Halloween
IN COSTUME
Ninjas, Knights, Sharks, Goddesses, and Batgirls About Town
Halloween is ‘for the kids’ — and for candy
Naruto and a Lego Nexo Knight, characters from two different anime shows, fuel up an hour before Monday’s soccer practice with egg and bacon sandwiches and by climbing trees outside Wellfleet’s Flying Fish Café.
TRICK OR TREAT
A Town-by-Town Halloween Guide
Where to find candy caches, parades, pumpkins, spooky stories, and perhaps a bit of the paranormal in your neighborhood
PROVINCETOWN
Spook-tac-u-tour
The Provincetown Recreation Dept. is offering a “spooky but family-friendly interactive tour of Provincetown.” QR codes the department has placed around town guide the way. Once you scan each code, you’ll see images and the historical background of the location where the code is posted, a mash-up of research by historian David Dunlap, author of Building Provincetown, and the book Paranormal Provincetown by Sam Baltrusis.
You can reach the locations by car or on foot. And, this year, due to multiple requests, there is an adult version of spooky lore, said Caroline Thompson, assistant recreation director.
The QR codes are active now and will last until Nov. 1.
Greet ’n’ Treat
The seventh annual Greet ’n’ Treat will be held Friday, Oct. 29, from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. at Motta Field. This is a version of “trunk or treat.” Business owners will decorate their vehicles and provide candy. Children are invited to dress up and have fun trick or treating.
Parents may sign up for one of two time slots at the Provincetown Recreation Dept. website.
Masks are advised. —K.C. Myers
WELLFLEET
Spooky Stories
On Friday, Oct. 29, storytellers will flock to Wellfleet Preservation Hall armed with five-minute Halloween-themed tales. The Mosquito Story Slam will kick off at 7 p.m. (Doors open at 6:30.) A total of 10 people will be plucked from the audience at random to regale the crowd with “the time that haunted you, or creeped you out,” says the flyer. Tickets go for $20, and the event will take place indoors.
Halloween Parade
Saturday is the day to show off your spooky style in the center of town, starting at 2 p.m. The parade will go from Preservation Hall past the Wellfleet Marketplace, wind down Bank Street, veer right on Commercial, and conclude at Baker’s Field, where snacks, a haunted playground, and ponies await. Zoë Lewis, the musician, will be there, too, ready to groove with the goblins. The mask mandate is still in place for everyone age two and over.
Pumpkin Palooza
On Sunday, Wellfleet Preservation Hall welcomes whatever pumpkin creations you’ve whipped up. Drop them off before 3 p.m. and at dusk they’ll be lit and allowed to glow until 7 p.m. Costumes are encouraged. —Jasmine Lu
EASTHAM
Click, Clack, Boo!
The Eastham Library will hold a Halloween-themed story walk featuring the bestselling children’s book Click, Clack, Boo! by Doreen Cronin and Betsy Lewin. Pages of the book have been reprinted on storyboards that children can read as they walk around the outside of the library, take in the fall foliage, and enjoy the view of Depot Pond.
A Trick-or-Treat Map
For the second year in a row, Eastham residents can add themselves to an online map to indicate they are Trick-or-Treater-friendly. So far, more than 35 individuals and establishments have joined the list, including the Eastham Police Dept. and the Cape Cod National Seashore’s Salt Pond Visitor Center.
To join the list, email [email protected]. To view the map, visit tinyurl.com/24wnhvhu. According to Robin Huibregtse, who organized the list, residents can add their addresses to the list until Halloween morning.
Town Hall-oween
Eastham got a head start on the holiday by holding the town’s main event, Town Hall-oween, organized by the Eastham Recreation Dept., last Sunday, Oct. 24 on the Windmill Green. Recreation Dept. Director Christine Mickle said they didn’t want its celebration to interfere with events in Orleans and Wellfleet. There was trick-or-treating, pumpkin carving, and plenty of fun because “more people were in costume than not,” Mickle said. —Cam Blair
TRICK OR TREAT
A Town-by-town Plan for Finding Halloween Fun
Before we get into this week’s news, here’s an update from each town about what trick-or-treating will look like this year. From Eastham to Provincetown, you’ll find “reverse” set ups, where candy deliveries reach costumed kids at home, drive-bys, outdoor walks that explore historic buildings and enchanted forests, a pumpkin carving contest, a drive-in style ghost storytelling slam, and even the occasional traditional neighborhood event, but with plans for masks and lots of distance between ghosts. (Photo Nancy Bloom)
CURRENTS
This Week In Provincetown
Meetings Ahead
Meetings are held remotely. Go to provincetown-ma.gov and click on the meeting you want to watch.
Thursday, Oct. 22
- Public Pier Corp., 4 p.m.
- Planning Board, 6 p.m.
Monday, Oct. 26
- Community Housing Council, 12 p.m.
- Select Board, 7 p.m.
Tuesday, Oct. 27
- Charter Compliance Commission, 12:30 p.m.
- Year-Round Rental Housing Trust Board, 6 p.m.
Thursday, Oct. 29
- Economic Development Committee, 1 p.m.
Conversation Starters
Covid-19 Update
As of Oct. 20, Provincetown had zero new cases of Covid-19, 32 cases considered recovered, and one death.
Halloween During the Pandemic
Provincetown really comes alive during the celebration of the dead. But this year, well, you’re going to want to choose a costume with a mask covering your mouth and nose.
A large portion of Commercial Street, MacMillan Pier, and a small portion of Bradford Street are still “mandatory mask zones” even in costume, according to the town’s website.
Indoor entertainment will be prohibited in Provincetown, though this is stricter than the state guidelines.
As for those private parties, outdoor gatherings in private back yards will remain at a maximum of 50 people — socially distanced — for all communities.
The limit for indoor gatherings remains at a maximum of 25 people.
Also, bars are still closed.
P’town Rec’s Spook-tac-u-tour
This year the Provincetown Recreation Dept. will present its first-ever spooky but family friendly interactive tour of Provincetown. From Oct. 26 to Nov. 1, QR codes, a type of bar code that can be read by an app on a smartphone, will be placed on town buildings and other locations throughout town. As they are scanned on a cellular device, the QR codes will provide images and historical background of that specific location, provided by the Building Provincetown website, according to the town’s website. At the end of each stop along the way, there will be a clue leading you to the next location on the Spook-tac-u-tour.
QR codes will be accessible to pedestrians, and also to those taking the tour by car. For those who do not have access to a cellular device, a hard copy of the Spook-tac-u-tour can be provided upon request at town hall, or email [email protected] or [email protected].
A Sweet Halloween
Provincetown and Truro are both offering Halloween treats for children. Forget actually walking around on Halloween; the candy will be brought to you. On Oct. 29, community members living in Truro or Provincetown can have a “contactless treat bag” delivered by fire and police.
All you need to do is provide a treat bucket, or an area clearly marked where you would like your treats dropped off, the town website says. Dress up in costumes and wave to the first responders while they deliver.
Sign up online by 5 p.m. on Oct. 27:
*Provincetown community members sign up here: forms.gle/kGCmrnbQucKb7iPi8
*Truro community members sign up here: trurorec.com/
For more information: provincetown-ma.gov/84/Recreation. —K.C. Myers
Register to Vote Now
The last day to register to vote on Nov. 3 is Saturday, Oct 24. You can register online atsec.state.ma.us/OVR/. You can also verify that you’re properly registered at that site. You can also register at your town hall on Thursday and Friday this week. —Paul Benson
DEAR INDIE
A Bitter Halloween Candy Tax
Family conflict over a shrinking stash
Dear Indie,
I put a lot of effort into my Halloween trick-or-treating and came home with a major haul of candy. Way more than my older sisters, who are now officially teenagers and can’t be bothered to work on their costumes and stick to going door to door the way I do.
Last week when I came home from a soccer game in the mood for Skittles, I noticed my stash of candy was smaller than it should have been. That’s when my mom explained that while I was out she had decided to share my stash with my sisters because they didn’t get very much.
I can’t believe that my mom literally reached into my bag of candy and gave a bunch of it away to two people who didn’t work hard to get it the way I did. My mom says it’s important to keep the idea of Robin Hood in mind. But I think it was just rude.
SWEET ENOUGH, THANK YOU
Dear Sweet Enough,
Yours is a tough dilemma. Your mom wasn’t trying to be mean to you. She acted out of a love for your sisters only a parent can understand. Her sticky-fingered actions came from a mother’s heart and they don’t mean that she loves you any less.
But you should sit her down for a re-read of Robin Hood. It seems she’s remembering the plot wrong. The outlaw hero did not only steal from the rich to give to the poor, but led a systemic operation aimed at shifting the balance of power from the ruling class to the oppressed masses.
Now since you actually worked hard for your candy stash, you, my friend, seem to be part of the browbeaten proletariat. Meanwhile, your mother took a share of your earnings in an unrepresented act of taxation. (Remember this reference when you get to studying the American Revolution in history class.) She acted like the anti−Robin Hood. Nay, she was in fact the Sherriff of Nottingham!
You should also remind your mom that sibling relations are sometimes best left to the siblings to navigate, of course only after all sharp objects are removed from immediate reach. The right thing would be for your sisters to personally ask you for some of your candy. Mom can then talk to you about love, sharing, and selflessness and still let you make your own decision. Remind her that your teenage years are still to come and without some mutual boundaries she might find herself with a revolution on her hands.
Though not an actual doctor, Doctor Doublepenny is a skilled student of human nature. Send questions for Dear Indie to [email protected] or by mail to P.O. Box 1034, Provincetown, MA 02657.
Halloween 2019
An Outermost Halloween, 2019
Outer Cape kids celebrate the holiday despite the weather
dia de los muertos
Must Be the Season of the Witch
the season for feeling more alive, even for the dead
That which frightens us makes us feel more alive. Politics, sex, death, the unforeseen: all things outside our control serve this purpose.
It’s the end of October, the season for feeling more alive, even for the dead — a time for all the signs of death-within-life to grow reckless and vivid and in your face. We put on monster masks, because you can’t fear a monster while wearing its face.
All of nature participates in the illusion of dying. The light dims earlier each day as the chill wakes up. The sunsets over the breakwater take on the colors of the bonfire, orange, black, and purple. The lingering leaves seem to suck into themselves what’s left of the light while the wind, seeming way too drunk, sweeps leaves from their tethers like a flight of souls set free.
The harvest of Cape Cod commerce is in and stored away for winter. Orange lamplight glows from the windows of West End houses silhouetted black against a violet sky. A heron glides past, a cluster of bats, a monarch butterfly.
Local keepers of the Halloween flame put out pumpkins. Plastic skeletons hang from lampposts like criminals, and shreds of false cobwebs (why are they so scary to us?) bind up bushes.
The Outer Cape is gearing up for its last cackling fiesta. But Halloween was not born in Provincetown, or in Greenwich Village, and was not a child of the ’50s. Halloween has its roots buried so deep in the human condition that it’s more an archetype of our collective unconscious.
All cultures ritually acknowledge their ancestors, set aside time to contemplate the holiness of a season’s change, give thanks to still be alive, bow to what’s left of the warmth and light, and, with ceremony, honor and placate their dead.
To Americans the return of the dead is dreadful, while in other cultures, like Mexico’s, people see the return of the beloved dead on Día de los Muertos as a happy thing. The living do everything in their power to inspire the spirits on the path back home for a night of shared revelry.
Whole communities come out to spiff up the gravesites and build altars, called ofrendas, for the dead, festooned with orange, red, and purple flowers, lit candles, fragrant food, fruit, sweets, and booze. On it they lay photos, lyrics, toys, and keepsakes representing the loved person, everything to let the grandpa or nephew or wife know they are welcomed.
Meanwhile, as if on cue, an endless stream of migrating orange and black monarch butterflies from all over the world sail through the air — the universal symbol of resurrection returning to central Mexico.
So why in America and especially New England is death all decay and horror, our ultimate failure?
When the malevolent dead come back on our Halloween it’s an attempt to drag us into their realm and not the other way around. We dress up and pretend to be them, hungry ghosts demanding bribes, as we complain, like Dylan Thomas, about the dying of the light.
Inspired by Mexico’s lovely life-giving take on death, from Oct. 31 through Nov. 2 Wellfleet Preservation Hall will host a semi-traditional ofrenda installation in its front lobby. All members of the Cape Cod community are encouraged to bring photos, keepsakes, stories, candles, anything that represents their memory of a loved soul gone by and evokes the depths of their appreciation for those who have made their families and community richer with their well-lived lives.
HALLOWEEN
A Sweet Holiday Tradition Survives on Nelson Avenue
The trick-or-treat magnet is one of the town’s last year-round neighborhoods
PROVINCETOWN — Say the words “Nelson Avenue” to local kids in October and watch their eyes light up.
For years, this small neighborhood off Race Point Road has made up for what it lacks in water views and fancy architecture by being the most decorated and most candy-filled place to go trick-or-treating.
Nancy Roderick, of 12 Nelson Ave., spends about $200 on candy to prepare for the onslaught of kids who arrive every Halloween at dusk. Their parents, who often drive to Provincetown from other towns, will struggle to find parking. And the police will close off the road to cars and then patrol on bicycles through the dark street and the gangs of revelers.
“It’s our own little carnival celebration,” said Roderick, who is known to be unstinting in giving out candy. “It has nothing to do with being straight or gay. We’re just Halloweening.”
When Shannon Patrick moved into an apartment on the block 12 years ago, she said she knew she had to participate.
Now the mother of an 18- and 22-year-old, her 27 Nelson Ave. address is one of the most decorated destinations.
Last year she had a 13-foot pumpkin-headed ghoul, fog machine, graveyard, smoking cauldron, trees with owls, candles, and more.
Patrick tries to keep her place at the level of“spooky” and not let it become too scary because her own children were terrified by her neighbors Rachel and Gene Peters’s haunted house. (The Peterses used to turn their home inside and out into a Halloween extravaganza. But Gene said they stopped two years ago so they could actually go out trick-or-treating with their grandchild.)
Patrick spends about $200 on candy on top of hours of decorating.
“It’s so much fun,” Patrick said. “Families know they can come here. They take pictures of the yard. It is patrolled by the police. It’s good the kids have a safe place they can enjoy the night.”
The origins of Nelson Avenue as a Halloween destination are part socio-economic and part personal.
It all started at 21 Nelson Ave. with Mrs. Pereira, Roderick said. “Everyone tried to get ready for Mrs. P.”
Carolyn Pereira, who died on July 18 at age 83, began the tradition about 20 years ago. She happened to have made franks and beans for dinner when a boy knocked on the door to trick-or-treat and then asked for a hot dog, said Dodie Pereira, Carolyn’s daughter.
The next year, her mom made more hot dogs. She even bought a machine that cooked dogs and steamed buns at the same time.
“Then we got a grill and we cooked about 20 hot dogs at once,” she said. “Then we got chili and soup and the parents would come and sit in the living room while the kids went trick-or-treating.”
It got bigger. They served 450 hot dogs in a record year, Dodie said.
Her mom would also prepare hot chocolate, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. She made sure she had sugar-free candy for diabetic children.
Carolyn and her husband, Richard, who had Parkinson’s disease and couldn’t get out much, just loved the company, Dodie said. Halloween had always been Carolyn’s favorite holiday. And, as her obituary stated, “It brought her great joy to always be feeding others whether it be bringing plates of goodies to neighbors or a dining room full of local kids. Stop & Shop was her favorite store!”
She looked forward to Halloween all year, Dodie said.
What Carolyn started became a block party. Everyone got into decorating for the holiday, and word spread. Even when Carolyn became too sick to do her hot dogs and chili about five years ago, the neighborhood celebration continued full throttle.
Ralph Magerkurth has just moved in to 14 Nelson Ave. and is trying to get prepared.
“We heard we’ll get 400 people so we have 600 pieces of candy,” he said.
He’s got blow-up witch legs sticking out from under the house. A fog machine and more will be added as he tries to keep up with the Joneses — or, actually, the Pereiras, the Rodericks, and the Patricks.
The neighborhood was settled by “the second wave of Portuguese,” and for a while many neighbors didn’t speak much English, Roderick said. In the 1990s, when real estate prices started to push out year-round residents, Nelson Avenue stayed working class, becoming a haven for year-rounders and young families with children.
“I think it’s one of the last year-round neighborhoods,” Patrick said.
But that is changing. Walk down Nelson Avenue in daylight and it’s clear that most of the single-family homes have been chopped up into apartments and condominiums. There are fewer children living here, Patrick said. Fewer people are decorating for Halloween, Roderick added. And both women mentioned that last year was noticeably less busy.
“It’s just so expensive to live here,” said Mary Flaherty Peters, who bought her house on Nelson Avenue in 1972.
Dodie Pereira still lives in the neighborhood, but not in the old family home. They had to sell that. She now rents an apartment from the Rodericks.
STEAMERS
Booooo!!!
COCKTAIL HOUR
A Daiquiri With Depth
This Halloween, just say no to ‘pumpkin spice’
We’re deep into harvest season — although some people might say we’re heading into the holiday season, since it now seems to start with Halloween rather than Thanksgiving. Either way, there are pumpkins everywhere. And where you find pumpkins, it seems, there is “pumpkin spice.”
A quick internet search for “pumpkin spiced cocktails” yielded a vast number of drink variations containing some sort of pumpkin spice: pumpkin spice martinis, pumpkin spice Moscow mules, pumpkin spice “shooters,” and so on ad nauseam. Sweet drinks have been a part of mixology forever. But these are a more recent — and regrettable — development IMO. It seems to me a cocktail should be bracing and refreshing rather than sweet and cloying. Can’t we just leave the sweets for the dessert table?
That has gotten me thinking about drinks that have a bit of spice but are not otherwise sugar bombs. There are many options out there, from mulled wines to hard ciders to bourbons and ryes. Then I recalled an excellent drink that is actually a variation on a warm weather, tropical tipple. I was introduced to this cocktail by my dear friend Dianna. When we worked together, years ago, this was her favorite “shift drink,” extra enjoyable after a busy night of waiting tables. In short order, she taught me how to make it and I put it on our drink list at the restaurant where we worked. I was so inspired that I named it after her: Dianna’s Dark Rum Daiquiri.
Daiquiris? Really? Yes! A traditional daiquiri is made from white rum, lime juice, and simple syrup. To say “that’s just a mojito without mint” is a disservice to a drink with an interesting history. It was invented in Cuba in the late 19th century and popularized in the bars and nightclubs of Havana. There is even a version made with grapefruit juice named after one-time island resident Ernest Hemingway. It’s called a Hemingway Daiquiri or, in Spanish, a Papa Doble. The drink was introduced stateside at the Army Navy Club in Washington D.C.
The daiquiri enjoyed its heyday in the 1950s and ’60s but waned in the ’70s, victim to Piña Coladas and other such concoctions. I do remember my stepmother used to make a frozen version by the barrelful for holiday parties.
While the original daiquiri is simple, fresh, and gets right to the point, the dark rum version is a bit more mysterious and layered. At the restaurant, I added my own twist to it: a dash of aged dark rum to get just that much more depth of flavor. Revisiting the drink recently was like visiting an old, good friend. I wondered though if there was some way to spice it up for the fall and the holiday season. It would have to be a way that did not involve adding pumpkin spice.
It dawned on me that I could try replacing the aged rum with a spiced one. I decided to give this revised cocktail a local angle by using Truro’s own Twenty Boat Cape Cod Spiced Rum. A hint of cardamom gives the drink just the right touch for this time of year. The recipe is below. After taking your first sip, remember to say “yumma yumma,” just like dear Dianna used to do when having her shift drink.
Spiced Dark Rum Daiquiri
3 ounces dark rum (like Goslings or similar)
A dash spiced dark rum (preferably Twenty Boat)
1 ounce simple syrup (made from equal parts fine sugar and water)
1 1/2 ounces fresh lime juice
Shake with ice in a cocktail shaker and strain into chilled martini glass. Garnish with a lime wedge.
Please enjoy responsibly!
this week
Arts Briefs & Listings for Oct. 31 through Nov. 6
exhibitions, music, theater, and other happenings on the Outer Cape this week
‘Buying Gay: How Physique Entrepreneurs Sparked a Movement’
East End Books, 389 Commercial St., will host a reading on Friday, Nov. 1 at 5 p.m.
Author David K. Johnson, an associate professor of history at the University of Southern Florida, presents a vivid look into the lives of physique entrepreneurs and their customers. The book includes a wealth of illustrations. Buying Gay explores the connections and tensions between the market and the gay rights movement. Physique entrepreneurs of the 1950s and 1960s were at the center of legal struggles, especially against the U.S. Post Office, including the court victory that allowed full-frontal male nudity and open homoeroticism. Buying Gay reconceives the history of the gay rights movement and shows how consumer culture helped create community and a site for resistance.
Rhapsody in Blue at the CUSP Gallery
Photographer and gallery owner Curtis Speer will have an exhibition of his ocean-themed work from Nov. 1 to 24. Titled “The Blues,” the pieces include ships, shipwrecks, and other visual stories about the sea.
“The Lightkeeper” is a self portrait from a series taken along the rocky coast of Maine inspired by the paintings of Andrew Wyeth and Edward Hopper. “The Lightkeeper” denotes courage, bravery, and tenacity in the midst of adversity.
Solo Time for First String Violinist
Edmund Bagnell, the first violinist of the singing string quartet Well-Strung, will make his solo debut in “He Plays the Violin” in Provincetown this weekend. The new show is a part of the inaugural season of New Works Provincetown, a theater lab founded by Mark Cortale to create new works here. Music direction is by Matthew Aument and the show is directed by Michael Schiralli, Varla Jean Merman’s long-time director.
Show times are Friday, Nov. 1 at 7 p.m. and Saturday, Nov. 2 at 6 p.m. at the Provincetown Art House Theatre, 214 Commercial St.
For tickets and information see brownpapertickets.com/event/4399313 or call (800) 838-3006.
Music, Theater, and Halloween Weekend Listings
CONCERTS
Harold López-Nussa Quartet: Sunday, Nov. 3 at 4 p.m. at Wellfleet Preservation Hall, 335 Main St. $25-$30 at payomet.org.
We Are the Men: Saturday, Nov. 2 at 2 p.m. at The Academy Playhouse, 120 Main St., Orleans. $20 at acacape.org.
PIANO BARS
Jon Richardson: Thursday-Saturday, Oct. 31-Nov. 2 at 9 p.m. at the Crown & Anchor Dive Bar, 247 Commercial St., Provincetown. No cover.
Scream Along with Billy: Friday, Nov. 1 at 11 p.m. at Grotta Bar, 186 Commercial St., Provincetown. No cover.
Tin Pan Alley, 269 Commercial St., Provincetown. Gerald Goode: Thursday, Oct. 31, 8-11 p.m. and Sunday, Nov. 3, 7-10 p.m. Mike Flanagan: Friday-Saturday, Nov. 1-2, 8-11 p.m. Jim Brosseau & Friends: Monday, Nov. 3, 7-10 p.m. No cover.
THEATER
Crude: The Climate Change Musical, by Maureen Condon: Thursday at 7 p.m., Friday-Saturday at 7:30 p.m., Sunday at 2 p.m. through Nov. 10 at Cape Cod Theatre Company/Harwich Junior Theatre, 105 Division St., Harwich. $27, seniors $25, under 21 $15 at capecodtheatrecompany.org
David’s Friend, by Nora Burns: Friday-Saturday, November 1-2 at 7 p.m. at Pilgrim House, 336 Commercial St., Provincetown. $20-$30 at pilgrimhouseptown.com.
Grounded in Varna, by Jody O’Neil: Friday-Saturday, Nov. 1-2 at 8 p.m. at Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater, 2357 Route 6. $25 at what.org.
Mosquito Story Slam, Day of the Dead Special Edition, “Reunited”: Friday, Nov. 1 at 7 p.m. (6:30 p.m. sign-up) at Wellfleet Preservation Hall, 335 Main St. $15 at wellfleetpreservationhall.org.
Something Rotten! book by Karey Kirkpatrick and John O’Farrell, music and lyrics by Wayne Kirkpatrick and Karey Kirkpatrick: Opens Wednesday, Nov. 6, Tuesday-Thursday at 7 p.m., Friday-Saturday at 8 p.m., Sunday at 2 p.m. at Cape Rep Theatre, 3299 Rt. 6A, Brewster, through Dec. 8 (no shows Nov. 26-28). $35-$40 at caperep.org
DRAG
Drag Karaoke with Dana Danzel: Thursday-Saturday at the Governor Bradford, 312 Commercial St., Provincetown. No cover.
Mackenzie’s HalloQueen Spooktacular: Friday-Saturday, Nov. 1-2, at 9 p.m. at Pilgrim House, 336 Commercial St., Provincetown. $20 at pilgrimhouseptown.com.
Varla Jean Merman in “Pieced Together … All My Best Parts,” at The Art House, 214 Commercial St., Provincetown: Friday, Nov. 1, at 9 p.m. and Saturday, Nov. 2, at 8 p.m. $35-$45 at provincetownarthouse.com.
Halloween Happenings
Art House, 214 Commercial St., Provincetown. Varla Jean Merman in “Pieced Together … All My Best Parts,” Friday, Nov. 1, 9 p.m. & Saturday, Nov. 2, 8 pm. $35-$45.
Boatslip Beach Club, 161 Commercial St., Provincetown. Last Dance Tea Dance, Sunday, Nov. 3, 4-7 p.m. Free.
Crown & Anchor, 247 Commercial St., Provincetown. Townie Halloween in the Wave Bar, Thursday, Oct. 31, 8 p.m., no cover; Spooky Bearlesque, Friday & Saturday, Nov. 1 & 2, 7 p.m., $29; Hallowoof: The Return of the Monsters, Friday, Nov. 1, 9 p.m., $15; Spooky Bear Costume Ball, Saturday, Nov. 2, 9 p.m. $10.
Motta Field, Winslow St. Provincetown Recreation Dept.’s Greet ’n’ Treat, Thursday, Oct. 31, 4:30-6 p.m. Free.
Pilgrim House, 336 Commercial St., Provincetown. Mackenzie’s HalloQueen Spooktacular (costumes encouraged), Friday-Saturday, Nov. 1-2, 9 p.m. $20.
Provincetown Town Hall, 260 Commercial St. Black & Gold Halloween Ball, Saturday, Nov. 2, 8 p.m. $60 at Ptown.org.
Wellfleet Drive-In Theatre, Route 6. Trunk or Treat Festival, Thursday, Oct. 31, 4-7 p.m. Free (includes hotdogs & cider).
Wellfleet Preservation Hall, 335 Main St. Community Ofrenda Installation, Tuesday-Saturday, Oct. 29-Nov. 2; Halloween Dance Party with Sarah Swain & the Oh Boys (costumes encouraged), Thursday, Oct. 31, 8 p.m. $15/$16 at the door. Day of the Dead Mosquito Story Slam, Friday, Nov. 1, 7 p.m. $15.
Halloween Screening: Secret Agent (1936) Provincetown Public Library, 356 Commercial St. Hitchcock’s Worst Films (And Why They’re So Good) film series, Wednesday, Nov. 6, 5:30 p.m. Free.