Want to Scare Up Some Fun? Try These

Halloween will be a five-day celebration in the San Gabriel Valley this year with activities for children and adults beginning this weekend and continuing through Wednesday, when the goblins and ghosts will be out in full force.

Children’s Activities

Children can prepare for Halloween at a mask-making workshop at the Armory Center for the Arts, 145 N. Raymond Ave., Pasadena, from 2 to 5 p.m. Saturday. Cost of the workshop, also open to parents, is $15.

Parents are also welcome when the city of Rosemead sponsors a workshop on “creating your own Halloween treat bag” for children 4 to 12. The event will be at the Garvey Park Clubhouse, 7933 Emerson Place, from 2:30 to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Cost is 50 cents.

The city of Sierra Madre will begin Halloween with a pumpkin coloring and carving contest at the New Mariposa parking lot at 2 p.m. Saturday. Adults can display pumpkins they have carved at home at 10 a.m. On Wednesday, festivities will begin at 4 p.m. when children 13 and younger line up to participate in the costume parade that begins at 5 p.m.

The parade will begin at Kersting Court on the corner of Sierra Madre Boulevard and Baldwin Avenue and end at Memorial Park on Sierra Madre, where awards will be presented at 5:30 p.m. for the scariest, funniest and most original costumes in several age categories. The evening will conclude with a carnival at 6 p.m. and a haunted house at 6:30 p.m.

Another children’s costume parade will take place in Claremont as part of the Village Venture Street Faire on 1st Street one block east of Indian Hill Boulevard from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.

The parade will begin at 10:30 a.m. at Claremont Village Park, Bonita and Harvard avenues. The festivities will include arts and crafts, food and games and activities.

A costume contest will be part of the Alhambra Downtown Assn.’s Halloween Festival at Edwards Theater, Alhambra Place, 100 E. Bay State St., at 9 a.m. Saturday.

The La Verne Library, 3640 D St., will offer a Halloween program with spooky stories and crafts for children from 2 to 3 p.m. Saturday.

A Halloween magic show and costume parade will be held at the Lamanda Park branch of the Pasadena Public Library, 140 S. Altadena Drive, at 7 p.m. Monday. The library’s Hall Avenue branch, 55 S. Hill Ave., will offer a puppet show party at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday.

A costume contest at 6:30 p.m. and a spooky cartoon show at 7 p.m. will be sponsored by the city of San Gabriel at the San Gabriel Civic Auditorium on Wednesday.

The annual pumpkin festival of Sequoyah School, Pasadena Avenue and California Boulevard, Pasadena, will be from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. The event will include games, a barbecue, a cornhusking contest at 11 a.m. and a costume parade at noon. Admission is free.

More than 300 handicapped children from Sunset and San Jose schools, which serve the Hacienda La Puente and Rowland school districts, will participate in a special Halloween trick or treat program at Puente Hills Mall in Industry from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Wednesday. The students, who are mentally and physically handicapped, and 90 participating merchants will be in costume.

Santa Anita Fashion Park, 400 S. Baldwin Ave., Arcadia, will hold trick or treat on the mall Wednesday. Merchants will give treats to children 12 and younger between 6:30 and 8:30 p.m.

A Halloween carnival will be sponsored by the Monterey Park Recreation and Parks Department and the Eastside Optimist Club at Barnes Park, Ramona and Newmark avenues, beginning at 3 p.m. Wednesday. A costume parade and the traditional lighting of the bonfire will be at 7 p.m.

The Temple City Parks and Recreation Department will sponsor a Halloween carnival at Live Oak Park, 10144 Bogue St., from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday. The free event will include lighting of a bonfire and a costume parade.

The city of Azusa will hold a haunted house at Memorial Park Recreation Center, 320 N. Orange Place, from 7 to 10 p.m. Wednesday. Tickets are $2.50.

West Covina’s Haunted House will be at the Community Youth Center, Lark Ellen and Cameron avenues, on Tuesday and Wednesday. Hours Tuesday are 7 to 8:30 p.m. On Wednesday, in addition to the Haunted House, there will be carnival booths, costume contests and food from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Admission is $2.

Adult Activities

The grown-ups will begin celebrating Halloween when the city of West Covina sponsors a dance at the Senior Center, 2501 E. Cortez St., at 7 p.m. today. The cost is $3.50.

The Monterey Park Chamber of Commerce will hold a party at Luminarias restaurant, 3500 Ramona Blvd., at 7 p.m. Friday. The event will include a buffet dinner, costume contest and dancing. Tickets are $35.

The El Monte/South El Monte Jets youth football organization will sponsor a Halloween dance at the South El Monte Community Center, 1530 Central Ave., at 8 p.m. Saturday. Tickets are $9. A costume dance will be at Let’s Dance, LA, 216 E. Main St., Alhambra, at 8 p.m. Saturday. The cost is $10.

A Halloween walk will be held at Eaton Canyon Nature Center, 1750 N. Altadena Drive, Pasadena, at 7 p.m. Monday. Costumes are allowed, but not masks. The donation is $2.

The San Gabriel Parks and Recreation Department will sponsor a free Halloween dance for senior citizens at the Adult Recreation Center, 324 S. Mission Drive, from 1 to 4 p.m. Wednesday. Costumes are optional.