rec Area. Follow the trail towards the summit and merge off just below to find the crash site. Most hikers will continue to the top of the Class 3 scramble.

Crown Point B-17 – Bellevue, CO

June 13th, 1944

40°36’43.9”N 105°37’57.8”W

This doomed B-17 departed from Rapid City, SD only to crash into the mountains near Bellevue at 10,750ft leaving six survivors and four casualties. Six weeks after the crash the Army demolished the plane using dynamite leaving only an engine, some gears, wing tips, and lots and lots of bits and pieces to be found. There are several ways to get to the site, the best being by taking the Flowers Trail via Browns Lake Trailhead. Tags and signs along the way will eventually lead you to the scattered remains of the B-17 near a large boulder field.

Huey Helicopter 

Almagre Mountain

Unknown Crash Date

38°47’31.5”N 104°59’38.4”W

A mystery to say the least. With people dedicating entire blog posts to proving the Huey a myth, the story of the helicopter that crashed towards the summit on the North side of Almagre Mountain will continue confuse all who go looking. Bits have been found, even some sheet metal, but no one has shared the location of the Huey. Some sternly claim it’s there, but for others, having scoured the mountain over again and again, it’s nothing more than a myth, a legend, a question mark dangling in the past of Almagre. To reach Almagre, head to Colorado Springs and take Old Stage Rd to FR 379, then make your way up the 4wd forest roads to the summit. Definitely one for those with excellent navigation skills.

Jasper Peak AT-6

Unnamed Lake near Eldora

December 15, 1975

40° 00’03.7”N  105° 40’09.1”W

As the moon rises, the night settles in, and the wind ripples across an unnamed lake, there lies a shattered and motionless AT-6, wavered by nothing more than the elements and the test of time. Once used for missions to train Mustang fighters, Colorado provided the AT-6 pilots with deep valleys, soaring peaks, and difficult terrain, giving them an edge over their enemies, if they survived. This one did not, and at 11,575ft, and a couple miles Northeast of Eldora, it’s a bit of a bushwhack to get there. From Eldora you’ll take FR111, a moderate 4WD road to the trailhead from which you’ll take Arapaho Pass Trail to the Diamond Lake Trail. You’ll have to navigate yourself to the lake from there.

FG-1 Corsair

Rocky Mountain
National Park

August 27, 1948

40° 25’15”N  105° 44’29.5”W

It’s said the pilot was ‘flat-hatting’ or flying low and recklessly near Ice Berg pass when the plane crashed into the ground killing him. What’s left of it is for you to go find as the NPS has been working on removing the pieces that are left. Best way to get there is to take Trail Ridge Rd. to Ice Berg pass and park at the Tundra Community Trailhead, from there it’s a short hike to the site.

T-33 – Allenspark, CO

Unknown Crash Date

40°9’30.9”N 105°30’22.3”W

The closest crash site to Boulder is the T-33 near Bunce School Road. The cause of the crash is uncertain but it claimed the lives of two USAF casualties that were overlooking newly purchased land. Large sections of the plane are visible and getting there is pretty straight-forward. Either head down the fairly mild 4WD Bunce School Road or start at Camp Dick and make your way up FR 105, which is essentially just a pile of large rocks for about half a mile that you scramble over.

Cessna – Alma

April 4, 2018

Unknown location

A 67-year-old man from Bend, Oregon, flew his Cessna to Colorado without submitting a flight plan and he seemingly disappeared. Years early his pilots license had been revoked for failing to comply with regulation and to make matters worse for him, the National Transportation Safety Board noted that his extensive health issues may have played a role in his deadly crash. He wasn’t found until days later when two men came across the plane and the man, somewhere near Mosquito Pass close to the town of Alma, just south of Breckenridge. Not much came of the plane, the story was published, the man was evacuated and the plane remained, too remote to remove. It’s exact location was never publicized. 

Wichita Plane Crash Martin 4-0-4

Loveland Ski Area

October 2, 1970

39°41’35.69”N 105°52’56.94”W

The entire Wichita State Football team was aboard the Martin 4-0-4 when the pilot, in an attempt to better the view, flew too low and crashed after being unable to lift the plane out of a box canyon. Of the 37 passengers only 6 survived. Today, one of Colorado’s most dramatic crash sites offers a somber reminder of the horrors that have occurred so many times before. Take Exit 216 on I-70 heading Westbound and find a dirt road at the end of the exit. Follow this until you reach a fenced storage lot and locate an old trail. Although it’s only a mile as the crow flies from I-70 it’s not easy to find so don’t get lost.

The post Colorado’s Spookiest Crash Sites appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Creepy clowns and macabre monsters morph to life with help from the experts. Most Denver residents have heard of the 13th Floor Haunted House and they’re either all in or all out. Every year, the nationwide attraction gets more twisted and terrifying, and the dark minds behind the chilling theatrics get more devoted into diving into people’s fears every year.

This year is no exception to the madness. Lili Aguilar, Makeup Designer and Advisor for the 13th Floor’s Denver location, says this year’s freak show is on another level with three different “universes” based on maddening plots. A ticket to the 13th Floor will give you access to “Clown,” a pop culture-inspired, ‘80’s Thriller-esque attraction with horrifying characters suffering from “clown disease.” “Tales of the Unknown,” which is a science-lab-gone-wrong scenario with half-animal, half-human creatures, and “The Other Side,” which appears to be strongly inspired by the hit TV show Stranger Thing’s’ Upside Down world and subtly mentions that a friend may go missing. Sounds like fun.

The themes rotate every year, but attendees aged 18 and up can also opt to enter an additional attraction called “Sensory Overload” and it sounds terrifying.

“It’s a pitch-black maze where you have to feel your way out of there and there are different textures, smells and a terrifying sound. You’re in complete darkness. All of the sudden you get a flashing of light that disorients you,” Aguilar said.

“It’s for anyone who needs that extra level of fear in their lives.”

In addition to the nightmarish lineup of attractions, the 13th Floor’s Denver location will also feature axe-throwing, hosted by Class Axe Throwing, where participants can throw five axes for $5, a “Shriekeasy” bar, mini escape games, food for purchase, merch tents, and photo ops.

The frightening feat takes months of preparation and Aguilar’s makeup team of 13 talented artists needs to constantly apply the eerie foundation, airbrush paint, fake blood, and latex prosthetic appliances night after night.

“I think that makeup is one of the most important things with everyone’s costume.It’s just a really great way for pushing creativity and producing your own unique character.”

On average, each makeup artist works on at least 10 faces a night and the gory makeup can take anywhere from two to 15 minutes each. Getting all the actors prepped to scare can take hours every day.

As for the inspiration behind the makeup, Aguilar says that it starts with the casting call.

“We have a script. We come up with a design and then we find characters. They’ll show us how monstrous they can be and then we train to fit the narrative and script we’re going for,” she said.

“Then we have our performance manager find talent. The performers do an audition and based on the way they portray their own monster or character, is how they’re placed in the house. Some people are better at dialogue, while some people have a really strong voice. Depending on their specific qualities, they’re selected for certain areas of the attraction.”

Depending on how an actor decides to portray their character is emphasized through makeup. For example, UV lighting, facial features and hand movements are all drastically taken into consideration.

At the 13th Floor in Denver, Aguilar says there are roughly 45 to 60 actors per night, and coming up with all of these various characters and creating looks for them is quite the challenge. While some actors will be in masks and only need their eyes darkened, others are a bit more challenging — specifically the characters morphing into animals like rats and lizards.

Aguilar laughs, but she jokes that she even takes an actor’s natural “flaws” into consideration.

“We’re accentuating that you didn’t sleep at all last night,” she said.

According to Aguilar, her career of monster makeup started when she just began messing around with cosmetics at home. She got better and better and realized she enjoyed it. She encourages anyone with a passion for makeup to just get started experimenting.

“I always naturally had an art background, so I fell into air-brushing. Air-brushing was really natural for me. I really like contouring. I really like grungifying people if that makes sense. I know how to make people look scary. I can make people look good, but I really love making people look scary.”

She knows some people often forget about makeup around Halloween, but she knows it’s important — especially at the 13th Floor.

“I think that makeup is one of the most important things with everyone’s costume. I love the fact that makeup ties everything together in a nice little bow that just completes the look. I think it’s just a really great way for pushing creativity and producing your own unique character. It’s an endless world where you can be creative,” she said.

The post Behind the Scenes of the Gruesome Horror Makeup at 13th Floor Haunted House appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

This month: A two-fer, courtesy of Redbox, who conducted a poll of 1,200 customers:

Favorite Family Friendly Halloween Movie, Ranked Top 5

1. Hocus Pocus

2. It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

3. Beetlejuice

4. The Nightmare Before Christmas

5. Hotel Transylvania

Scariest Movie Ever Seen, Ranked Top 5

1. The Exorcist

2. The Silence of the Lambs

3. The Ring

4. The Shining

5. Saw

The post French Five appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Frightmare
Compound

Westminster

10798 Yukon St, 

Open daily till Nov 3rd

Prices from $27.99 to $49.99

thefrightmarecompound.com

The Frightmare Compound is the oldest haunted house the Denver area hosts, and arguably one of the scariest. I read about how the creator of the haunted house strived to make it the best for 16 years until he passed. It is said he is buried inside the house itself. Being the masochist I am, I mean thrill seeker, I convinced a friend to venture in with me. The night was cold, and foggy, the mood was perfect for getting our socks scared off.

We entered through a pair of large doors to find a gate guarded by a zombie miner, teasing us about our impending death. After he had his fun he opens the gate leading to a world of dread. We eased in, cautious of our surroundings, bracing ourselves for what is to come. Room after room took us through a completely different world of terror. Gripping my poor friend’s arm, shaking like a leaf, I nervous laughed my way through. Fog machines left us blind bumping into beastly characters: zombie miners wearing bloody, tattered clothing chased us while shouting at us for stealing their gold. A half dead Amelia Earhart with bulging eyes, shook broken airplane pieces at us. In a run down country styled house with blood splattered walls we found a cannibal family that threatened to have us for dinner. A fun house with demented clowns wearing bloodied clothing and crooked smiles assured us they just wanted to have some fun. Shout out the twisted minds behind each character, every drop of blood, evil cackle, and menacing grin methodically placed! Nightmares run wild and take on their own personalities, the scenes and characters tailored perfectly to fit any deep dark fears.

Haunted Field of Screams

Thornton

10451 McKay Rd,

Open Th – Sun, and on the 31st

Prices from $39.99 to $69.99

hauntedfieldofscreams.com

This epic horror show offers a classic maze, multi themed haunted house, escape room, and zombie shooting game.

We started our night in the multi themed haunted house. A man in a pig mask knocked and scratched at the blood splattered walls while we listened to instructions from jigsaw before being let into the next room. Between most of the rooms, you have to walk through the cornfield, and the anticipation of the next room or someone popping out from the field was one of the scariest details. We stumbled into most of the rooms leaving us prey for whatever was in there waiting. They would hide between the corners or in the shadows to sneak up on us at the perfect moment. Evil doctors wear tattered scrubs speckled with blood laughing while asking if we were in pain. A bus, filled with characters in masks, menaces nearby… one wearing the skin of another person, another with what looked like tar dripping from their mouth, and others too gruesome to describe.

We were terrified, but there was still so much to see, so on to the maze. We were let into the eerie quiet and I knew we were in for a ride. We stumbled in and it wasn’t long before we heard a ruffle in the corn. It was naive of us to think that we were safe being quiet. From my peripheral vision the corn began to look like people. The quiet ones were the scariest. They stepped out of the corn as quiet as possible to walked behind you, catching your attention with their heavy breathing or low muffled growl. By this time of the night we were scared witless, so doing the escape room would have been a complete fail, and our hands were so shaky we would have missed every zombie we tried to shoot. Cheers to those who can make it all the way.

Listing

Haunted Houses  & Corn Mazes

1. 3400 E 52nd Ave,
Denver, 80216

Open daily till Nov 3rd

Prices from $19.99 to $33.99

13thfloorhauntedhouse.com

2. 4100 Grape St a,
Denver, 80216

Open weekends, 30th & 31st

Prices from $25 to $35

extinctionhauntedhouse.com

3. 7007 E 88th Ave,
Henderson, 80640

Open Tue – Sun

Prices from $19.99 to $33.99

Cityofthedeadhaunt.com

4. 10500 W Bowles Ave,
Littleton, 80127

Open Tue – Sun

Prices from $18 to $25

Worldsscariesthauntedhouse.com

5. 6100 E 39th Ave,
Denver, 80207

Open Wed – Sun

Prices from $25 to $45

Zombielanddenver.com

6. 8500 W Deer Creek Canyon Rd, Littleton, 80128

Open Thurs – Sun

Prices from $28 to $38

Deadzonescreampark.com

7. 2393 W 27th St #528,
Greeley, 80634

Open daily til Nov 3rd

Prices $15

Nightmarecityhaunt.com

8. 3021 N Hancock Ave,
Colorado Springs, 80907

Open Thurs – Sun

Prices $22 to $52

Hellscreamhaunt.com.

The post BoCo’s Most Haunted Houses appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Witches! Terrifying in the popular imagination, so much so that we’ve literally murdered women for practicing it. But are they that scary? We talk to real witches to find out.

When doing research for anything I always turn to Google first. In this case Google failed me. I wasn’t able to find the information I was hoping to on the Wiccan community in Boulder County. So I reached out to local author, professor, and artist, Sarah Elizabeth Schantz, to talk about her experience with Wicca and some of her favorite shops and ways to celebrate. Sarah grew up in a mystery bookstore and down the street there was a used book that had stacks of Occult books. She also discovered the children’s writer Zilpha Keatley Snyder in that used bookstore. In addition to books and movies, a need to speak with the dead, with ghosts, ultimately brought Sarah toward witchcraft and then to spells and ritual. For my sister it was a want to explore her past lives, and the strong connections she felt to the craft.

Wicca, also referred to as Pagan Witchcraft, was founded in the 1950s by Gerald Gardner. It’s a duotheistic religion worshipping the Great Goddess and the Great Horned God. A common misconception is that the Great Horned God is Satan(Lucifer). This is not the case, as Wiccans aren’t Christian. When Sarah and I were talking about misconceptions about the community she mentioned she loves to tell people Margot Adler wasn’t only a big time radio personality and journalist for NPR, but a practicing witch (self-acclaimed Wiccan priestess) who wrote Drawing Down the Moon. She suggests (as do I) everyone read Drawing Down the Moon, or any late Margot Adler. The other thing more unique to her as a writer and a witch who was raised in a bookstore on the gospel of good literature is that first and foremost she believes in metaphor. Did Persephone really ascend from the Underworld after her descent? She loves the metaphors of this myth for spring, or rebirth, or even leaving Hades as a metaphor for getting away from abusive men. She loves how layered all the myths are. The idea of the third mind and of archetypes. That’s something interesting that comes up often in the ritual and practices of Wicca is the metaphors.

There are celebrations that revolve around the cycles of the moon, esbats, and the cycles of the sun, Sabbats. Many practitioners believe in magic and sorcery. Sarah’s favorite store is RitualCravt in Denver. She regularly buys online from them. She also likes Goddess Isis and Herbs & Art. If you’re in Boulder try Crystal Dragon or Lighthouse Books. You can buy money candles and printed magick from Sarah at: www.AnangkaArts.Etsy.com. Sarah usually celebrates in her farmland-surrounded yard where she’s blessed enough to usually have a bonfire too. They are not all specifically Wiccan, some are Wicca/Pagan there are several places that do esbats each month. In Denver you can celebrate at Hearthstone Community Church at The Althea Center, or RitualCravt. In Westminster there is a ritual off 72nd and Lowell. You can also search for a The Wild Woman project circle near you. This is the link for the Boulder one.

There is also the idea of casting spells and practicing magick online via Facebook or in weird unexpected places like at a Walmart. A dear friend of Sarah’s, poet CA Conrad does a lot of strange ritual in such places. He’s performed rituals in Walmarts before to channel the animals who were forced to relocate from the land, animals who are often on the verge of extinction. Sarah really likes the idea of using magick as activism. She’s a big believer in the idea of rewilding–for example when nature takes an area like a parking lot back by strangling it to death with weeds and earth. She, like many other Wiccans, believe they can use ceremony as a way to disrupt capitalism and corporate Amerikkka. If this sounds like something you may be interested in it’s not expressly Wiccan there is an interesting group that meets the last Sunday of each month off Jib court in Boulder. There is also the annual Witches Ball.

Sarah is also a novelist and a creative writing professor both at a local community college and via her own creative writing workshop series, www.WritesofPassage.org. Her novel Fig was selected by NPR as A Best Read of the Year in 2015 and won the 2016 Colorado Book Award. She is available to high priestess handfastings and other non-traditional weddings, as well as blessing ways for babies, or welcoming/naming ceremonies (pagan baptism), or most other specialized rituals you might need. She has even done a few exorcisms and cleansings. You can email me for more information and pricing at:

I.am.Sarah.Elizabeth.Schantz@gmail.com

Thank you to Sarah Elizabeth Schantz for taking the time to speak with me. If you’re still wanting to know more about Wicca, the occult, or magick you can check out your local library, used bookstore, or check out RitualCravt’s schedule here.

The post The Witches of BoCo appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

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Photo credit Greg Ross

Halloween isn’t just about candy and kids. Many adults celebrate this holiday with spooktacular creativity. There are zombie pub crawls, costume contests galore and plenty of parties after dark. You can also make marijuana a major motif in your magic and mayhem, if you so choose.  Check out these ways you can add some green to your orange and black this Hallo-weed.

First things first, dressing up! You can’t celebrate Halloween without a costume. Classic cannabis costumes like rastafarian, hippie or Cheech and Chong imply marijuana advocate, but this is a new age. Less conspicuous choices include putting a planter pot on your head to be a “Pothead,” or a bag of yard clippings across your chest to be a “Bag of Weed”.

If you want to take it to another level, you can dress as your favorite cannabis strain. Leafly’s Sara Dilley presented some costumes inspired by cannabis strain names,like Agent Orange (worn by Richard Maloney), Grandaddy Purple (worn by Sam Borgen), and White Widow (worn by Kelsey Howell).

A good holiday celebration will always include food, especially if you have the munchies. Adding some weed-infused edibles to your Halloween may be just the treat you need. Check out The Cannabist (http://dpo.st/2xLFUSK) holiday infused recipe archive for ideas, or come up with your own recipes! *Remember: One of the primary rules of making marijuana edibles for parties is to keep dosages weak or, alternatively, only medicate one recipe.* Check out the following recipes, some of my favorites.

Infused White Chocolate Ghosts Recipe

Makes about 8-10 ghosts.

Ingredients

1 cup white chocolate chips or melts

2 tablespoons canna-butter

Raisins or similar eye-shaped food

Instructions

1. In a double boiler melt the white chocolate with the canna-butter, stirring to mix thoroughly.

2. Lay parchment paper on a baking sheet. Spoon the white chocolate on the parchment, spreading it to form a ghostlike form. Ghosts come in all shapes and sizes so don’t worry about your shapes.

3. While the chocolate is still soft, add the raisins or similar for eyes and a mouth. Raisins work well because you can manipulate the shapes.

4. Place the ghosts in the fridge to set.

Instead of throwing out all those seeds from your carved pumpkins, you can roast them with oil and seasoning. Make these medicated by using cannabis-infused oil.

Cannabis Oil Pumpkin Seeds Recipe

Prep Time: 5 mins  Cook Time: 39 mins 
Total Time: 44 mins   Servings: 4

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups pumpkin seeds

1 tablespoon cannabis infused oil

salt to taste

pepper to taste

garlic powder, chili powder, or other seasoning blends to taste

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.

2. Toss pumpkin seeds with marijuana oil and seasonings.

3. Spread seasoned pumpkin seeds on a baking sheet and bake until just starting to brown, about 30 minutes.

4. Stored cooled marijuana pumpkin seeds in an airtight container.

If you’re going to get into the full spirit of the holiday, try one of these ghostly strains for your haunted high! The spookiest choo-choo of them all, Ghost Train Haze – energizing creativity and concentration with guaranteed giggles but higher doses may leave smokers feeling a little hazy. If you need an imagination boost for some scary stories, or if you expect a long night of tomfoolery, Ghost Train Haze is a great choice. In 2015, its #13 phenotype placed as the number one sativa in the US at the Cannabis Cup, while the original took home Best Colorado Sativa.

When you’re ready to wind down for the evening some Ghost OG brings about a sleepy bliss. Ghost OG is a phenotype of the legendary OG Kush strain and is predominantly indica. This strain provides some top-notch physical effects. Expect your limbs to grow heavy and limber and feel muscle tension evaporate into thin air.

However you celebrate the holiday this time around – remember to be safe, responsible and
SPOOKY!   

The post Halloweed appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

The post Samhain: Spooky Spirits appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Bug-A-Boo
Oct. 21 – 22 & 28 – 29, 9 a.m.–5 p.m.
Two weekends of Halloween festivities featuring indoor trick-or-treating, a costume parade, invertebrate exploration, and fun family entertainment! Come for a creepy-crawly adventure! Butterfly Pavilion, 6252 West 104th Ave., Westminster
butterflies.org

Boo at the Zoo
Oct. 25-26, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
Boo at The Zoo offers more than 25 trick-or-treat stations, creepy-crawly animal demonstrations, and exciting family-friendly entertainment under the canopy of the beautiful fall foliage of the Denver Zoo. Denver Zoo; denverzoo.org

Glow at the Gardens
Oct. 18 &19, 25 & 26, 2017, 5:30-9:30 p.m. (last entry at 9 p.m.)
The Gardens will close at 3 p.m. every day of Glow at the Gardens.
For people who aren’t into spooky or creepy, the Denver Botanic Gardens offers luminaria-lined pathways winding through the gardens, revealing larger-than-life pumpkin displays. Also, live music, free face painting, costume contest, scavenger hunt, crafts, and LED circus performers.
1007 York Street, Denver; 720-865-3500; botanicgardens.org

Longmont Halloween Parade and Trick-or-Treat Street
October 28
The line-up begins at 9:30 a.m. in front of St. Vrain Memorial Building, 700 Longs Peak Ave. The foot parade starts at 10 a.m. Come in costume! Enjoy the sounds of local bands during the parade. Downtown Longmont; ci.longmont.co.us/rec/special/halloween.htm#.Uksdprx5Ey4

Monster Dash Run
Berkeley Lake Park, Denver October 28 at 9:00 am
Community Park, Louisville October 29 at 3:00 pm
This year’s MonsterDASH Run is zombie-themed. A 5k/10k Trail Fun Run and Kids Races in Old Town Louisville and Denver (Tennyson District). Fun, costumes, games, and cool prizes are all part of this family event & festival.

Munchkin Masquerade
Oct. 31, 3 – 6 p.m., rain or shine
Downtown Boulder is invaded by thousands of tiny ghosts and goblins, dinosaurs and dragons, fairies and princes, super heroes, and animals trick-or-treating along Pearl Street. Recommended for children ages 12 and under.

Niwot Great Pumpkin Party
October 28, 10 a.m.
Starting around 10 a.m., kids can trick-or-treat through Old Town and Cottonwood Square followed by the kids and animals parade at 11:30 a.m., hayrides through town and a dog costume contest with prizes. Old Town Niwot; niwot.com/niwot-events

Tiny Tot Halloween Downtown
October 31 10 a.m.-1 p.m.
Give your kids a safe place to trick-or-treat this Halloween in downtown Ft. Collins at the Tiny Tot Halloween Downtown. Participants gather in Old Town Square Plaza to receive a trick-or-treat bag with a map indicating the designated trick-or-treat area.Downtown Fort Collins; downtownfortcollins.com/events/tiny-tot-halloween

Trick or Treat Street
October 27-29, 9 a.m. – 6 p.m.
The Children’s Museum will host the most boo-tiful fall festival in town! Parade from one treat house to the next and collect goodies, play carnival games, and create Halloween crafts. It’s the ultimate safe and exciting Halloween adventure. Children’s Museum of Denver; 2121 Children’s Museum Dr., Denver; cmdenver.org

Trick or Treat Train
October 28 10 a.m. – October 29 at 4 p.m.
All aboard! The Trick or Treat Train departs every 30 minutes between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. through Trick or Treat Town where you can fill your bag with goodies. Visit the “not so spooky” haunted railcar or the Olde Railroaders silly graveyard and the Pumpkin Patch. Free for museum members; $5 for children 2 and older; $15 for adults; $10 for seniors; and $30 for families. Colorado Railroad Museum, 17155 W. 44th Ave., Golden; coloradorailroadmuseum.org

Coloween
Saturday, October 28th, 9 p.m. – 2 a.m.
Party if you dare in the Curtis Hotel’s twisty-turny haunted hallways with two dozen bars and three spectacularly themed ballroom dance parties. Coloween features Denver’s top-rated DJs, live musical acts, festival-quality sound and light production, sexy theatrical performers, and more. Curtis Hotel, 1405 Curtis Street, Denver; coloween.com

The Denver Halloween Costume Ball
Saturday, October 28th, 9 p.m. – 2 a.m.
This Exclusive Halloween Costume Ball offers the best party package in the city of Denver, a $1,000 ‘Best of The Ball’ Halloween costume contest, Live Halloween entertainment and DJs. Sheraton Denver Downtown Hotel; denverhalloweenball.com

Naughty Ball Denver
Saturday, October 14th, 7 p.m.-4 a.m.
The Naughty Ball is a full-immersion exotic costume ball. It is a provocative exploration of elegant eroticism in a safe and welcoming environment. Who doesn’t want to be naughty for Halloween? Diamond Cabaret & Diamond After Dark; 1222 Glenarm, Denver

Paranormal Palace
Saturday, October 28th, 8 pm. – 1 a.m.
For one night only, the McNichols Building becomes the Paranormal Palace with three floors of internationally acclaimed artists and performers. This extravaganza is an interactive haunted party with over 30+ ghoulish performers & DJs.McNichols, 144 W. Colfax Ave., Denver; denverhalloween.org

Asylum Haunted House
September 16-November 11
The Asylum is damp, musty, and infected with the screams of tortured souls. Don’t lose your mind or your head, when wandering through the Asylum Haunted House, a frightening hospital for the insane. 6100 E 39th Ave, Denver; 303.355.3327; asylumdenver.com

Banjo Billy’s Halloween Bus Tours
This 90-minute Boulder history tour includes the story of Boulder’s legit haunts. 720.938.8885; banjobilly.com

Capitol Hill Ghost and History Tour
Paranormal investigators guide you on a walking tour of Capitol Hill’s most notoriously haunted homes. Make Reservations by phone (Toll Free) @ 1 877 880-6232. All tours launch and end @ 1340 Pennsylvania St. besttoursofdenver.com

City of the Dead
September 22 – November 11
The City of the Dead Haunted House boasts 30,000 square feet of horror. There are three new attraction themes: the dead rising, dark souls, and the carnival of carnage. Watch out for the zombies in the parking lot! 7007 E. 88th Ave., Henderson; cityofthedeadhaunt.com

Curse of Slaughterhouse Gulch
The Curse of Slaughterhouse Gulch is the place where the evil and tortured souls go after they die. It’s so dark that even your thoughts betray you. Visit the website for more details. 3184 Peoria St., Aurora; 720.261.0570; slaughterhousegulch.com

Dead Zone Scream Park
Where our world crosses over into the spirit world, there is an in-between realm known as “The Dead Zone.” Experience a cursed hayride, corn stalkers, and an after-dark maze. This is Colorado’s one and only Scream Park. Open select nights in October. Check website for details. Denver Botanic Gardens Chatfield Farms. 8500 West Deer Creek Canyon Road, Littleton, CO 80128; deadzonescreampark.com

Denver Zombie Crawl
October 7, 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Zombify and join the day of the living dead in the largest zombie mob in history at Skyline Park. No bleeding on storefronts, signs, sidewalks. Entry fee is a non-perishable food item to donate to the Food Bank of the Rockies. Downtown Denver; eyeheartbrains.com

Firehouse Ghost Hunters
Oct 27 & Oct 28 8-11 p.m.

After paranormal experts who investigate the firehouse give a ghostly talk, ghost hunt with professionals. Just make sure you don’t get separated from the group. You may never return. Denver Firefighters Museum; 1326 Tremont Place, Denver; denverfirefightersmuseum.org

Frightfest Elitch Gardens
Friday nights, Saturdays and Sundays from September 29 through October 29, 2017.Fridays: 6-10 p.m. / Saturdays: 12-10 p.m. /Sundays: 12-9 p.m.
Elitch Gardens transforms into Family By Day and Fright By Night. Little ghosts and goblins can enjoy free candy on the Trick-or-Treat Trail during the day. When Fright by Night takes over, you will hear blood-curdling shrieks, as haunted creatures lurk around every corner. 2000 Elitches Cir, Denver; Elitchgardens.com

The Frightmare Compound – Westminster, CO
Open most night from September 29 – November 11
Frightmare consists of two haunted houses at the same location: Frightmare and The House of Darkness. The compound has an abandoned funhouse that was moved here following a carnival massacre. Spirits of the undead have returned with flesh-eating clowns trolling for demented fun. Considered the most horrifying haunted house in Denver, this is not for the weak-hearted. Come if you dare! 108th and Wadsworth Blvd, Westminster; thefrightmarecompound.com

Hauntings at the Hangar
October 29th 12 – 4 p.m.
Wings Over the Rockies Air and Space Museum turns into a fun, spooky, haunted hangar filled with space treats, science experiments, magic tricks, and more. 7711 East Academy Blvd., Denver, 303.360.5360; wingsmuseum.org

Haunted Field of Screams
Open Fri, September 29 and Sat, September 30. October 1-29, Thurs-Sunday, and Tues, October 31.
Chainsaws, cornfields, and no logical way out…What could be more terrifying? The Haunted Field of Screams features three attractions: Dead Man’s Night Maze, Zombie Paintball Massacre, Haunted Field of Screams and 35 acres of haunted cornfield. E. 104th Avenue and Riverdale Road, Thornton; hauntedfieldofscreams.com

Horror Theater Haunted House Denver
October; Monday-Thursday 7pm-9:30pm; Friday-Sunday 7pm-10pm
The Horror Theater started out as a one night only event and quickly turned into a local phenomenon. The haunted house is called a ‘theater,’ because guests are actors in this masterpiece; their role: to act scared! Complete with movie quality effects, the theater is sure to scare the most seasoned of haunted house goers. 4504 S. Independence St., Denver

Paranormal Murder
They Came from Below, Fridays and Saturdays, October 6-November 18
Zombie Murder, Saturdays only, September 16-November 25
Adams Mystery Playhouse presents fantastic mysteries where you solve a crime. Adams Mystery Playhouse, 2406 Federal Blvd., Denver, adamsmysteryplayhouse.com

Terror in the Corn
September 22 – October 29
Terror in the Corn is Colorado’s only haunted hayride and ghost town experience. As the tractor-drawn wagon heads deeper into the night, through the unforgiving cornfield, you will encounter ghoulish creatures giving you spine-tingling chills. Once you enter the rickety wooden walls of a deserted ghost town, there is no turning back. 6728 County Road 3 ¼, Erie; 303.828.5210; andersonfarms.com/terror-in-the-corn

Twin Terror Weekends at the Stanley Hotel
Friday, October 20
The Murder Mystery Dinner features a theatrical presentation of murder and suspense leavened with humor. It explores suspects throughout the room in the context of a gourmet 4-course meal hosted in the Victorian-style MacGregor Ballroom.
Saturday, October 21
The Shining Ball features a live performance by The Gasoline Lollipops. Attendees will compete for prizes with imaginative, macabre, and daring costumes that will be paraded through the hotel. Festive hors d’oeuvres, delightful drink, dancing among the imaginative, The Shining-themed decor will bring new chills to the hottest night of the Halloween season.
Saturday, October 28
The Masquerade Party closes out Twin Terror Weekends. This frightful night will feature live music, dancing, drinks, hors d’oeuvres, and imaginative Halloween costumes. The Stanley Hotel, 333 Wonderview Avenue, Estes Park, CO 80517; Stanleyhotel.com

Victorian Horrors
October 13th, 7:00 p.m.
Edgar Allan Poe and other Gothic greats return for the Victorian Horrors, an immersive theater experience for literary nerds and fans of the macabre. Molly Brown House Museum, 1340 Pennsylvania Street, Denver;mollybrown.org

Anderson Farms Fall Festival
Fridays & Saturdays, 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Sundays, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Colorado’s oldest and largest corn maze boasts family friendly activities including hayrides, pumpkin picking, gemstone mining, mine car rides, a kiddie korral playground and more. 6728 County Road 3 1/4, Erie, 303.828.5210
andersonfarms.com

Chatfield’s Corn Maze
Fridays & Saturdays, 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Sundays, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
What is more fun than winding through seven acres of corn, going on a hayride or a barrel train ride, and jumping on a giant pillow? Throw in a pony ride and a hamster ball for an additional fee and your child’s day is complete. 8500 Deer Creek Canyon Rd., Littleton; 303.973.3705; botanicgardens.org/corn-maze

Cottonwood Farms
Opens September 29
Cottonwood Farms’ cornfield maze is hand-cut and custom-made for a close fall walk with the family. Pick a pumpkin, snuggle a sheep, hop a hayride, or say hi to Rocco the donkey and Bentley the miniature horse. 1535 N. 75th St., Boulder; 720.890.4766; cottonwoodfarms.com

Crazed Cornfield Maze

Open weekends starting Saturday, September 30 through Sunday, October 29
If you’re navigationally challenged, hit the mini-maze with the little ones and then enjoy the petting zoo. Only the truly crazed venture into the 20-acre Crazed Cornfield Maze. 6101 E. 104th Ave., Thornton; 303.913.5947; crazedcornfieldmaze.com

Harvest Farm
Salute agriculture in Harvest Farm’s cornfield maze or salute the Second Amendment with a little corn cannon target practice. They also offer pig races, roping, an obstacle course, and an eggucation station. 4240 E. County Road 66, Wellington; 970.568.9803; harvestfarm.net

Hill’s Harvest
Breathe in seasonal inspiration at Hill’s Harvest. Here, it’s all fall: pies, pumpkins, decorative gourds and Indian corn, and carving pumpkins ripe for the pickin’. And who doesn’t love a free hayride? 3225 E. 124th Ave., Thornton; 303.451.5637; hillsharvest.com

Munson Farms
October 8 11 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Snag the last of the summer veggies, start in on the winter squash and pick up your pumpkins. They specialize in sweet corn, tomatoes, peaches, and pumpkins. 75th Street and Valmont Road, Boulder; 303.442.5330; munsonfarms.com

Ollin Farm’s Fall Harvest Festival

Early October through Halloween
During the Fall Festival, explore the farm, frolic in the pumpkin patch, and groove to the music. 8627 N. 95th St., Longmont; ollinfarms.com

Red Wagon Organic Farm’s Pumpkin Patch Tours

Go on a tractor-drawn hayride, pet farm animals (including goats, alpacas, llamas, and chickens), and explore a straw-bale maze. 7694 N. 63rd St., Longmont; redwagonorganicfarm.com

Rocky Mountain Pumpkin Ranch
Skip the gore and head straight for the gourds during the RMPR’s October Pumpkin Carnival. Make your own apple cider, stroll the maze, take the kiddos for a pony ride and let ‘em paint a pumpkin. 9057 Ute Highway, CO 66, Longmont; 303.684.0087; rockymtnpumpkinranch.com

Sunflower Farm
September and October, Wed – Sunday, 9 – 1 p.m.
A day at Sunflower Farm gives your children the chance to move and explore in ways they don’t very often in our modern, urbanized life. There are sandboxes inside silos, a corn house that kids can play in, tree forts and bridges and animals everywhere. Be creative: play hide-and-seek in the hay bales, have a tea party in the tepee or feed the baby goats. 11150 Prospect Rd., Longmont; 303.774.8001; sunflowerfarminfo.com

The post Boo-tiful & Fang-tastic Hallow’s Eve: A Halloween Directory appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Still looking for Halloween Fun? It’s not too late to get in on some of these annual festivities.

Treats for Tots (12 & under)

BOO AT THE ZOO (Denver) Oct. 22,23,29,30 | 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.

The Denver Zoo’s 32nd annual Boo At The Zoo, provides 20 trick-or-treat stations, animal demonstrations that will bug you out and exciting fun for the entire family. denverzoo.org

FRIGHTFEST FOR FAMILIES (Denver) October Saturdays and Sundays | 12-5 p.m.

Family By Day turns the park into a Halloween-themed treat, with plenty of interactive fun for the little ghouls, like concocting the grossest milkshake or roaming the Elitch pumpkin patch. elitchgardens.com/fright-fest

HAUNTINGS AT THE HANGAR Oct. 29 | 12-4 p.m.

Wings Over the Rockies transforms into a spooky laboratory of science experiments, interstellar outfits and even a magic show. 7711 East Academy Blvd. Denver. wingsmuseum.org/hauntings

LONGMONT HALLOWEEN PARADE AND TRICK-OR-TREAT STREET 10 a.m.

Foot Parade lineup begins and 9:30 a.m. in front of the Memorial Building, walks down Main St. to 3rd Ave. and back. The Trick-or-Treat street begins after the street parade ends. longmontcolorado.gov

MUNCHKIN MASQUERADE 2016 (Boulder) Oct. 31 | 3-6 p.m.

Spooky tots, pint-sized superheroes and other munchkins invade Pearl Street and downtown Boulder. boulderdowntown.com

NIWOT’S GREAT PUMPKIN PARTY Oct. 29 | 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.

The 48th gathering in Old Town & Cottonwood Square includes a parade with trick-or-treating at local businesses before and after. facebook

SAFE STREET HALLOWEEN (Northglenn) Oct. 22 | 5:30-8:30 p.m.

Northglenn High School students transform classrooms into haunted houses, and host a safe trick-or-treating experience for younger kids. | 601 W. 100th Place northglenn.org/safestreethalloween

TINY TOT HALLOWEEN (Ft. Collins) Oct. 22 | 10 a.m. -8:30 p.m.

Participants gather in Old Town Square Plaza to receive a goodie bag and map of the designated trick-or-treat area. downtownfortcollins.com/events

TRICK OR TREAT STREET (Denver) Oct. 28-30 |  9 a.m. – 6 p.m.

Children’s Museum hosts three days of interactive fun with games, crafts and parades. There will be treats, too. $15; free for members | 2121 Children’s Museum Dr. mychildsmuseum.org

TRICK OR TREAT STREET (Lafayette) Oct. 28 | 4-6 p.m.

Costumed children and parents are invited to trick-or-treat on Mt. Diablo Blvd. from Oak Hill Rd. to Dewing Ave. and in La Fiesta Square. Participating businesses will display participating poster and balloons. lafayettechamber.org

TRICK OR TREAT TRAIN (Golden) Oct. 30 | 10 a.m.- 4 p.m.

Ride in vintage passenger cars pulled by a historic locomotive. The conductors and engineers will be in costume as the train makes special stops to fill treat bags and tickle your funny bones including a “not so spooky” haunted railcar and a silly graveyard. There’s a Pumpkin Patch cart that’s great for photo ops, too. $5 children, $15 adults. Colorado Railroad Museum coloradorailroadmuseum.org

TRUNK OR TREAT (Erie) Oct. 29, | 3:30-5:30 pm

Area businesses will be decorate cars lined along the Civic Green at the Erie Community Center and then pop their trunks for a car-to-car trunk-or-treat.

MAZES ‘N’ PUMPKIN PATCHES

ANDERSON FARMS FALL FESTIVAL Through Oct. 31

The grandaddy of corn mazes (30 acres!) returns along with hayrides, mine car rides and a playground. On weekends, there are pumpkin launches on the hour, and of course it’s a great place to pick up a future jack-o-lantern. 6728 County Rd. 3 ¼, Erie. $10-$16 andersonfarms.com

CHATFIELD FARMS CORN MAZE Through Oct. 30

An 8-acre corn maze in Denver’s Botanic Gardens with other activities like hay and train rides available, too. At night, the corn maze gets spookier and there’s a Dead Zone Haunted Attraction. 8500 W. Deer Creek Canyon Rd., Littleton. $13 adult non-members botanicgardens.org/events

COTTONWOOD FARMS Through Oct. 31

There’s a Halloween and fall festival pumpkin patch, animals, corn and hay bale mazes and hayrides. S.W. Corner of 75th St. and Arapahoe Rd. cottonwoodfarms.com

MAIZE IN THE CITY Through Oct. 31

Come be the children in the corn. The main maze may take you 40 minutes to solve, or try the mini-maze. Pony rides, pumpkins and petting zoo are some of the farm-related options, but there’s a bounce castle and obstacle course, too. $9 (5-12), $12 for anyone older. 10270 Riverdale Rd. maizeinthecity.com

MUNSON FARMS 

Beyond the final summer veggies and fresh squash there are hayrides, a corn maze and those big orange squashes every’s after at this time of year. Valmont Rd & N 75th St., Boulder munsonfarms.com

ROCKY MOUNTAIN PUMPKIN PATCH

Once the pumpkins turn orange, or the other shades they come in, this farm is open for business. Hayrides begin the first week of October. 3225 E 124th Ave., Thornton hillsharvest.com

ROCK CREEK FARM PUMPKIN PATCH AND CORN MAZE Through Oct. 31 | 9 a.m. – 6:30 p.m.

Spend part of your day on the farm winding through a hay bale maze, looking at the farm animals and finding that perfect pumpkin to carve up later. 2005 South 112th St., Broomfield rockcreekfarm.com

HAUNTED HOUSES & OTHER SCARES, 13TH DOOR and SLAUGHTERHOUSE GULCH

Enter a house jam packed with scares and try to escape. $25 | 3184 S. Parker Rd., Aurora. 13door.com

13TH FLOOR HAUNTED HOUSE

New attractions weave tales of lab-accident zombies or Haitian rituals that spawned werewolves. $29 | 4120 Brighton Blvd, Denver. 13thfloorhauntedhouse.com

BANJO BILLY’S BOULDER GHOST STORY

Learn about the phantoms and specters that haunt the town below the Flatirons. 90 minutes of spooky fun. Remember, children under 5 ride for free with paid adult, October Fri./Sat. Nights and Sun. afternoons. | banjobilly.com/ghost-tours

TERROR IN THE CORN and ZOMBIE PAINTBALL

Beyond the cornfield lies a ghost town, literally  Or try to repel an onslaught of undead one paintball at a time. This year, Terror In the Corn will run on a schedule, Zombie Paintball will be first-come, first-serve, with 20 people per wagon. 6728 County Rd. 3 ¼, Erie. $20-$25 ($40-$45 combo) andersonfarms.com

FRIGHTFEST Weekend nights through Oct. 30 | Fri. 6-10 p.m.; Sat 12-10 p.m.; Sun. 12-9 p.m. Fright By Night (12+) elitchgardens.com/fright-fest

GREAT ROOM ESCAPE (ZOMBIE and CABIN)

The clock counts down 60 minutes as you try to piece together clues to escape. Can you work with a team to coordinate an exit before time runs out? There are two rooms, each with a different story. 4120 Brighton Blvd. Ste. C2 greatroomescape.com/denver/

CITY OF THE DEAD, CURSE OF DARKNESS and THE CARNIVAL OF CARNAGE

Three ways to horrify yourself this season: dodge the undead, vampires in a funeral parlor or carnies (who are scary dead or alive). 7007 E 88th Ave, Henderson. cityofthedeadhaunt.com

SHOWS & EVENTS

EERIE ERIE SATURDAY Oct. 29 | 7:30 a.m. registration, 9:30 a.m. race time

The Town of Erie hosts its annual 5K and 10K races, which pass through Historic Downtown Erie and before moving onto the new trail systems around the town. The 10K passes Pleasant Hill Cemetery and there’s no rule that says it can’t be haunted in the morning. $30-$35 | Erie Middle School at 650 Main Street, Erie. erieoptimists.org

“Nightmare in the Air” Oct. 22-29 | 7:30-9:30 p.m.

An Aerial Dance Halloween Production by Iluminar Aerial is a frightful, flightful take on Tim Burton’s “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” and is an all-ages performance. 2655 Industrial Ln., Broomfield. denver.org

HALLOWEEN PARTY at 300 SUNS (Longmont) Oct. 29 | 7 p.m. 300 Suns Brewing | 335 1st Ave. Unit C, Longmont. 300sunsbrewing.com

MONSTERDASH 5K/10K (Louisville) A festival, afternoon fun runs and a costumed kids race are wrapped up with a trick-or-treating downtown. | Start/Finish at 544 County Rd. | monsterdashrun.com

The post Halloween Scene: Scare-Tacular Listings appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Toasted Monsters

If breakfast is the most important meal of the day, then why not start your day off with some perfectly terrifying toast? This simple trick is a great way to jumpstart your kid’s day with a smile before school, or you can wrap a piece or two up with lunch for a scary mid-day snack. This is also a really fun way to get your children active in the kitchen, as they’ll love making their own faces on their toast-canvases. These are also delicious with dinner, just add a bit of Italian seasoning and some garlic powder to the toast at the very end for a savory twist.

Ingredients

• Milk
• Food coloring
• Sliced bread
• Butter

Directions

1. Simply pour a small amount of milk into different containers and add as much food coloring as you like.
2. Paint your monsters on a slice of bread – your only limit is your imagination.
3. Toast lightly.
4. Butter to your preference and enjoy!

Horrifying Meathand Loaf

Who says creepy food has to be a candy or dessert? Make the scare the main dish with this easy to make Meathand Loaf. You can use your own recipe for meatloaf as well, but this one is always a crowd-pleaser and forms the hand easily. Make sure to wet your hands as you form the shape, as that will make creating the hand a lot easier.

Ingredients

• 1 lb. ground beef
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup Italian-style breadcrumbs
• 1 white onion, peeled
• Ketchup
• Sliced provolone cheese

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Mix the ground beef, eggs and breadcrumbs in a bowl until well combined.
3. Peel slices of onion to make finger nails.
4. Cut a center round from the onion to make the wrist bone.
5. Form the hand on a greased baking sheet (don’t rush, as this will take some practice to form.)
6. Use the onions for nails at the end of each finger.
7. Spread a little ketchup on each finger and on the base of the hand.
8. Top with sliced provolone cheese.
9. Bake about 30 minutes or until cheese is crispy and meat is cooked through.
   Serve right away for a ghoulish dinner.

The post Halloween Scene: Gross Goopy Recipes appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

The spooky season is upon us, so it’s time to deck your halls in as much terror as possible. If you’ve ever spent any time shopping for Halloween decorations, then you know how expensive the season can get. However, with a little creativity and a bit of time, you can make lots of frightening décor at home, without breaking the bank. From glowing test tubes to bloody bathrooms, here are a bunch of ideas to get you started.

Glowing Test Tubes/Bottles: These are perfect for that spooky mad-scientist/laboratory look. Make several and place them around the room with a few well-placed black lights and you’ll love the ambiance these glow-in-the-dark tubes or bottles provides.

You’ll Need
•    Assorted test tubes, beakers, bottles or other jars (you can re-use old wine bottles too)
•    Assorted highlighters of different colors
•    Water
•    Black Light bulb

Directions
•    Fill the jar, beaker or bottle with water.
•    Uncap a highlighter and pull the felt tip off.
•    Use pliers to get the bottom off the marker and pull the ink tube out.
•    Place the ink tube in the water and let sit until water is fully saturated with color.
•    Pull the ink tube out.
•    Place the new brightly-colored jar under a blacklight to watch it glow.

The Bloody Bathroom: When you have guests over for a spooky party, you’ll want to keep the scary stuff going throughout your home — even in the bathroom. Here’s a super easy way to get that bloody look for cheap (plus your kids will love helping out with this one).

You’ll Need
•    White shower curtain liner
•    Red paint (use nontoxic and washable paint for a kid-safe version)
•    Blue or green paint

Directions
•    Mix just a few drops of blue or green paint in with the red paint to give that aged/dark blood look.
•    Lay the white shower curtain liner out on your lawn, or somewhere you can easily clean.
•    Pour the paint into a large pan or dish.
•    Carefully dip your hand into the paint, then simply drag it along the shower curtain liner to look like a bloody hand print.
•    Don’t overdo the hand prints, as just a few are enough to be effective.
•    This works well on white towels also, which make great added ambiance in a spooky bathroom or kitchen.

Ghosts in the Trees: Your home will be the talk of the town with this super easy decoration. A little goes a long way, or you can go totally all-in with lots of these tree ghosts for a totally spooky look

You’ll Need
•    Old dresses (visit your local thrift store for some major bargains. The older-looking the dresses are, the better)
•    Spray starch
•    String lights (the kind with the larger bulbs)

Directions
•    Coat your dress in spray starch until it’s in a shape that looks like someone is in it. If the dress is too thick you can also use chicken wire to help form the body shape beneath the dress.
•    Hang the dress so several string lights are hanging down in the body of the dress.
•    Plug in and hang from a large tree in your yard.
•    Enjoy the floating ghostly images as trick-or-treaters carefully navigate your front yard.

Eyes in the Trees: This may be the easiest and most effective way to spook your trick-or-treaters. Make a bunch and set them out on the big night for a great welcome to your scary home.

You’ll Need
•    Old toilet paper tubes
•    Scissors
•    Glow sticks in multiple colors
•    Black paint
•    Tape

Directions
•    Cut eyes out of the center of the toilet paper tubes. Use a variety of different eye styles for maximum effectiveness.
•    Paint the toilet paper tubes black so they hide in the trees and bushes well.
•    Crack open a glow stick and tape it to the inside of the tube.
•    Place the tube inside bushes and trees all over your lawn just before nightfall. It will look like there are glowing eyes watching you.

Bloody Messages: Write some spooky messages in “blood” on the windows in your home. Here’s a very easy, safe, nontoxic and edible blood recipe that will work perfectly. It will wash off the next day with a little soap and water too. Suggested message include “GET OUT,” “Save yourself” and “You’re next!”

You’ll Need
•    Light corn syrup
•    Red food coloring
•    Blue food coloring
•    Cocoa powder
•    A jar to mix blood

Directions
•    Add enough red food coloring to the corn syrup until it’s bright red.
•    Slowly add blue food coloring one or two drops at a time until it gets just a little darker. You don’t want purple, just a slightly darker red.
•    Add a little bit of cocoa powder at a time until the blood looks thick and is no longer translucent.
•    Use the blood as “paint” to write your scary messages.

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It used to be that summer was my only season for outdoors activities. When Autumn chilled the air, dislodged the leaves, and freshened up the TV lineups, my outdoor activities dwindled down to watching football on a bar’s balcony, getting the mail, and reaching out the window of my Toyota Celica to grab my McDouble. I didn’t even like to check the weather online.I

Nowadays, though, I’m trying to stay outdoorsy year round. Autumn offers a (select few) uniquely Autumn activities, mostly tied to the harvest. Farms all over Colorado set up farm-themed fun zones full of hayrides, punkin chunkin’, haunted corn mazes and petting zoos. (See list.) These are great for kids who are enthusiastic for fall and nature, and for adults who are interested in agriculture, farming, throat allergens, burrs stuck to socks, prickles on your skin, or insects crawling up your leg. The most ubiquitous form of entertainment is the pumpkin patch. At a pumpkin patch, you bump your car down a remote, rutted country road, then pay a dozen dollars to muddy your shoes, prick your fingers and tweak your back lugging home a vegetable that is available near the checkout at King Soopers for five bucks.

This helps you feel connected to the land and helps farmers bring in extra income. There are jobs in the field: including zombie for Zombie Paintball and ghoul for haunted corn mazes. There’s actually a word for all this: agri-tourism or agri-tainment. See, agriculture is no longer just an invention that raised humanity out of the food chain and undergirds civilization; it is a way to kill a boring Saturday night. The Penn State College of Agriculture Science estimates that 50,000 farms in America engage in agri-tainment.

Baseball became popular when Industrial workers in cities in the nineteenth century were nostalgic for a simpler, more pastoral time. Hipsters in Boulder, people who always lived in cities, keep chickens in their backyard. And I was motoring on Highway 287 just south of Longmont, having just finished two hours of therapy, mostly complaining about a job spent pushing keys, when I spotted the most quintessentially Spirit of Fall scene: A field of green, with bright orange pumpkins strewn about, like cannonballs at Gettysburg, or orange golf balls on a driving range. An old green tractor slowly pulled a large wagon. Two workers walked alongside, reaching down and tossing pumpkins in.

I slammed the car into a driveway and tromped into the field. I approached the workers by the wagon. This isn’t 1880, so of course the workers were Mexican. “Hello,” I said in Spanish. “I try to do some exercise outside every day. Can I help you?” The man, whose name was Jose, his bandana soaked with sweat, looked puzzled. “You want to help?” he asked. “Yes. For the spirit of…” I searched for the Spanish phrase for The Spirit of the Fall. “For the soul?” Jose asked. “Yes,” I said. “That’s it exactly. The soul.” He put his palms face out, the international symbol for, Go ahead, I can’t help it if you’re crazy.

The wheels of the grinding tractor were up to my chest and caked in mud. Jose’s boots were bowing and ripping at the seams; Samuel’s baseball cap was soaked in sweat. They work seven days a week for $8 an hour. Meanwhile, I wore my best, most slimming yoga pants and a J Crew V-neck, both because I am vain and because I don’t usually deal with dirt — except the rings of my bathtub — and the main agricultural products I handle are spinach salad and cannabis.

Counterfeit farmer though I was, there was something bone-deeply satisfying about picking pumpkins. You underhand the pumpkin toward the wagon, and it has a pleasing roll to the center of the target. It’s a bit like skeeball. Or bowling. I said so to Jose. He laughed. “Except there’s no points,” said Jose.

As Jose drove the tractor between furrows, and Samuel and I hung off the side, I looked into their sun-colored, sweat-soaked faces. Do they need therapy? But it’s easy to idealize these men; harder to be them. The National Center for Farmworker Health reports that health problems among migrants is high. I asked Jose and Samuel if they did any other kind of exercise, something to take care of themselves. Some pilates, perhaps? Silks? Barre? Samuel said he was busy in his off hours looking after his barriga — his beer gut. It looked like he was doing an excellent job.

After 45 minutes, I was appropriately winded, sweaty and content. The day was over. My fantasy was over. The shift in circumstances gave me a nice shift in perspective. First, the decency and work ethic of Jose and Samuel makes you realize how thoroughly Donald Trump has blow-dried his brains out. And you remember there is a world outside your screen and your status-seeking. Jose took a picture of me and gave me three pumpkins. In my First World mind, I had contributed to the great fall harvest, returned to the pastoral roots I suppose I have, and got to be a Man of the People. Most importantly, I get to brag about how much of a Man-of-the-People I am in this column.

AGRI-TAINMENT OPPORTUNITIES

Anderson Farms, Erie
Anderson boasts Colorado’s longest-running corn maze, which has eight miles of trails and is in the shape of a downhill ski racer. There’s a “Farm Scene Investigation” (a kind of whodunnit on the Farm), a free hayride, hourly pumpkin cannon launching, kids’ train, and pedal carts. At night there’s Terror in the Corn and a Zombie Paintball hunt. Zombie paintball is totally worth a Google. $10-$13 for adults for general admission, which includes many of the activities, though not Terror in the Corn or paintball. 6728 Co Rd 3 1/4, Erie, (303) 828-5210.

Cottonwood Farm, Boulder
Pumpkin patch, straw-bale maze for kids, petting zoo that includes bunnies, kittens, Rocco the donkey and Bentley the miniature horse. Two-acre corn maze. Sells Christmas trees starting at Thanksgiving. Free admission. $3 hay ride. 1535 N 75th St., Boulder, (720) 890-4766

Rock Creek Farm, Broomfield
Corn maze, bouncy castle and slide, petting zoo, pumpkin patch. Pumpkin bread, caramel apples and cotton candy for sale. Free admission. Corn maze $6 for kids, $9 for adults. 2005 South 112th Street, Broomfield, 303-465-9565.

Hergenreder Farms, Longmont
Corn maze, hay bale maze for kids, pumpkin patch, and free admission. 13332 Co Rd 5, Longmont, CO 80504, (303) 776-7615

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For years, the 13th Floor and The Asylum, have been Denver’s most popular haunted houses. But, it’s not just Coloradans who love these spooky spots, as they have garnered national attention as some of the best haunted houses in the nation. We sat down with Marketing Director Kaitlyn Jaffke to ask her about overseeing not just the Denver locations, but also six others throughout Colorado.F

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Ghouls and goblins, candy and parties, today Halloween is celebrated all over the world. America alone spends billions of dollars annually on the ghoulish holiday, but why do we celebrate Halloween? We here at Yellow Scene have all the answers behind your favorite Halloween traditions.G

Credit to HistoryChannel.com

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Local bluegrass band Ragged Union Bluegrass, based in Golden, will be playing four local shows through Halloween and November, and more in December. Seems like as good a reason as any to have a chat with founder Geoff Union…N

Ragged Union Bluegrass plays with the Grant Farm and Danny Shafer at 8 p.m. on Friday, October 31 at the Walnut Room; 3131 Walnut St., Denver; 303-295-1868; $10-$13.

Then with Kitchen Dwellers at 9 p.m. on Tuesday, November 4 at the Fox Theatre; 1135 13th St., Boulder; 720-645-2467; No cover before 10 p.m.

Then at 10 p.m. on Saturday, November 8 at the Pioneer Inn; 15 E. 1st St., Nederland; 303-258-7733; No Cover.

Then with Modern Whiskey Market and Martin Gilmore at 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday, November 20 at Moe’s; 3295 S. Braodway, Englewood; 303-781-0414; $8-$10.

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Colorado band the Motet will play a series of Halloween shows this fall, including the Aggie Theatre in Fort Collins on October 29, the Boulder Theatre on October 30, and the Ogden Theatre in Denver on November 1. The theme for these shows will be “Mixtape 1975.”C

According to a press release, “The Motet teased the Halloween “Mixtape 1975” theme during the band’s set at the sold-out Red Rocks Amphitheatre show with Umphrey’s McGee this past weekend via a cover of the 1975 funk hit “Cut the Cake” by Average White Band.

The Motet’s famed Halloween shows, wherein the band performs music of their favorite funk influences (either an album in its entirety or a “mixtape’ of songs popular in a chosen year) are joyous, full of surprises and legendarily raucous. The shows have served not only to pay back the band’s fans for their loyalty but also to enhance The Motet’s understanding of who they are. Says The Motet’s drummer and founder Dave Watts, “We feel that it’s crucial to know the roots of any style of music so that you can speak the language.”

For each Halloween run of shows, The Motet study the intricacies of the chosen artists they cover and work out every minute detail, often bringing in additional musicians and vocalists so that they can fully embody the subject’s music. To date, Halloween shows have focused on the canons of such iconic artists as Stevie Wonder, P-Funk, Jamiroquai, Herbie Hancock’s Headhunters, Prince, Tower of Power and others, and last year featured ‘Mixtape 1980’.”

“More energy is being put toward writing original music, Motet vocalist Jans Ingber explains. “That’s the difference between The Motet four years ago and The Motet now.”

Sounds like a blast.

Photo Credit Brian Spady

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The Psychedelic Furs

On October 29, the Gothic Theatre will host a night of nostalgic alt-rock revelry. The Psychedelic Furs and the Lemonheads are on tour together, and that Denver show is a must see. We grabbed original Fur Tim Butler to find out what we can expect…O

The Psychedelic Furs play with the Lemonheads at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, October 29 at the Gothic Theatre; 3263 S. Broadway, Englewood; 303-789-9206; $35

Yellow Scene: It’s been a while since you were here – what have you been up to?

Tim Butler: We’ve toured pretty regularly. I’ve been working, trying to sort out a new record. We have the song ideas, we’re just waiting for Richard [Butler, singer] to get up to speed on the lyrics.

YS: It’s been a while since the last record…

TB: Oh yeah, it’s been since 1992. Of course, we took a break. Rich and I formed Love Spit Love. Then I left that and formed my own band, which didn’t do anything. We got back together in 2000. It’s not so long. But it’s still 14 years since we got back together, so I’m starting to get a bit agitated too.

YS: In those three years, has the line-up changed at all?

TB: No, it’s pretty solid. I think this is the best line-up we’ve ever had.

YS: Do you enjoy playing Colorado?

TB: Oh yeah, and especially the Gothic Theatre. It’s one of my favorite places in America. I love the old cinema with the bottom level taken out and the second level seats. The atmosphere at those sort of places and the Gothic in particular is a favorite of the whole band.

YS: What are your plans for the set?

TB: The hits and the almost-hits, of course. You get lynched if you don’t do those. The last few outings, we’ve been doing stuff that we haven’t played for a while from the first album and the second album.

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Treat – Scary Eyes

Feast your eyes on this tasty snack!

Ingredients:

• 12 eggs
• 1 tablespoon sweet pickle relish
• 1 tablespoon mayonnaise
• 1 pinch celery salt

• 1 tablespoon yellow mustard
• 2 drops green food coloring
• 1 can sliced black olives

Preparation:

1. Boil the eggs, then remove from the heat and let stand for about 15 minutes. Rinse under cold water and let the eggs cool completely. Peel the eggs, and slice them in half lengthwise.

2. Remove the yolks from the eggs and place them in a bowl. Mix with the relish, mayonnaise, celery salt, mustard, and food coloring. Spoon this filling into the egg whites and place them on a serving tray. Round the top of the filling, creating the eyeball effect.

3. Place an olive slice on each yolk to create the pupil of the eye. Dab a tiny bit of mayonnaise or sliced tomato in the center of the olive to complete the effect.

Treat – Witches Fingers

Finger-lickin’ Good for your Halloween Feast!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup softened butter
• 1 cup confectioners sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• 2 2/3 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• ¾ cup whole almonds
• 1 tube red decorating gel

Preparation:

1. Combine the butter, sugar, egg, almond extract, and vanilla extract in a mixing bowl. Beat together with an electric mixer; gradually add the flour, baking powder, and salt, continually beating; refrigerate 20 to 30 min.

2. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).

3. Remove dough from refrigerator in small amounts. Scoop 1 heaping teaspoon at a time onto a piece of waxed paper. Use the waxed paper to roll the dough into a thin finger-shaped cookie.

4. Press one almond into an end of each cookie for fingernails. Squeeze cookie near the tip and again near the center of each to give the impression of knuckles. You can also cut into the dough at the same points to help give a more finger-like appearance.

5. Arrange the shaped cookies on the baking sheets. Bake until the cookies are slightly golden in color, 20 to 25 min.

6. Remove the almond from the end of each cookie; squeeze a small amount of red decorating gel into the cavity; replace the almond to cause the gel to ooze out around the tip of the cookie.

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What better way to celebrate Halloween than curled up on the sofa watching a scary movie? The experience is a little bit better (and scarier) when the film has a local connection, so we have compiled ten horror movies with a Colorado link. Some of them were filmed here, some of them were set here, and some of them star a local, but they all have Rocky Mountain links. Enjoy!

Strangeland

This weird and deeply disturbing 1998 cult movie was filmed in Colorado Springs and, oddly enough, was written by Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider. Snider also starred as main villain Captain Howdy, the ultimate internet chatroom troll who preys on teens and kind of forces body modification upon them. Not cool, Howdy. When it comes to sewing the lips shut, no means no.

Phantoms

Ben Affleck starred in this creepy drama, set in Snowfield, Colorado. A flop at the box office, Phantoms was admittedly a confusing piece of work, based on a Dean Koontz novel. Something evil has wiped out the population of the small town, leaving Affleck, Peter O’Toole, and a few others to figure it out. There’s a moth that eats people’s faces – so it’s worth seeing for that.

The Shining (mini-series)

Stephen King apparently didn’t like Stanley Kubrick’s classic movie version of his novel (because, he said, Jack Nicholson didn’t appear sane enough when he initially entered the Overlook Hotel), so he went away and made this mini-series in 1997. And it stinks.

The Shining

Regardless of what King thinks, Kubrick’s take on The Shining is excellent. We know that it was a visit to Colorado’s Stanley Hotel by King that inspired the Overlook Hotel in the novel. Sadly, none of the movie was shot here, but it is still an impressive and much-loved piece of work.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Not the monumental Tobe Hooper original, but the 2003 remake starring Jessica Biel (raised in Boulder), directed by Marcus Nispel. The director took the more-is-more approach to the chainsaw-based violence (unlike the original) and, while it is gruesomely effective, it lacks the classy mood of the first movie.

Cannibal! The Musical

South Park man Trey Parker wrote this black comedy musical while studying at the University of Colorado, and it truly is a subversive sign of things to come. Based on the life of prospector Alfred Packer, who was accused of cannibalism in the mountains during the winter of 1973-74 before working as a guard for the Denver Post, Parker succeeds in making the ingestion of human flesh hilarious.

Day of the Dead (remake)

Again, this is a remake of a beloved horror movie, in this case the third in George Romero’s original zombie trilogy, and it fails to match the quality of the source material. Here, Ving Rhames and others are holed up in a small Colorado town, fighting off the undead. Oh, and the zombies are acrobatic. Just watch the original instead.

The Hitchhiker

If we learned anything from Rutger Hauer’s The Hitcher, it’s never pick up hitchhikers. That movie was remade (badly) in 2007, the same year that this movie about four women from Colorado Springs who made the silly decision to pick up a killer was unleashed. Not terrible, but there’s better out there.

Misery

One of those rare things – a truly brilliant Stephen King adaption. James Caan plays novelist Paul Sheldon, who has just finished his latest piece of work in Silver Creek, Colorado and he is driving back to New York when he gets into a car accident. He’s pulled out of the wreckage by “nurse” Annie Wilkes (an awesome Kathy Bates), his biggest fan, and then the horror really begins. The movie deservedly saw Bates win an Oscar for Best Actress. Tremendous.

I’ll Always Know What You Did Last Summer

The direct-to-video final installment in the franchise, IAKWYDLS (based in our mountains but filmed in Utah) is a mess of a movie, with none of the original cast returning. By now, the fisherman villain is old-hat and not at all scary, and we really don’t care about any of the sliced-and-diced teens. The only horrific thing here is the acting.

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It’s the Holy Grail of Halloween treats: a full sized candy bar, preferably chocolate, preferably Hershey’s. This year Halloween’s on a Friday night and come clear skies or a foot of snow, kids will be out there searching for the best areas for top notch treats. So let’s be sure to find them.I

“Louisville.” That’s what parent’s keep saying when asked which town has the best treats this time of year. “A lot of homes are decorated in Louisville, “says Jenny Hart, mother of three. “We have a party down (here) because Vista Lane and West Mulberry are so great for candy and decorations.”

Old Town Lafayette has its own rustic charms, and with the nice grid layout of the neighborhoods it makes door-to-door treat hunting easy. Be sure to get off the highway and visit the smaller shops, sometimes we forget they serve up more than peach cobbler over there.

With a name like Erie, you know this town’s got Halloween buckled down. But if you can only pick one neighborhood, drop by Erie Village. With its neo-Victorian architecture, neighbors make the most of the season with haunted houses popping up from year to year. A walk through the Village on any autumn afternoon is sure to stir up the holiday spirit.

Keep your eyes peeled these weeks leading up to Halloween. One or two families can turn a blah neighborhood into an “aaaaaaaah!” neighborhood overnight. If you’re too busy dashing around, you may miss a nearby celebration zone. It’s become a theme lately, sticking close to home, especially after so many communities had to pull together last year in the 100 Year Flood’s wake. It’s become on trend for friends to put on family potlucks and neighborhoods to close down a whole block for local partie. The Village at Five Parks, a suburban area South of Superior in Arvada, is a prime example of how to keep celebrations close to home. With Miekeljohn Elementary in the middle of several subdivisions, almost everyone has a child or grandchild coming by.

But kids, especially older ones, still want to venture out in search of bigger hauls. Of course, Rock Creek in Superior is always a good place to hit up if you don’t mind the upward and downward climb. Clayton Circle got an extra knowing look and waggling of eyebrows from preteens this season. Gossip is not the best reliable source however. So if you want to find the best neighborhoods this year, or any year, you need to do your research.

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It’s Halloween season, and that means all manner of creepy creatures and fearsome fellows will be crawling their way out of haunted houses and temporary storefronts all over Colorado. To get into the “spirit” of things (pun absolutely intended), we spoke to Kevin Gentilcore, artist at the local comic book house Creephouse Comics, to find out what original, grotesque innovations are being dreamed up in our own backyard.

Kevin Gentilcore

Yellow Scene: When did you start drawing and illustrating?

Kevin Gentilcore: I started drawing when I was a kid, but I’ve been doing comics and stuff for about eight years. Creephouse has been around for five years this year. My partner and I, William Tooker who does most of the writing, we met here in Colorado through an artist’s group. We ended up parting ways with them but we stayed in touch. I’ve always enjoyed Will’s writing and thought maybe we should do a short story as a comic. I came up with the name Creephouse Comics. Most of his writing is horror, and most of what I want to do is horror.

YS: Tell us about some of the characters and stories in Creephouse…

KG: The first one we did was Spirits in the Well. Vengeful spirits from beyond the grave in back and white – two short stories. We collected them later into Creephouse Vol. 1. That was our first venture together, and then there’s another short we’ve been doing called Never Send a Monster, which is about a girl who is sick of being hit on by men so she created a devil through magic so that she can deal with all of the negative attention she was getting.

YS: What were your early influences?

KG: At first, it was mostly Marvel. It was at the time when Image was starting to spin off from Marvel, so I was really into Jim Lee and Todd McFarlane stuff. I went to college for animation and illustration and started to get back into comics. I was reading a lot of independent stuff, not Marvel or DC, and the big influence there would be Mike Mignola’s Hellboy.

YS: You worked for Marvel, correct?

KG: I did sketch cards for a Marvel series. It was basically a Marvel trading card series, and for the last couple of years they would out one of a kind hand drawn cards into the packs, and it was a hunting game to find the original art. Technically, I worked for Upper Deck who worked for Marvel. I did Thor and Iron Man, and a couple for DC like Superman and Batman. I guess that would be the most high profile gig I’ve had.

YS: What is the local comic book scene like here?

KG: There’s a lot of great people around here. We meet up at the conventions around here and some smaller local shows, and I’m part of a group called Web Comic Pioneers. It started a couple of years ago, trying to get some attention on what a web comic is, how it works. It kind of petered out, because web comics are kind of ubiquitous now. I’m woking on a heavy metal-themed comic with some other guys from Colorado.

YS: We see online that you’re a big fan of metal music?

KG: I love all that stuff. Its not so much an influence on the Creephouse stuff, but I appreciate the approach to that kind of music, pushing the limits on what people can consider music.

YS: Did horror movies have a big impact?

KG: Big fan. I like it all, but I like the old Universal movies a lot, and even the Hammer movies from the 1960s and ‘70s. The colors and everything I think are a pretty big influence on Creephouse comics. I can find something enjoyable in all of them.

YS: Are you a Halloween fan?

KG: I love the season but I don’t really get into the costumes and stuff like that. Usually, it’s about the change in the weather. I’ll watch some of my favorite horror movies and get inspired by the season.

YS: What are your plans for the future?

KG: We’re working on a couple of new comics right now. I had been doing Teenage Love Zombies for the past four years and it ended this year. In it’s place, we’re doing The Haunter, which is a superhero horror thing. My partner and I came up with a space sci-fi comic called Krush McNulty so we’re doing that as well. The first issue of both of those, you can get through our website. We’re going to be a Kickstarter to put Teenage Love Zombies into print.

To find out more about Kevin Gentilcore and Creephouse Comics head over to their website at www.creephousecomics.com.

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By Jake Plessinger

picture from telegraph.co.uk

Fort Collins Brewery’s Malt Monster 5k – October 11
Fort Collins Brewery, an up and coming brewery in Ram Country, Colorado (the best stretch of country in the world), is putting on one monster of a 5k. Not only do you get to counteract that pesky exercise with free beer, but you can also score a massage, cool prizes, take pictures in a free photo booth, dress up for the costume contest, meet the Malt Monsters themselves (a group of artisanal brews released each month in Fort Collins’ limited bomber series) along with so much more. If you’re thinking we’re stopping there then you haven’t watched enough late night info-mercials. On top of the free beer every runner gets a chip timed custom race bib and an FCB sports pack which includes a custom pint glass for all the beer you’ll drink after the race. There will be games for adults and kids alike, giveaways, an awards party and, did we mention, FREE BEER! The event begins at 10am but packet pick up starts on Oct. 10 at 4pm at Fort Collins Brewery. Registration is $29 which helps benefit FoCo Café, a local nonprofit organization. Call 970-472-1499 or go to the Fort Collins Brewery website for ticketing/information.

Boulder Facial Hair Club 2nd Annual Competition – October 25
What is it about beards that drive us absolutely batty? Be it a well groomed handle-bar moustache or the long flowing mastery of a wizard’s beard, facial hair has always captivated and awed us. Coming off the huge success of their 2013 Competition, the Boulder Facial Hair Club is again holding their “Bearding” (a sanctioned and now world renowned sport) event for facial hair fortitude. This year most of the proceeds go to Rocky Mountain Cancer Assistance (RMCA), a nonprofit Colorado based organization that helps patients with cancer pay for basic living expenses. The event will be held at the Dickens Opera House and will highlight numerous categories such as Moustache, Business Beard, Female Artistic and the Yeard, a yearlong beard growing competition that requires competitors to shave in house and record their progress. The event sold out last year and plans to draw even more patrons and competitors this year. The competition starts at 7:30pm and tickets start at $10. Call 303-834-9384 for tickets and information.

The Shining Ball – October 25
Having inspired the setting of the 1980 Stanley Kubrick horror/thriller it is only fitting that the infamous Stanley Hotel hosts this Shining themed gala. Those brave enough to attend will be treated to the upmost elegance the Stanley Hotel can offer with just a dash of the macabre that every patron hopes for. The ball will play host to live entertainment, a Jack Nicholson impersonator, Shining themed events and an extravagant costume contest which can win you up to $500. Food and drinks will be served alongside the event which all takes place in the Hotel’s MacGregor Ballroom, with REDRUM most likely being the house specialty. You must be 21 years of age or older to attend the ball and a costume is highly recommended. The festivities begin at 8pm and tickets are $325 per couple or $175 per person. Call 970-586-3371 for information or go to the Stanley Hotel website to purchase tickets. If you’re on the fence about this event, please let Yellow Scene remind you that all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

Fall Back Beer Festival – November 1
Whether you’re looking for some hair of the dog or just want to learn how to brew your own beer the Fall Back Beer Festival at the Estes Park Events Complex is for you. This beer event is one of kind in that, not only can you sample and buy over 100 unique beers from 30 different Colorado breweries, but you can learn how to concoct your own brew at home. The American Homebrewers Association will be present and will offer sampling and demonstrations for those interested in learning how to brew from home. Beer glass experts, professional food pairings, samples from hop farms, giveaways and more are just a few of the highlights at this unique beer fest. If that’s not enough adventure for you, 30 people will get to have dinner with the brewers after the event in the VIP Overlook Lounge. The dinner will include a three course meal with your choice of beer flight. All food pairings for the event and dinner are prepared by certified cicerones. The event is family friendly but you must be 21 years or older to drink. Tickets start at $30. Call 970-586-6104 for ticketing and information.

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I, like most of you, love a good ghost story—especially this time of year. With Halloween just around the corner, the sights and sounds of spooky spirits can be found all around—from the costume-clad sign twirlers advertising on street corners to the eerie screams of frightened haunted house goers, the season of spook is definitely upon us.

Arguably one of the most iconic symbols of horror in Colorado is located just below the entrance to the breathtaking Rocky Mountain National Park in the stunningly scenic mountain town of Estes Park. The Stanley Hotel has been a staple in local folklore for decades, providing stories of residents and hotel guests that check in, but they never check out… Tales of unsettled spirits and gory images popularized by films inspired by Stephen King novels draw thousands of guests to this hundred-year-old haunt every year.

In need of a mini-vacation, and catching the Halloween spirit, I decided that a weekend trip to the Stanley Hotel would be the perfect place to relax, breathe some fresh mountain air and spend the weekend before All Hallows Eve.

Autumn colors blanketed the mountain landscape and sixty degree weather and sunshine greeted us as we reached our final destination. The temperatures began to drop and the afternoon sky began to fade, which signaled the time for my group of ghost adventurers to make our way up to the Stanley Hotel that stands as a ghostly fixture against a rocky mountain backdrop above the town.

Having pre-purchased tickets for two of the Stanley ghost tours, my group met up with other intrigued guests and one brave tour guide and began weaving our way in and around the Hotel, for the Ghost and History portion of the tour. Our guide pointed out the hand-crafted architectural pieces that create the old-timey feel of the hotel, along with popular paranormal hot spots and the history that is captured in the elegant ballrooms and the narrow hallways throughout the hotel.

I finished this tour feeling satisfied about my newfound knowledge of the history and the trivia of the hotel, but only a tiny bit spooked by the actual ghost part of the tour. If you plan on taking a tour at the Stanley, I definitely recommend that you follow the Ghost and History Tour with a tour of the nearby Concert Hall. This is where the tour guides, such as the infamous Scary Mary, will really make the hair on your arms stand up. After entering the Concert Hall, built by the Stanley’s to host upscale parties for their visiting guests, the exterior doors were locked, and the ghost stories began.

Down in the dreary basement, my group, finally feeling a little creeped out, made our way to a tiny, pitch-dark room where we were politely introduced to the spirit of “Lucy”, a Concert Hall regular and good friend of Scary Mary. Although goose bumps crept over my arms, and one of my hands was permanently extended towards the door, (just in case), the lights eventually flickered back on and we finished our tour of the Concert Hall with a friendly childhood game played with some of the spirit kids that still roam the grounds. Our day of ghost hunting was capped off with a glass of wine on the front porch of the hotel and the sharing of some ghost stories of our own.

If you’re interested in visiting the Stanley in search of some ghostly activities, act now. All tours do continue through the month of November, but fill up quickly, just like the guest rooms. And if you’re ready for a really big scare, sign up for an all-night Ghost Hunt, a chilling séance or a Murder Mystery Dinner or request to stay in the most haunted rooms on the property.   

If you’re ghost hunting on a budget, reserve your space for the tours through the Stanley, but check out some of the other local hotels to save some money on your accommodations. And be sure to reward yourself for not crying like a little girl by indulging at some of the popular eateries in Downtown Estes– where you just might have some unexpected dinner guests join the party…

The post The Bolder Life: Ghost Adventures: Colorado Style appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Yep. It’s that time again. The end of October truly marks the beginning of holiday season in my world, and Halloween, the first holiday on tap, happens to be one of my favorite holidays of the entire year.

As a kid, my parents used to spend months planning, prepping and setting up for the elaborate Halloween haunted houses that they would throw on the few acres of land that I grew up on along the St. Vrain River in Lyons. Hundred-year-old barns, sheds and cellars were converted into graveyards, eerie science labs and haunted buildings where mummies and straw scarecrows suddenly came to life, causing some of the younger attendees (and let’s be honest, myself) to shed some pretty legit tears that would last until familiar faces could be recognized underneath the gruesome costumes and scary masks.

Six-foot holes were dug around the property for vampires and zombies to jump out of. Pulley devices were created to enable recruited haunted house characters to fly through the air. Kids, innocently dressed as lady bugs, clowns and witches, would begin the haunted tour by reaching into bowls filled with grapes, spaghetti, tapioca pudding and other food items that made up the gross factor of the haunted house, serving as “eyeballs”, “worms” and “brains”.

Aside from my dad’s creative and spooky stories, complete with a tour of a local field filled with “spirits” (fireflies), my favorite part of the Halloween festivities was always the annual visit to the pumpkin patch followed by a night filled with pumpkin carving, apple cider and toasted pumpkin seeds.

This year, after a few years of sidelining the Halloween traditions that I long grew up with, I decided that it was time to bring ‘em back. Last Sunday, with a crew of pumpkin hunters in tow, I visited the bustling pumpkin patch at Munson Farms and searched and searched until I found my perfect pumpkin. I chose a petite, perfectly unblemished pumpkin which resembled more of a Jacqueline-o-Lantern and less of a Jack-o-Lantern. Families armed with wheelbarrows and wagons spread out around the decent sized, scarecrow-filled pumpkin patch, all methodically testing each pumpkin in their path for weight, size, blemishes and stem length. Happy kids rode the tractor-drawn hay ride which wound its way through the corn fields that produce Munson Farm’s most popular item, and an abundance of farm fresh apples, squash and zucchini were stacked in bins and available for purchase at the farm stand.

All in all, I had a pretty successful trip to the pumpkin patch. I picked up a few baby gourds, pumpkins and dried corn for decorating, some apples for snacking, and when I got my perfect pumpkin home, I carved a pretty decent rendition of the CU Buffaloes logo into it, showing off my team spirit in hopes of bringing my hometown team some much needed luck for this weekend’s Homecoming game.

With temperatures reaching the high 60’s, this weekend looks like it’s shaping up to be the perfect sun-filled weekend for starting some Halloween traditions of your own. Check out Munson Farms, on the corner of 75^th and Valmont for all of your pumpkin and fall vegetable needs and save time for a classic hay ride around the property. One trip to Munson Farms will be sure to get you into the spooky spirit of the Halloween season!

Munson Farms is open seven days a week from 9:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. Pumpkin prices range from $7-$11 and parking on the farm grounds is limited, so utilize the shoulder parking off of Valmont Street.

The post The Bolder Life: Pumpkin Patching appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

OK, let’s be totally honest. As much as you love candy and dressing up as a princess, this holiday is really for the Dora the Explorer set. It’s play time, and we’re your guide to everything that goes bump in the night. Check out these great costume, candy and trick-or-treat ideas:

Hot Halloween Costumes

Kid-Friendly Spooky Recipes

Trick or Treat Spooktacular

The post Halloween Scene: They’re Back! appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Coloradans are pretty active folks. We love to cycle and mountain bike. We love workouts like yoga and tai chi. We hike on our lunch breaks and hit the Crossfit gym after work. But above all, the people of Colorado are runners. We eat 5K’s for breakfast and run marathons at 5200 feet above sea level for dessert. For obvious reasons, the summer months typically offer the most opportunities to strap a number to your favorite running gear items, and compete against other like-minded people with bulging calves, however—some of the most popular 5K’s in the Boulder County area happen in the Fall and Winter months. This might have something to do with the number of candy/food/all-around-indulging holidays that occur during these season, but it may also be the fact that race organizers know that whether it’s raining, shining or snowing, the people of Colorado will still lace up the their Nike’s and their New Balance shoes and hit the road running. While you missed the popular Devil Dash 5K in Lyons last weekend, here’s a list of other upcoming 5K’s in Boulder County this October– and stayed tuned next month for another complete list of 5K’s happening in the area in the month of November.

Kaiser Permanente Run the ‘Rocks
When: Sunday, October 16, 2011 | 9:30 a.m.
Where: Morrison, CO | Red Rocks Amphitheater
The Skinny: This race starts in the Upper North Lot and weaves its way through the beautiful, rugged terrain surrounding the popular music venue. Eventually, the race course will take runners up the legendary amphitheater stairs, and will be rewarded for finishing the race with some live music. All entry fee proceeds will be donated to the American Lung Association.

Shake, Rattle and Run
When: Saturday, October 22, 2011 | 8:00 a.m.
Where: Westminster, CO | The Orchard Town Center
The Skinny: This qualifying race will take you on a scenic tour along the Orchard Town center off of I-25 in Westminster. The Shake, Rattle and Run 5K is a benefite to support the St. Anthony North Health Foundation’s Hospital Support Fund Program with 100% of the registration fees benefiting St. Anthony North Hospital.

Eerie Erie 5K/10K & Goblin Run
When: Saturday, October 30, 2011 | 9:30 a.m.
Where: Erie, CO | Erie High School
The Skinny: Run the Eerie Erie 5K or 10K and burn off enough calories to feel less guilty about eating your fair share of Halloween treats the next day. This route begins at the Erie High School and will take you on a spooky tour of Old Town Erie including a trip past the historic Erie Cemetery.

Monster Dash 5K & Kid Race
When: Saturday, October 29, 2011 | 3:00 p.m.
Where: Louisville, CO | Old Town
The Skinny: Old Town Louisville is definitely making a name for itself as the hot place to be for everything from Famers’ Markets, to live music, to first class eateries and unique, local shopping. If you haven’t paid a visit to this updated area of Louisville, then you’ll have your chance when you run the 2nd Annual Monster Dash on October 29th. Participants are encouraged to come in costume and bring along their little ghouls and goblins for the Spooky Sprint that will guarantee them a participant ribbon, a glow bracelet and other special gifts!

The post The Bolder Life: It’s a Runner’s World appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Maybe your neighborhood isn’t the best for trick-or-treating—houses too far apart, no street lights, nobody home—or maybe you just want to make the fun to last and last. These events will ensure everyone has super-safe, and a little scary, Halloween fun.

Treats for Tots (kids under 12):

Firehouse Halloween Party for Families

Oct. 22, 5 pm

Denver Firefighters Museum

1326 Tremont Pl., Denver

denverfirefightersmuseum.org

This annual event for kids 5 and older features dinner, crafts, ghost stories, a costume contest and a visit from a real, ghostly fire engine. Make reservations before Oct. 19.

Murder in the Haunted Mansion

Oct. 22 and 29

Adams Mystery Playhouse

2406 Federal Blvd., Denver

adamsmysteryplayhouse.com

Adams Mystery Playhouse presents another fantastic mystery where you solve a crime. Two shows: Murder in the Haunted Mansion, recommended for ages 8-16, and Mystery of the Wizard’s Wand for ages 5-12.

Bug-A-Boo

Oct. 22–23

Butterfly Pavilion

6252 West 104th Ave., Westminster

butterflies.org

Games, costumes, candy, trick-or-treating and the Butterfly Pavilion’s signature creepy crawlies!

Safe Street Halloween

Oct. 23, 5:30–8:30 pm

Northglenn High School

601 West 100th Pl., Northglenn

tinyurl.com/northglennhighschool

Trick-or-treat around the school in this safe, controlled environment for all ages.

Kappa Kappa Gamma’s 6th Annual Halloween House

Oct. 23, 12:30–4 pm

1134 University Ave., Boulder

This sorority soiree features trick-or-treating, games, crafts, music, storytelling and a cupcake walk for children younger than 12 and proceeds benefit BoulderReads!, an organization that helps adults and children discover the joys of reading.

Longmont Halloween Parade and Trick-or-Treat Street

Oct. 29, 9:30 am–noon

Downtown Longmont

ci.longmont.co.us/rec/special/halloween.htm

Start the festivities off right with the annual Halloween parade. Line up begins at 9:30 am in front of the St. Vrain Memorial Building, 700 Longs Peak Ave., then parade through downtown in costume. The library will offer make and take crafts from 10:30 am to noon, and streets will remain closed after the parade for little spooks to trick-or-treat at participating downtown merchants.

Super Science Saturday

Oct. 29, 10 am–4 pm

NCAR’s Mesa Lab

1850 Table Mesa Dr., Boulder

ucar.edu/educ_outreach/visit/

Free public event features hands-on science demonstrations by NCAR scientists, workshops, activity tables, music and games.

Niwot Great Pumpkin Party

Oct. 29, 10 am–2 pm

Old Town Niwot

niwot.com/events/great_pumpkin_party

Starting at 10 am, kids can trick-or-treat through Old Town and Cottonwood Square followed by the kids and animals parade at 11 am, hayrides through town, and a spooky haunted house at the Niwot Grange. Admission is $2 with all proceeds going to benefit the Our Center.

Boo At The Zoo

Oct. 29–30

Denver Zoo

denverzoo.org

In its 27th year, Boo at the Zoo is a perennial favorite, with more than 25 trick-or-treat stations, animal demonstrations and family-friendly entertainment, all free with zoo admission. This year, a special nighttime edition of Boo at the Zoo will feature the zoo’s nocturnal creatures in a new program Friday, Oct. 28, from 6–9 pm.

Trick or Treat Train

Oct. 29-30, 10 am–4 pm

Colorado Railroad Museum

17155 W. 44th Ave., Golden

crrm.org

All aboard! The Trick or Treat Train departs every 30 minutes between 10 am and 4 pm through Trick or Treat Town where you can fill your bag with goodies. Visit the “not so spooky” haunted railcar or the Olde Railroaders silly graveyard and the Pumpkin Patch. Then warm up around the Hobo Campfire and listen to kid-friendly storytelling.

Trick or Treat Street

Oct. 29–31

Children’s Museum of Denver

2121 Children’s Museum Dr.

cmdenver.org

Free with admission to the museum, the Halloween activities start with trick-or-treating from one treat house to the next to collect goodies, and continues with Halloween crafts, a Monster Carnival and Pumpkin Hill.

Munchkin Masquerade

Oct. 31, 2–5 pm

Pearl Street, Boulder

boulderdowntown.com/events

Every year, Pearl Street is taken over by hoards of tiny ghosts and goblins—as well as fairy princesses, superheroes and pirates—for the annual Munchkin Masquerade. Although this event is always packed, it’s guaranteed fun for kiddos who love to trick-or-treat along the mall. Last year, a flash mob of zombies even “livened” up the fun.

Halloween Parade & safe halloween night

Parade on Oct. 29, 9:30 am line-up, parade at 10 am. Safe Night on Oct. 31, 6–8:30 pm

Longmont Recreation Center

310 Quail Rd.

ci.longmont.co.us/rec

Free events geared toward ages 10 and younger.  Halloween night features carnival games, bounce houses and boat rides, and the parade is just good ol’ fashioned Halloween fun (aka candy!).

Tricks for Teens (ages 12 to adult):

Mile High Horror Film Festival

Oct. 7–9

Tivoli Theater at the Starz Film Center

900 Auraria Pkwy., Denver

milehighhorrorfestival.com

Three days of fun, parties, panels, events and, most importantly, chilling independent horror films from around the world.

Victorian Horrors at The Molly Brown House Museum

Oct. 14–15 and Oct. 21–22

Molly Brown House Museum

1340 Pennsylvania St., Denver

mollybrown.org

Classic stories of Edgar Allan Poe, HG Wells and others are brought to life in the dim,
flickering candlelight.

Shake, Rattle and Run 5K

Oct. 22, 8 am

Orchard Town Center

14697 Delaware St., Westminster

Shape up with the whole family—in costume—with a little jog then visit the St. Anthony North Health Tent for health screenings.

Denver Zombie Crawl

Oct. 22, 2 pm

Downtown Denver

eyeheartbrains.com

Put on your best (worst?) zombie regalia and join the largest zombie gathering in history at Skyline Park. Entry fee is a non-perishable food item to donate to the Food Bank of the Rockies.

Living History: Mary Shelley

Oct. 26, 7 pm

George Reynolds Branch Library

3595 Table Mesa Dr., Boulder

boulderlibrary.org/locations/grb.html

Susan Marie Frontczak portrays English writer Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, the author of Frankenstein. Free, but call 303.441.3120 to reserve your space, as seating is limited.

The post Trick or Treat Spooktacular appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Creepy Cupcakes
by Genny Fetherson
Piece, Love and Chocolates
805 Pearl St., Boulder, 303.449.4804
Both designs can be made from any cupcake base, with a favorite chocolate frosting and white frosting. The ghost cupcakes are made by using white fondant, which can be easily found at any major craft store in the cake decorating aisle.

Also needed:
1/4 cup of chocolate, melted and put into a small zip-lock bag with the very tip of a corner cut off (a white chocolate bag is optional)
Black jellybeans
Chocolate sprinkles
Mini chocolate chips
Large marshmallows

For spider web cupcake:
Frost the cupcake with white frosting, making the surface fairly smooth. With melted chocolate, make a spiral design starting in the center of the cupcake and circling outward. Immediately draw a toothpick through the pattern, moving from the center to the outer edge. You can make a spider by using a black jellybean (or coffee bean). We covered ours in chocolate and rolled it in sprinkles (to make him hairy!). If you want, make eyes on the spider by using melted white chocolate and legs using dark chocolate.

For ghost cupcake:
Frost the cupcake with either chocolate or white frosting. Place a large marshmallow just behind the center of the cupcake. Roll fondant on a clean, smooth surface (use a bit of vegetable shortening to keep the fondant from sticking). Cut into 4-inch circles. Carefully place one over the marshmallow and sculpt it to create the head and flying body. Add eyes by quickly melting the bottom of a mini chocolate chip and placing it on the ghost’s face, or putting melted chocolate on the bottom of chip to use as glue.

Pulled Candy

by Robin Autorino

Robin Chocolates

237 Collyer St., Longmont, 720.204.8003

Ingredients: (makes about 2 pounds)

2 cups sugar

2 cups corn syrup (honey can be substituted for a very tasty option)

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. extract (your choice; lemon, peppermint, raspberry, almond, anise, etc.)

3 drops food color (totally not needed if you don’t want colors)

Directions:

1. In a large saucepan over medium heat, combine sugar, corn syrup and salt. Stir until sugar is dissolved. With a damp pastry brush, wipe down the sides of the pan.

2. Stop stirring, raise heat to high and cook until the temperature reaches 290 F.

3. Pour syrup onto a marble slab or heatproof, non-stick surface, sprayed with nonstick spray. Using a bench scraper, fold the edges of sugar mass in toward the center.

4. While the candy is hot, add extract and color. Don’t worry if the color is not even, when you start to pull, it will smooth out.

5. When the candy is cool enough to handle, wearing latex gloves—sprayed with nonstick spray—pick up enough candy that you can pull but not so much that it’s hard to handle, start pulling the candy into a rope. Once the rope is formed, fold in half and pull again. Continue this for approximately 10 to 15 minutes or until the candy is opaque and very difficult to pull.

6. Pull into a long rope and cut (spray the scissors) into half-inch pieces.

7. Wrap each piece in wax paper. The candy will keep for 2-3 weeks in a tightly covered container. Do not refrigerate.

The post Kid-Friendly Spooky Recipes appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

OK, let’s be totally honest. As much as you love candy and dressing up as a princess, this holiday is really for the Dora the Explorer set. It’s play time, and we are your guide to everything that goes bump in the night.

The post Hot Halloween Costumes appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.