FIRST THINGS FIRST
Check the Macaroni Kid Calendar for free and low-cost things to do in our area. Not a subscriber? Sign up and you’ll get the goods each weekly directly in your email in-box. It’s free. No sales. No gimmicks. Just plain fun.
FROLICK AT A FALL FESTIVAL
Ride a train, shop, eat and play at Brunswick Railroad Days.
Enjoy making a scarecrow, bouncing, and face-painting in the KBid Zone at Frederick Oktoberfest.
Fall Festival Weekend offers hayrides, crafts, and home-style food at Rose Hill Manor.
Celebrate the Colors of Fall at Catoctin Colorfest with broom making and other fall crafts.
Take a hayride and ride a go kart at the Fall Fall Fall Festiv-al at Adventure Park USA.
Bounce on inflatables and get a free vision exam at MALC Fall Festival.
Farm Fest will have farm animals and pumpkin painting.
Play in the pumpkin patch at the Harvest Festival.
Summer’s Farm has an “amaizing” corn maze!
Pick pumpkins and get a head start on holiday shopping at Jumbo’s Pumpkin Patch.
Crash a corn maze by starlight and gaze into the campfire at Crumland Farms or for a good really good scare take your teens to Screamland Farms. Take on a slide and a hayride at Butler’s Orchard during pumpkin festival days.
Get more mileage out of that princess or knight costume and give a big huzzah for the Renaissance Festival.
Take a pony ride in The Great Pumpkin Patch on Oct. 12 & 13.
Bounce on the jumping pillow at Gaver Farm Fall Festival.
Celebrate the beautiful fall leaves at the Autumn Glory Festival Oct. 9-13.
Thankstival offers moonbounces, kids activities, live music, and food trucks to kick off the holiday season.
Enjoy music, wine, and apple butter making at the Annual Apple Butter Festival on Oct. 12 & 13.
Learn how apple cider was made in the 1800s at the Apple Gala & Fresh Cider Festival. Catch the pig races and pick pumpkins at the Fall Pumpkin Harvest Festival.
HALLOWEEN PARTIES
Brave a Haunted Hayride.
Don’t forget Halloween in Downtown Frederick.
Check out fun costumes at the VOU Costume Parade.
Enjoy a Not-So-Scary Halloween Party at Adventure Park on Oct. 26 6-9pm.
Have fun at the Halloween Trick-Or-Treat at Westview Promenade on Oct. 27 from 11am-1pm.
Shake your groove thing at the Toys for Tots Halloween Dance on Nov. 9.
Take the “Eye Spy” Halloween Train at Cabin John park.
Watch the Halloween parade in Leesburg.
Trick or Treat through history at Rose Hill Manor on Oct. 25.
Watch a Halloween Murder Mystery and Dinner Show.
Learn about Haunted History.
NATURE AND FOLIAGE
Check out the snakes and lizards at the Catoctin Wildlife Preserve & Zoo.
Cackle like a witch through caves at Crystal Grottoes Caverns.
Hike the fall colors at Deep Creek Lake or Cunningham Falls.
ARTSY AUTUMN
Get into the macabre with a celebration of Edgar Allan Poe at the library and receive a free book.
Check out fresh regional films in 72 Film Fest.
IT’S SHOW TIME!
Pay tribute to our country’s veterans and enjoy an old-fashioned parade complete with candy, cool cars, floats and more. The 87th Annual Veterans Day Parade in Brunswick on November 10 is one of the only two parades in Maryland that are officially sanctioned to allow actual military groups to participate according to the Frederick News Post.
Watch Ghostbusters at Movie Night on the Creek.
See a seasonal movie at Westview Promenade.
The 20th Anniversary of the Blair Witch Project will be celebrated at the Weinberg Center on October 18 with members of the cast and crew!
Celebrate silent film with The Hunchback of Notre Dame accompanied by a Wurlitzer organ.
Groove with a jazz band and brunch at kid-friendly Beans in the Belfry.
HEALTHY FUN
Warm up that costume literally at the 11th Annual Headless Horseman 5K and 1K Race and Fun Run on Oct. 26.
Run through Shadowland for some Laser Tag.
Stroll that stroller through history and visit the gravesite of Francis Scott Key.
Find the last of the fresh fall squash at the farmers market Halloween celebration.
Get moving in the Way Station Thanksgiving Day Turkey Trot on November 28.
AUTUMN FUN AT HOME
Get crafty with these fun fall ideas for some family time.
Make the most of the season with this list of autumn activities to explore with the family.
Get a jumpstart on the holidays by helping the kids make hand made gifts for the grandparents.
Paint a pumpkin or decorative squash and get unique decorations for the yard from Gaver Farm.
Get the kids cooking these easy to make fall themed snacks.
Curl up and watch Hocus Pocus, then try this family craft and learn about the Salem Witch Trials.
Turn those leaf into art with these handprint trees.
Explore some not-so-frightening science and make a Halloween candy experiments or spider web slime or pumpkin STEAM activities.
Make your own haunted house together.
