Halloween time brings a weekend full of fun to East Tennessee

One of the "Incredibles" rides the carousel at a previous year's Boo! at the Zoo event. Photo by Saul Young/knoxville.com

What's the good news about Halloween falling on a Monday? It come after an entire weekend that allows you to wear your costume, have more fun and yes, get more candy.

This pre-Oct. 31 weekend offers a witch's caldron filled with events and then there's more on Halloween. Here's a few Knox-area activities. More, from haunted corn mazes to haunted houses, are listed in the annual October Knoxville.com Halloween Guide.

Come downtown and get scared. Slamdot's 3rd Annual "Scare in the Square" is 5:30-9 p.m. Friday, Oct. 28. Events center around downtown Knoxville's Market Square. There's no admission but organizers recommend bringing some cash for food and some of the entertainment.

"Scare in the Square" includes music, a candy crawl, face painting, fortune telling, games and two bounce castles for children. (The bounce castles close at dusk.) Don the costume; there'll be contests. The Knoxville Zoo visits with some of its creepy creatures.

Out west in Farragut, the annual Freaky Friday Fright Night is 5-7 p.m. Oct. 28. The 15th annual event at Mayor Bob Leonard Park off Watt Road is a trick-of-treat activity for costumed children ages 12 and younger. There are also games, cookie decorating and refreshments. The fun is free but participants are asked to bring items to donate for Knoxville's Ronald McDonald House. A few of those items include cleaning supplies, paper towels, disinfectant spray and trash bags. A full list is at www.townoffarragut.org.

The Knoxville Zoo's annual Halloween celebration, BOO! at the Zoo also continues through the weekend. The event, billed as not too scary, is 5:30-8 p.m. Oct. 27-30. Tickets are $6 a person; children under age 2 get in free. Parking is $5.

When Friday's done there's lots more on Saturday, Oct. 29. Other than costumes and candy, nothing says Halloween like a good scary story. Marble Springs State Historic Site combines all three in its "Halloween Haunts and Haints" 4-8 p.m. Oct. 29.

Co-sponsored by the Smoky Mountain Storytellers Association, "Halloween Haunts and Haints" includes a costume parade and costume contests, 18th-century styled crafts for the children, food and apple bobbing. There'll be some slightly scary tales at 6 p.m. and then some "seriously scary" stories at 7:15 p.m. In between the tale-telling children can trick-or-treat at the site's historic buildings.

Tickets for "Haunts and Haints" are $5 for ages 16 and older, $3 for ages 4-15, free for ages 3 and younger. Families pay no more than $20. Bring your own chairs to sit in to listen to the stories. Marble Springs, the farmstead of Tennessee's first governor, is at 1220 W. Gov. John Sevier Highway.

If you plan the day just right, you can take in more than one Halloween event on Saturday. The American Museum of Science and Energy in Oak Ridge hosts a 1-3 p.m. Halloween Kidfest with crafts, a scavenger hunt and costume party for. The museum is at 300 S. Tulane Ave. in Oak Ridge. Children under 12 years old who wear their Halloween costumes get free museum admission Oct. 29.

On Halloween itself, the Knoxville Police Department hosts Halloween on the Plaze 5-8 p.m. The event is at the Mary Costa Plaza at the Knoxville Coliseum, 500 Howard Baker Jr. Ave. It's free and includes games, face painting and candy of course.

© 2011, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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