Featured Events, Resources, & Opportunities

Calling all ghosts, goblins, vampires, and witches! Latin GRAMMY award-winning artist and children’s book author, MISTER G, will be hosting his annual Halloween Fiesta concert outdoors at The Common School in Amherst (521 S. Pleasant Street). Showtime is 11am on Saturday, October 30, 2021. (Rain date: October 31). Special guest stars include percussionist Marcos Carreras and his students from the Springfield Conservatory of the Arts. Come ready to dance and sing along to MISTER G’s spooky, original, bilingual songs. The concert is made possible by the generosity of local businesses and major sponsors, River Valley Co-op and the Community Foundation of Western MA. Admission is FREE and costumes (for kids and adults!) are encouraged. 

Beautiful outdoor classrooms, deep academic inquiry, music and art in everyday learning, active land stewardship, and a culture of compassion: that is the Hartsbrook School. During this time of uncertainty, Hartsbrook has provided students with a grounding and nurturing foundation every day. Discover how meaningful a school experience can be and enjoy a vibrant, active parent community. PreK thru high school. Begin your exploration with an individual Zoom meeting. Call 413-586-1908 x116 to schedule your appointment and imagine the potential for your child.  The Hartsbrook School is located at 193 Bay Road in Hadley, MA. For more information, visit online at www.hartsbrook.org.

The Ski and Winter Gear Sale, held annually by the Amherst Historical Society & Museum, returns on October 30, 2021, from 9am-2pm, under the big tent at 67 Amity Street, in downtown Amherst, with deals and choices so big – it is scary! Proceeds benefit the museum. Shoppers can choose from a vast selection of new and used downhill, cross-country skis, ski poles, helmets, snowshoes, boots, skates, snowboards, outdoor clothing (including jackets, gloves, mittens, and hats), all in adult and youth sizes. This event will observe strict safety guidelines with periodic cleaning of surfaces and social distancing measures in place. Masks are required. Costumes are appreciated! For information visit, their website: amhersthistory.org.

List of Weekly Suggested Events

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Self-Directed Learning: Halloween STEM

In the spirit of the Halloween season’s creepy, gruesome, and vaguely terrifying elements, why not engage in some similarly creepy, gruesome, and relatively terror-free hands-on science experiments! From candy chromatography and glowing drinkables to flying ghosts and gooey eyeballs, check our post, Halloween Season Inspires Hands-On Science, to discover Halloween science ideas that connect to numerous science concepts and promote hands-on learning.

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Self-Directed Learning: Haunted History

Towns across Western Massachusetts have tales of haunted historic buildings, ghost sightings, and supernatural suspicions that lead people to wonder whether a place is haunted or not. Haunted tales are sometimes rooted in actual events or historical accounts from people of the past and can add to the lore of a place. Find out about cemetery tours and local hauntings in our Sept/Oct Season edition of Learning Ahead: Cultural Itinerary for Western MA while supporting interests in history, paranormal activity, architecture, psychology, and physiology.

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Self-Directed Learning: Masks

Halloween is a great time of year to use masks as your lens into learning about cultural heritage through the use of masks in ceremonies and festive celebrations, costume design and theatrical performance, and even illness and medicine. 

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Self-Directed Learning: Jack O’Lanterns

Called “pompions” by the first European colonists, pumpkins were a food essential to winter survival – and they were grown in many more varieties than they typically are today. The custom of carving pumpkins into Jack O’Lanterns was introduced to American culture by Irish immigrants, influencing our cultural landscape to this day. Traditionally carved from root vegetables, including turnips and potatoes, new hybrids of pumpkins are grown specifically for carving. For today’s self-directed learning module, follow your curiosity and learn about history, folklore, culture, food, and artisan techniques through the lens of jack-o-lanterns!

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Self-Directed Learning: Autumn Foliage

Autumn in Western Mass is when nature literally takes center stage; a destination visitors outside the area flock to because of the gorgeous dynamism of the season. The trees and their changing foliage are excellent connectors for kids (in a sense, they connect to themselves!) to the outdoors and their sense of place. In this change lies fantastic community-based educational opportunities tied to art and science. Read our post, Autumn Leaf Collecting Supports Art & Science, to see how you can get your kid hooked on fall by collecting, creating, and learning in their backyards, local parks, and nature conservation areas! Also, check out these videos to support learning about botany, chemistry, dendrology, and ecology through the lens of fall foliage!

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Self-Directed Learning: Ghost Stories

Halloween is just days away, and there are a plethora of picture books featured at your local library that tell stories about ghosts, skeletons, scarecrows, pumpkins, and trick-or-treat adventures. Reading picture books with children has numerous embedded learning opportunities, including literacy, emotional development, and the history behind autumn icons. Check our list of Halloween-inspired tales and cozy up with your kids or grandkids for a not-so-spooking evening of ghost-eques stories.

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Self-Directed Learning: National Cat Day

Statistically speaking, black cats and kittens don’t fare well at shelters. Rather than bringing bad luck, they tend to have some bad luck of their own and are the least adopted cats in U.S. shelters year-round. There’s no definitive reason for this, but animal rescue organizations believe a combination of superstition, dark kennels, and the brightly colored coats of other cats could all be partially to blame. October 29 is National Cat Day, and with Halloween around the corner, families who are considering adding a new furry friend to their household should consider seeking out a black cat – they’ll offer all of the snuggles and playtime that come with cats of any other color. Plus, you’ll be ensuring that they don’t spend excess time in a shelter waiting for a family or, even worse, being euthanized. 

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Online and in-person events and resources shared above are done so as a courtesy and not as an endorsement. While we do our best to share accurate and up-to-date information, please take the time to confirm information, age appropriateness, registration requirements, safety protocols, and associated costs.

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Hilltown Families’ list of Suggested Events is supported in part by grants from the Agawam, Amherst, Bernardston, Buckland, Charlemont/Hawley, Chester, Chesterfield, Chicopee, Colrain, Dalton, Deerfield, Easthampton, Gill, Goshen, Greenfield, Hadley, Hatfield, Heath, Hinsdale/Peru, Holyoke, Huntington, Leyden, Montgomery, Mt. Washington, New Salem, Northern Berkshire, Northfield, Palmer, Pelham, Plainfield, Rowe, Shelburne, Shutesbury, South Hadley, Southampton, Springfield, Tolland, Tyringham, Westhampton, Windsor, and Worthington Cultural Councils, local agencies which are supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.