Halloween & fall fun

According to data from the National Retail Federation, Americans who celebrate Halloween spent just under $100 per person in preparation for their festivities in 2020. Nationwide, sales of candy, costumes, decorations, and even greeting cards for the holiday last year totaled 8.05 billion dollars. With Halloween events being discouraged, scaled down and even canceled, the numbers still indicate that the holiday retained its popularity.

Even with disrupted plans, 61 percent of Americans plan to dress in costume this year. As is the case every year, creativity is a key component to costume ideas, but those lacking either ideas or time will nd plenty of ideas on the internet. e projections for popular costumes in 2021 range from Baby Yoda to Bezos in Space.

ose looking to celebrate the haunted holiday this year will nd plenty of events to entertain them, whether slightly spooky or totally terrifying is the goal.

For the young ones, the Adrian District Library will host its annual Family Halloween Storytime at the Adrian District Library on Tuesday, October 26 from 6:30 to 7:30 in the Community Room. Participants are encouraged to wear costumes to the event. ose in attendance will listen to a “slightly spooky story,” sing songs, parade through the library to show o their costumes, and enjoy some treats.

e Clinton Inn, located at 104 West Michigan Avenue in Clinton, is planning two events for Halloween weekend. e Halloween Masquerade will begin at 9:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 30 and is open to adults age 21 and older. e Halloween themed cocktail party will feature spooky cocktails, music and entertainment, door prizes, hors d’oeuvres, photo booth and a costume contest. Tickets for the event cost $25.

Clinton Inn will also host a family friendly Halloween Celebration on Sunday, October 31 from 5:30 to 8:00 p.m. e event is open to both kids and adults and will feature a photo booth, apple cider and donuts, full size candy bars for trick or treaters and a costume contest.

Suburban Chevrolet of Clinton, located at 1070 W. U.S. 12 in Clinton, will be hosting their Trunk or Treat on ursday, October 28th from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. is year the event will be returning to its former scale. “It is very nice for the kids to have something. We’re trying to bring some fun back into things,” said Joe Bennet of Suburban Chevy. e Trunk or Treat will feature food vendors, cider and doughnuts from Kapnick Orchards, kid’s games and activities and the local businesses that will be on site to participate in the Trunk or Treat itself. Communities around Lenawee County will be sounding the siren again this year for those who wish to venture out into the twilight on Halloween night. O cial citywide trick or treat times for both the Village of Clinton and the City of Tecumseh will be Sunday, October 31 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. For some fans of Halloween, the holiday would not be complete without a good scare. Zombiewoods, located at 18341 US12 in Cement City, o ers just that. Owner and designer Ray Phillips has a wealth of professional knowledge in the areas of lighting, special e ects, and even pyrotechnics, in which he holds safety certi cation. He draws on that knowledge for inspiration when creating the experiences for visitors to the attractions.

“We use a lot of visual e ects. We also incorporate a lot of mother nature into the walk,” Phillips said. “We have some surprises out there too.”

e walk through the forest takes about 30 minutes in total. Guests will also nd a ghost town among the attractions. More information about the attractions, as well as sneak peaks, is available at https://zombiewoodshaunt.com/ ough the

attractions at Zombiewoods are intended to entertain, Phillips said that the experiences are family-friendly. Zombiewoods is open Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from 7:00 to 11:00 p.m.

ose who are looking to enjoy the autumn ambiance, apart from the hair-raising antics of Halloween, will want to add Carpenter Farms, located at 2534 E US-223 in Adrian, to the schedule this year.

“We are a family farm. Our children will be the 5th generation,” Kelly Carpenter said of the pumpkin farm. “In Lenawee County, we are a destination in the fall.”

She added that people come from all over, not just the county or the state, but the world. ey have had exchange students visit the farm with their host families, an interesting experience for several who have never seen a pumpkin before and who have not previously had the pleasure of experiencing fall.

e farm grows over 70 varieties of pumpkins as well as a vast array of edible squash, plus gourds and Indian corn are available for purchase.

“We have everything for all of your fall decorating needs,” Carpenter said. “If we don’t have it here, you probably won’t nd it anywhere in the area.” added that, if a guest makes a request, they will do their best to nd it and grow it the next year.

e attractions at Carpenter Farms include: wagon rides on Saturdays and Sundays, a 17-acre corn maze open from 10:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. daily, a straw maze and a straw pit, farm animals and the very popular corn can – a silo lled with corn where kids can play with and in the corn itself. Carpenter Farm will be open from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. daily beginning September 17th through October 30th.

e humanitarians will nd an opportunity for philanthropy this Halloween season as the Lenawee Humane Society will host their 100th Howl-O-Ween Ball. is year’s special centennial celebration will take place on Friday, October 29th at the Adrian Tobias Room on the Campus College. e cocktail hour will begin at 6:00 p.m., and doors will open at 7:00 p.m.

Guests are encouraged to attend in costume. Features of the event include: dinner, desserts, cash bar, live and silent auctions, games and contests, live music, a photo booth, caricature artist, and speed painter Martina Hah. Tickets may be purchased in advance of the event by visiting https://lenhumanesoc.org/howl-o-ween-ball/

From picking apples or taking a wagon ride through the Enchanted Forest at Kapnick Orchards in Britton to navigating the corn maze in Adrian to taking the spooky walk through a haunted forests in Cement City to enjoying trick-or-treating in one’s own community to discovering trunk or treats at local businesses and churches, autumn in Lenawee County o ers a myriad of activities for everyone whether the intention is to be delighted by the scents and avors of fall, or to be frightened by the sights and sounds of Halloween.

From picking apples or taking a wagon ride through the Enchanted Forest at Kapnick Orchards in Britton to navigating the corn maze in Adrian to taking the spooky walk through a haunted forests in Cement City to enjoying trick-or-treating in one’s own community to discovering trunk or treats at local businesses and churches, autumn in Lenawee County o ers a myriad of activities for everyone whether the intention is to be delighted by the scents and avors of fall, or to be frightened by the sights and sounds of Halloween.

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and people are complex. When I married my husband 15 years ago, I married a man who had a son and a daughter, 22 and 20 respectively. Not only is he 17 years older than I am, but he had also lived practically a whole life of which I was not a part. He has history and memories with people who had only known his ex-wife, including family members, many of whom did welcome me and allowed for the opportunity for all of us to become acquainted. My family has extended that same opportunity not only to him, but also to his children, and to his grandchildren. Yes, the teenager turned woman who never had much interest in babies, is now something of a grandmother. It was shortly a er midnight in early January about eight years ago when my husband’s son-in-law handed me our rst granddaughter. I remember being touched when he handed her to my husband, seeing the emotion rise within him as he looked at his rst grandbaby. When I look at the picture of me holding her, I see a smile that emerged in spite of my baby bias. She was, as are her parents, family, and so are the little sister and brother who have been born since. As a teenager, I couldn’t have imagined our family being any di erent than it was, just my parents, my younger sister and me. Now, I cannot imagine how our family could have ever been complete without the two sisters who changed the picture forever, even with the absence that we hope is temporary, of one of them. I cherish my role as big sister, and I cherish my role as Aunt Lorie to three nieces, and a nephew, two of whom have grown into talented, independent, and productive young adults. Even though I never intended to have children, including step children, and even though neither the children nor the grandchildren view me nor address me as a step parent, I value my role in the lives of my husband’s two adult children and his grandchildren as well. November is National Adoption Month. What a di erence it has made in my life. My family pictures look very di erent than they did just over 30 years ago, but as di erent as they are now from what I might have thought they would look like, I believe that they are somehow complete as I have learned that more than shared genetics and even shared pasts make a family whole.