Wednesday 10/26
Evergreen Costume Swap
Student Activities. 2pm. Free.
Not sure what your costume is going to be yet? Student Activities is hosting a costume swap this Wednesday, Oct. 26, from 2-6 p.m.! You can pick up someone’s past costume or get some final touches for one you’ve been working on. Bring in your old costumes/clothes/masks/accessories and swap them for new ones! Make sure everything is clean and in good condition.
Thursday 10/27
Halloween Dance
Ben Moore’s. 9pm. All Ages. $7
If you want to get out and dance before the weekend hits, join the weekly Oly Dance crew at Ben Moore’s Restaurant. Oly Dance usually focuses on blues fusion dance, but is switching things up for Halloween, featuring DJ’s Johnny Cluster, David, Gabriel Stranahan, and DJ Oso. The event is all ages but there is a bar available for the over 21 crowd as well.
Friday 10/28
Film: Halloween
Capitol Theater. 9pm. $9
Get spooked by the ominous mask of Michael Meyers in John Carpenter’s 1978 original, Halloween, playing at Capitol Theater for the Olympia Film Society’s Fright Club. For those who can’t handle scary movies (talkin’ to myself here), this seventies horror classic is just the right amount of unbelievable and ridiculous to get you into the Halloween spirit without actually making you shit your pants.
Oly Bingo Night
Senior Services at the Olympia Center. 6pm. 21+
Get on down to the Senior Center for a Rocky Horror themed bingo night hosted by storyteller Elizabeth Lord (best known for Lord Franzannian’s Royal Olympian Spectacular Vaudeville Show). Jello shots and a killer costume contest has been promised, but mostly a chill option for Halloween where the only person you have to deal with hitting on you is likely going to be a cute old grandpa. Doors open at 6, with an optional $5 dinner, bingo starts at 7. Game packs start at $10, special game cards for the $100 payout games are $2/ea. Proceeds fund the Activities Department for the Senior Center. Make your grandma proud for supporting the elderly, and maybe win some moolah.
Saturday 10/29
Night of the Living Tribute Bands
Capitol Theater. 8pm. $15
Capitol Theater hosts this much anticipated Halloween Oly tradition. This year’s tribute show features resurrected musical acts like The Moody Blues, Rocket from the Crypt, the Velvet Underground & Nico, Faith No More, Alice in Chains, and Mötley Crüe. All proceeds support future concert programming at the theater. Tickets are expected to sell out quickly. Don’t forget to dress up for their costume contest!
Halloween Benefit Ball Dance Party
Brotherhood Lounge. 9pm. $5. 21+
Dance in costume to old school 90’s and early 2000’s hip hop and RnB hits spun by DJ Fir$t Lady at the Brotherhood Lounge. She’s got your Halloween dance request covered with a promise to play Thriller at midnight, so you’ve got a few days to memorize all that classic choreography on youtube. Half of door proceeds benefit Interfaith Works Emergency Shelter which aims to create winter warming shelters in downtown Oly. The need for emergency shelters was particularly highlighted by the city’s failure to provide amenities for the homeless community when weather threats from the big (but not actually so big) storm swept through the area earlier this month. What’s better than dancing while feeling good about yourself for helping others? Double dopamine dose.
Ongoing
Rutledge Corn Maze
302 93rd Ave SE.
Stop by the farm to pick up carving pumpkins and get lost in their maze ($5-$7 admission). They also feature haunted mazes at night-time and a zombie apocalypse themed paintball game (prices range from $14-$27 per person).
My Morbid Mind Haunted House
4548 Marvin Rd SE, Lacey.
What started out as an elaborate installment for neighborhood trick or treaters on the porch of a suburban home, now operates one of the scariest haunts in Washington out of an old barn in Lacey. Haunted House Magazine gave it 9 out of 10 skulls for scary factor with one reviewer sharing, “I was worried if I was going to live.” The house will be running from from 7-11 p.m. everyday from Oct. 27- 31. Tickets range from $11-$14 depending on the day, with fast passes available to avoid lines.
Don’t feel like dressing up or going out but want to get into the spirit of things?
Take a drive outside of Olympia with friends to visit some abandoned structures that look like the set of a horror film. The remains of a long-gone logging town slowly being overrun by the forest can be explored in Bordeaux off the Maytown exit on I5, twenty minutes south of Olympia. Check out the mysterious Mima Mounds while you are there. For a longer, more scenic drive, follow 101 two hours north to an even creepier place. Fort Flagler, a military fort built in 1899, has been deactivated since the 50’s, but it’s dark, empty bunkers can still be roamed. I remember going there as a child and nearly peeing my pants. Bring a Ouija board and light some candles. The ominous energy of the place is offset by long stretches of beautiful shoreline and vast grass bluffs for picnicking; silver lining for the faint of heart.
