Travelsmartplanet

Grab your ghosts and goblins and head to the wildest Halloween celebration in Palm Beach County. Palm Beach Zoo’s not-so-scary Halloween tradition Boo at the Zoo returns for it’s 19th year. Enjoy trick-or-treating all around Palm Beach Zoo, little kids costume contests, strolling famous costume characters, DJ, and more.

There’s also an important conservation message at Boo at the Zoo. The candy given away at the zoo comes from manufacturers who belong to the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) or follow comparable sustainability practices.  The harvesting of palm oil in Southeast Asia is one of the biggest threats to animals like the zoo’s Malayan tigers, and numerous other endangered species in SE Asia and Indonesia.

Most Boo at the Zoo activities are included in admission.

Location: Palm Beach Zoo, 1301 Summit Blvd, West Palm Beach, Florida 33405-3035
Date & Time – Days: Oct 20 – 22, Oct 27-29 10am – 4pm
Evenings: Oct 20 – 21, Oct 27-28
5pm – 9pm
Tel: 561-547-9453 (WILD)
palmbeachzoo.org
For Regional Accommodations, Restaurants & Attractions: thepalmbeaches.com

Dates/Hours:

Tags: activity, animal, Asia, Boo at the Zoo, candy, character, comparable, conservation, contest, costume, county, DJ, drive i-95, endangered, famous, ghost, goblin, Halloween, harvest, harvesting, Indonesia, kids, Malayan tiger, manufacturer, message, oil, palm, palm beach, Palm Beach Zoo, Palm Oil, practice, Roundtable, RSPO, Southeast, Southeast Asia, species, stroll, sustainability, sustainable, threat, tiger, tradition, trick or treat, trick-or-treating, zoo

The 10th Annual Eastern Carolina BBQ Throwdown is a professional cooking competition based on KCBS categories (chicken, pork ribs, pork & beef brisket). Awards include Grand Champion, Reserved Grand Champion, and People’s Choice Award. Cash awards, trophies and plaques awarded up to 10th place in each category. There will be 58 opportunities to win.

The Friday night Kick Off Party includes a Kick Off Concert featuring Who’s Bad- The Ultimate Michael Jackson tribute band  held in downtown Rocky Mount. KCBS representatives will be present and competition judging starts at noon on Saturday, October 14, using the blind judging technique. This is a party you don’t want to miss, with plenty of delicious food, beverages, and great entertainment. Bring your lawn chairs or blankets and come have some fun.

Schedule of Events:

Location: 101 Coastline St, Downtown Rocky Mount,NC  27804 – in front of the Helen P. Gay Historic Rocky Mount Train Station
Date & Time: Fri, Oct. 13 – Sat, Oct. 14, 2017
Time: Fri 12 pm – 8 pm, Sat 10 am – 6 pm
Tel: 252-972-1159
downtownrockymount.com/events/eastern-carolina-bbq-throwdown
For Regional Accommodations, Restaurants & Attractions: rockymounttravel.com

Tags: annual, award, band, BBQ, beef, beef brisket, beverage, blanket, blind, brisket, Carolina, cash, category, chair, champion, chicken, commercial, competition, concert, cooking, downtown, drive i-95, eastern, Eastern Carolina BBQ Throwdown, entertainment, exhibitor, food, fun, judge, judging, kick off, lawn, live, Michael Jackson, music, North Carolina, party, People’s Choice, plaque, pork, pork ribs, prize, professional, representative, ribs, Rocky Mount, technique, throwdown, tribute, trophy, vendor

Salem, MA Exit 47 to route 114: Salem is synonymous with Halloween and you are invited to a month long Halloween party. Throughout the entire eerie month of October, Salem offers the ultimate Halloween experience filled with fun, goosebumps worthy entertainment.

Monsters of all shapes and sizes are welcome. Kicking off with “movie monsters” themed Haunted Happenings Grand Parade on Thursday, Oct 6th, “Wicked Wednesday” family programs, Tales & Tombstones Trolley Tours and so much more.  Hundreds of events for all ages are scheduled during October.

Surrender to the spell of Salem, check out the information below from haunted houses, historic landmarks, hotels and lodging, restaurants and taverns to costume parties, ghost tours, historic tours, events, psychic and tarot readings, witch and magical shops and transportation.

Photo credits: John Andrews Photography

Location: Various
Date: Oct 5 – 31
Tel: 978-744-0004
salemhalloweencity.com
hauntedhappenings.org

For Regional Accommodations, Restaurants & Attractions: merrimackvalley.org
salem.org

Tags: capella, chase, cinema, costume, devil, drive i-95, eerie, entertainment, event, experience, fair, family-friendly, festival, fun, ghost, Grand, Halloween, harmony, haunted, historic, horror, hotel, house, landmark, lodging, magical, Massachusetts, month, New England, parade, party, picture, psychic, reading, Restaurant, ride, Rocky, run, Salem, scared, shop, show, spell, street, surrender, tarot, tavern, tour, transportation, treasure, treat, trick, Wicked, witch

The word is out pig lovers won’t want to miss this one: the  DeLand Bacon and Brew Fest. Who does not like Bacon or Beer, a match made in heaven. There will be approximately 125 food and beverage vendors, variety of live music, and the event will play homage to all things bacon with a wide variety of bacon dishes, along with bacon-related and bacon inspired contests.

Imagine bacon, craft beer, wineries, and lots of vendors with their products. Indulge in mouth watering bacon-y deliciousness. You could buy bacon or beer jam, bacon-stuffed pretzels, sample bacon cupcakes, and purchase chocolate covered bacon—that’s just for starters. Many of the regular market vendors spiked their production line to include bacon in some way, whether in fudge, a cheese dip, or a cinnamon roll—or in one of 14 different varieties of bacon itself. Bacon Eating Contest at 2pm.

A portion of the proceeds will go to The Neighborhood Center of West Volusia, so bring on the bacon!

Location: Earl Brown Park, 750 S Alabama Ave, DeLand, FL 32724
Date: Sat, Sept 30
Time: 1 – 7pm
Tel: 386-316-2959
baconandbrewfestdeland.com
For Regional Accommodations, Restaurants & Attractions:daytonabeach.com
visitnsbfl.com

Tags: bacon, Baconfest, beer, beverage, brew, center, cheese, Chocolate, cinnamin, contest, craft beer, cupcake, Daytona, DeLand, dip, dish, drive i-95, event, fest, festival, Florida, food, fudge, jam, live, market, music, neighborhood, pretzel, proceed, product, production, roll, sample, starter, variety, vendor, Volusia, winery

Saturday is a big day at Benson Mule Days as thousands of spectators grapple for a place to sit or stand to observe the one of the biggest parades in North Carolina. Bands, floats, Shriner units, classic cars, antique tractors, unique entries, beauty queens, and hundreds of horses, mules, buggies, wagons make their way down Main Street of Benson beginning at 10am.

There are three rodeos of which the first begins on Friday night followed by a Saturday night and Sunday afternoon performance. A new event this year are Mule Day Dances. After the rodeos on Friday and Saturday nights, kick up your heels at the Chamber Park.

Get a complete schedule of events- here

Location: Various – see schedule
Date: Sept 21-24, 2017
Hours: Various – see schedule
Tel: 919-894-3825
bensonmuledays.com
For Regional Accommodations, Restaurants & Attractions: johnstoncountync.org

Tags: activity, afternoon, annual, antique, arena, arts and crafts, band, beauty, Benson, Benson Mule Days, best, bestfriend, bluegrass, buggy, camping, car, carnival, celebration, chamber, Chamber of Commerce, champion, classic, competition, competitor, contest, coon, dance, Drivei-95, entry, event, family, farmer, festival, float, fun, Grand, honor, horse, jumping, mule, music, North Carolina, old, parade, park, performance, population, pulling, queen, race, ride, rodeo, show, shriner, spectator, street, town, tractor, unique, vendor, wagon, weekend, young

Nestled among fields of corn and soybeans, this dynamic 65-acre garden is set in the rural Pee Dee region near Lake City, South Carolina. Moore Farms Botanical Garden is the perfect learning environment. They also host classes and professional workshops.

Join Caroline Harper at Moore Farms Botanical Garden on Thursday, September 28, 2017 for an artful day in the garden at a workshop creating Eco Print Scarves.

Eco printing is basically a direct contact printing method, drawing out pigments from plants to make interesting and often surprising marks on protein (silk) fibre. In this class accomplished artist Caroline Harper will show you how to create 2 silk scarves with foraged leaves, flowers, vegetable skins and other objects found from the garden.

The unique colors and shapes that occur from these materials will make your scarf a one-of-a-kind masterpiece. Silk and organic material will be provided but please bring anything you would like to add to embellish your dazzling scarves. Registration is limited to 20 participants. $60 per person

BUY TICKETS

Location: Moore Farms Botanical Garden, 100 New Zion Road, Lake City, SC 29560
Date: Thurs, Sept 28, 2017
Time: 1:30 pm to 4:30 pm
Tel: 843-210-7582
moorefarmsbg.org
For Regional Accommodations, Restaurants & Attractions: lakecitysc.com/visiting visitflo.com

Tags: art, artful, artist, botanical, class, color, contact, corn, create, drawing, Drivei-95, eco, embellish, environment, fabric, fibre, field, Florence, flower, foraged, garden, Lake City, leaf, learning, leaves, mark, masterpiece, material, method, Moore Farms Botanical Garden, object, one-of-a-kind, organic, Pee Dee, pigment, plant, print, printing, professional, protein, region, rural, scarf, scarves, shape, silk, skin, South Carolina, soybean, unique, vegetable, workshop

Join the Carroll County Farm Museum for a Chincoteague Pony-themed tea. Program includes: book signing, luncheon and meet a real Chincoteague pony.

Tea features a boxed lunch with ice cream and lemonade. After tea, learn about the Chincoteague ponies and their wetlands with fun facts, colorful slides and inspirational stories with a presentation given by children’s author Lois Syzmanski  on the wild ponies of Chincoteague.

Afterwards, visit with a real Chincoteague Pony and horse trainer, Summer Barrick.

Spots are limited. Reservations by September 15 –  800-654-4645.

Location: Carroll County Farm Museum, 500 S Center St, Westminster, MD 21157
Date: Sat,  Sept 30, 2017
Time: 11 – 1pm
Tel: 800-654-4645
carrollcountyfarmmuseum.org/event/pony-tea/?instance_id=438
For Regional Accommodations, Restaurants & Attractions: carrollcountytourism.org

Tags: author, book, boxed, Carroll County, children, Chincoteague, colorful, county, drive i-95, earn, fact, farm, fun, horse, ice cream, inspirational, lemonade, Lois Syzmanski, lunch, luncheon, Maryland, Museum, ponies, pony, presentation, program, signing, slide, story, tea, theme, trainer, Westminster, wetland, wild

The 2nd annual Clean Water PaddleFEST in Annapolis is to celebrate and bring awareness to clean up efforts in Spa Creek while enjoying a day full of fun.

Paddle at your own pace or take a guided on-water tour of Spa Creek. Guided tours available at 2pm. See educational stops along Spa Creek detailing conservation efforts which aim to make it again fishable and swimmable. Afterwards attend the Eco-Fest with informative exhibits from area environment groups with plenty of activities for kids.

All human powered paddlers and vessels are welcome to attend. Bring your own craft or use a stand up paddle board or kayak from Capital SUP. There will be a mass paddle and foot show of support for clean water in Spa Creek at 12 noon, on and in the water around the Spa Creek bridge.

Fun activities and prizes for all ages. Kid and dog friendly. All proceeds benefit Spa Creek Conservancy.

Your ticket includes:

On-water guided or self tour
Food BBQ beverages
Wine and beer
Event tee shirt
Admission to EcoFEST
Dry Bags to first 200 ticket holders
Live Music from 1-3pm

Location:Capital SUP on Spa Creek, 808 Boucher Avenue, Annapolis, MD 21403
Date: Sat, Sept 16, 2017
Time:  11  – 4pm
spacreek.net/index.php/events/special-events
For Regional Accommodations, Restaurants & Attractions: visitannapolis.org

Tags: activity, admission, afe, Annapolis, area, attend, awareness, bag, BBQ, beer, beverage, board, bound, bridge, capital, challenge, clean, clean up, conservation, craft, creek, day, detailing, drive i-95, dry, Eco-Fest, Ecofest, educational, effort, environment, event, exhibit, fish, foot, friendly, fun, group, guided, human, informative, kayak, kid, learn, live, Maryland, mass, music, pace, paddle, PaddleFEST, paddler, participation, pet, powered, prize, restoring, shirt, show, Spa Creek, stand-up, stop, SUP, support, swim, tee, ticket, tour, vessel, water, wine

Now in its 18th year, the Rhode Island Chinese Dragon Boat Races & Taiwan Day Festival is an extraordinary event for the whole family to enjoy.  Join the thousands of people who attend each year for exciting competition, family-fun, and a great opportunity to learn more about Chinese culture.

Racers continue to use the fiberglass Taiwanese-style dragon boats gifted to them from the Republic of China (Taiwan)  and incorporate the skill of flag-catching in each race.

The course length is 1,000 feet long up the Pawtucket River, with three boats racing at a time. A unique element to the races is the larger Taiwanese-style dragon boats, wood paddles, and the flag-catching in each race. If the flag is missed a penalty is added to their time.

Sanctioned by the Eastern Regional Dragon Boat Association, the RI Chinese Dragon Boat Races consist of two divisions: the Mixed Division, which requires a minimum of 6 female paddlers, and the Open Division that has no gender restrictions.

In addition to the exciting boat races, under the giant tent you will find Taiwan Day festivities with some top notch entertainment including  cultural performances, many art & crafts tables, and the ever-popular dumpling eating contest. The festival also has a great selection of vendors, interactive activities, and food trucks.

Don’t miss the great entertainment throughout the day including:

Tags: activity, arts & crafts, association, Blackstone, Blackstone Valley, boat, cash, catching, China, Chinese, competition, contest, course, cultural, culture, dancer, day, division, dragon, DragonBoat, drive i-95, dumpling, eastern, eating, entertainment, event, family, family-friendly, female, festival, fiberglass, final, flag, food, food truck, fun, game, gender, gift, gifted, interactive, learn, lion, mixed, paddle, paddler, Pawtucket, penaly, performance, prize, race, racing, regional, Republic, Republic of China, restriction, Rhode Island, river, sanctioned, skill, style, Taiwan, Taiwanese, tent, time, traditional, truck, Valley, vendor, watermelon, wood, yo-yo, yoyo

Located in the rural heart of Maryland’s Eastern Shore, the family-owned  Crow Vineyard & Winery will be holding their 3rd annual CrowFest. It celebrates the bounty of the Eastern Shore and the beginning of the harvesting of their grapes on Sunday, September 10, 2017 from 11 – 5PM.

Spend the day enjoying the award winning Crow wines and the talents of additional Eastern Shore vendors.  The event includes wine tastings, live music provided by Phil Dutton and the Alligators, food samplings, local vendors, cooking demonstrations, seminars, grape stomping (who wouldn’t love to stomp on grapes), hayrides through the vineyards and  numerous children’s activities.

Local vendors will include: Painted Sky Alpaca Farm, Barrel Smith Designs, Beachin’ Glass, Melting Down Creations, Chainsaw Carving by Josh, and local food offerings from Haass’ Family Butcher Food Truck, Kilby Ice Cream MooTruck, Orchard Point Oyster Co., Chester River Aronia, Nolia Chocolates, Oksana’s Produce Farm, Red Acres Lettuce, and Lockbriar Farms.

Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased by clicking here.

Location: Crow Vineyard & Winery, 12441 Vansant Corner Rd, Kennedyville 21645
Date: Sun, Sept 10, 2017
Time: 11 – 5pm
Tel: 302-304-0551
crowvineyardandwinery.com
For Regional Accommodations, Restaurants & Attractions: kentcounty.com

Tags: acre, activity, Alpaca, award, barrel, bounty, butcher, celebrate, celebrity, chef, Chocolate, cooking, county, cream, creation, crow, Crowfest, demonstration, design, Drivei-95, eastern, family, farm, festival, food, glass, grape, harvest, hayride, Kennedyville, Kent, kids, kilby, lettuce, live, local, Maryland, moo, music, orchard, owned, oyster, paint, point, produce, seminar, shore, sky, stomping, talent, truck, vendor, vineyard, VIP, wine, winemaker, winery, winning