From pumpkins to Poe, there's plenty of Halloween fun in southern Maine

Ready for a good, ol’ fashioned Halloween, like the ones we used to know before a scary pandemic came along and sent beloved traditions into the shadows?

Our communities are ready. All throughout coastal Southern Maine – and a bit inland too – events are planned in the coming days to make for a spooky and memorable Halloween. Halloween is on a Monday this year, so most of these festivities are planned for the days leading up to Oct. 31.

This list is by no means definitive but offers plenty of fun and eerie opportunities. Read on, if you dare.

York

The York Historical Society will welcome back renowned performer Campbell Harmon for “An Evening with Edgar Allan Poe” at the Old York Museum Center at 3 Lindsay Road on Friday, Oct. 21, at 6 p.m.

Harmon, who speaks in character as Poe, will present a dramatic reading of classic poems, including “The Raven” and “The Tell-Tale Heart,” by candlelight. Seating is limited, and reservations are required. Tickets cost $25, or $20 for historical society members, and are available at oldyork.org. No tickets will be sold at the door.

Also, the historical society will offer a special tour, “Gone, But Not Forgotten,” an “informative and slightly spooky” lamp-lit stroll of York’s Old Burying Ground, on Thursday, Oct. 27, at 6 and 7 p.m.

“There are more than 100 gravestones within the cemetery, each with a story to tell,” the historical society said in a press release. “The lives and deaths of those buried within the hallowed walls of the historic cemetery will be illuminated by guides dressed as 18th-century townsfolk.”

Reservations are required. Tickets cost $15, or $10 for members of the historical society. Tickets are  available online at oldyork.org. No tickets will be sold at the door.

On Sunday, Oct. 30, the York Historical Society invites children to trick-or-treat, 18th-century style, at Old York’s historic buildings in York Village from 3:30 to 6 p.m. The invitation coincides with the town’s annual night of trick-or-treating.

“Creepy characters and ghosts of Halloweens past will hand out candy to all who have the courage to knock on Old York’s historic doors,” the historical society said.

Also that evening, the 4th annual Lighting of the Pumpkins at the Old Burying Ground in York Village will begin at approximately 5 p.m. The walls of the Old Burying Ground in York Village will be illuminated with jack-o’-lanterns until around 8 p.m.

The historical society invites you to help fill the burying ground by bringing carved pumpkins to the Old York Museum Center at 3 Lindsay Road between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. on either Saturday or Sunday, Oct. 29 or 30. The society also will have a pumpkin-carving party at the museum center on those days, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The organization will provide the pumpkins but asks you to bring your own carving tools.

Wells

Are you ready to scream? That’s what the Wells Recreation Department wants to know. Its annual Haunted Hayride returns this Saturday, Oct. 22.

The event this year will be a twist on classic horror movies.

“On the night of the hayride, ‘It’ will come alive and turn your fears of ‘The Wells Chainsaw Massacre’ into a ‘Nightmare on Branch Road,” the recreation department taunts on its website.

The event will be held at the Walter Marsh Recreation Park at 412 Branch Road.

Tickets cost $13 “per head” and must be bought online in advance, according to the recreation department. The cost covers entertainment and one hayride. Ticket holders will be given a time slot for their hayrides.

“If you arrive after your time slot, seats are not guaranteed,” the recreation department said.

Children ages 4 and younger can attend for free.

If it rains on Saturday, then the hayrides will be held on Sunday, Oct. 23.

Sanford

If you’re driving by Number One Pond along William Oscar Emery Drive during the mid-afternoon this Sunday, Oct. 23, do not be alarmed if you see witches on the water at around 3 p.m. They’ll just be there for the 2nd annual “Witches on the Water” paddling event, which all are invited to watch.

City Councilor Ayn Hanselmann is holding the event, keeping it simple with an open invitation for witches and wizards to show up in costume and launch onto the pond on their kayaks or paddle boards. The event is not organized or sponsored in any way, so Hanselmann advises joining at your own risk.

“Witches do melt on water, so try to stay on your board or boat,” Hanselmann said on her Facebook page advertising the event.

The Sanford School Department’s Jobs for Maine Graduates program will hold its annual Haunted Walk at Gowen Park at 6 Gowen Park Drive on Thursday, Oct. 27, from 6 to 8 p.m.

Curtis Lake Church at 38 Westview Drive will hold its annual Trunk or Treat event on Saturday, Oct. 29, from 5 to 7:30 p.m. At this event, trick-or-treaters will be able to roam the church’s large parking lot and get treats from participants handing them out from the trunks of their cars. The event – known to draw thousands every year it is held – is open to the public.

Kennebunkport

The Kennebunkport Parks and Recreation Department and the Kennebunkport Conservation Trust are teaming up for their 2nd annual Great Zombie Dash on Friday, Oct. 28.

“With Halloween approaching quickly, and families being presented with an overabundance of opportunities to fill their bags with various sweets, we at the recreation department wanted to offer something out of the ordinary,” Director Stephanie Simpson said in a news release.

Here’s how it will work. You will run through the Education Trail at The Emmons Preserve at 57 Gravelly Brook Road, dodging zombies roaming around you and trying to keep two flags that are attached to you safe from them. The two flags are your “lives.”

“Make it out with one of your lives, and you will be entered in a raffle to win a variety of prizes,” Simpson said.

There will be two dashes. A family-friendly one will start at 5:45 p.m. And then an “Extreme Wave, only for the brave,” will launch into the forest at 6:15 p.m.

Adults can enter the Dash for $12; children, for $10. A whole family, however, can try to outrun those zombies for $25.

You can register online or call (207) 967-4304.

Kennebunk

Per tradition, Summer Street in Kennebunk will be closed from the Route 1 intersection all the way up to the corner of Depot Street on Halloween night, so that trick-or-treaters may roam freely as they make their way from house to house, according to Deputy Police Chief Eric O’Brien. Depending on the crowds, this stretch of Summer Street will be closed from approximately 5 to 9 p.m.

“We remind trick-or-treaters to be mindful of their surroundings, inspect all wrapped candy before eating, avoid homemade treats, watch for vehicles, and keep to sidewalks,” O’Brien said. “Also, have kids carry glow sticks or flashlights to help them see and be seen by others, especially vehicular traffic.”

The Kennebunk Police Department will have extra patrol officers on duty that evening to ensure the safety of all.

“We want everyone to have a safe and happy Halloween,” O’Brien said.

Before the Summer Street closure, numerous businesses in the Kennebunks will be handing out treats to trick-or-treaters on Halloween, from 4 to 6 p.m. The Kennebunk-Kennebunkport-Arundel Chamber of Commerce has a list of participating businesses online.

Shapleigh

Host Steve Huntress will tell the tale of "The Ghost of Shapleigh Plains" at the Acton-Shapleigh Historical Museum at 122 Emery Mills Road on Saturday, Oct. 29, at 6 p.m.

Shapleigh’s own spooky story goes back more than 200 years and involves a pastor, an innkeeper, a belated young man and, of course, a ghost. According to the historical society, the tale has been “passed down orally for so long that times, names and locations have been convoluted.”

Huntress, born and raised in Shapleigh, knows the tale in his bones and has been spending the last 20 years seeking out all the details he can, in order to try to make sense of it all.

“In his search, he’s discovered not only religious and political twists to the story, but that his own family may have been involved,” the historical society said in a press release.

Huntress will tell the tale, discuss the key players ... and try to explain what could have motivated some of them to commit murder, the organization added.

This program is free to all. Coffee, hot mulled and cold cider and light snacks will be available.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Halloween happenings in southern Maine: From haunted houses to trick or treat