The following is a list of events that particularly grab the spirit of the festival and of the Coastside.
See your neighbors at their creative best — or let your own imagination run wild — at the Costume Contest at 10 a.m. Saturday morning in the parking lot of the Half Moon Bay Library at 620 Correas St. Kids and adults can enter to win in five age categories, with prizes donated by local merchants.
 Auri Naggar, teacher/director of the Young Actors Workshop and student Jarred Gibbs, stand outside the pirate haunted house they are organizing as a fundraiser during the Annual Pumpkin Festival. |
The youth of the Coastside show what they can do in the second Golden Gourds Youth Talent Show, scheduled from 3 to 5 p.m. both days in the Bank of America Family Fun Zone in the Bank of America parking lot at 620 Main St. Young actors with the local youth and adult live theaters and young musicians who make up bands playing contemporary music will dominate the stage. Each will receive a pumpkin painted a luminous gold for their efforts.
Carve a pumpkin just for fun. This isn’t a contest, so don’t worry about the competition. Just grab a carving knife and let your creativity flow at 10 a.m. Sunday in the Bank of America Family Fun Zone.
If haunted houses are your thing, haunted barns can be even more scary, when it’s the Johnston Barn at 505 Johnston St. in Half Moon Bay and it’s been taken over by the spirits of pirates from the Young Actors Workshop. Costumed and lively young actors, special effects and bone-chilling terrors from Davy Jones Locker make for a memorable experience from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days.
Take a break from the crowds in the Take 5 Lounge, back after its successful debut two years ago. You’ll find it in the Coastside Adult Day Health Center parking lot at 645 Correas St., along with a big-screen LED TV, Mavericks Pumpkin Harvest Ale and treats like an Italian sausage sandwich with marinara sauce.
It all takes place from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 18 and Sunday, Oct. 19 along Main and Correas streets in Half Moon Bay. Don’t forget that pets are not allowed. Also, Highway 1 over Devil’s Slide and Highway 84 through La Honda are excellent alternate routes to the traffic-filled roads on both days. There are plenty of parking spots at the south end of Main Street, at Metzgar and Main, at Seymour and Highway 1, and at Shoreline Station. There is also marked handicapped parking on Purissima Street between Correas Street and Kelly Avenue.
The fair admission is free. Call 726-9652.
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