Posted: Thursday, October 29, 2009 10:53 am

Spooktacular Halloween Events
Discovery Center at Murfree Spring holds the annual Great Pumpkin Fest from 4-7 p.m. Thursday at 502 S.E. Broad St. Theme will be centered on the woodlands. Children will see Otis the Owl. Woodsy the Owl and Smokey the Bear will make appearances. Wear your costume and enjoy fun Halloween art projects and other kid-friendly activities. Admission is $3. Children are asked to be canned food. For more information, call 615-890-2300 or visit www.discoverycenteronline.org.

Chris Highers’ Bail Bonding holds a Haunted House for children beginning at 3 p.m. Friday at 17 South Public Square. The event is free and promises not to be too scary. Children can expect a pot of candy at the end. The Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office’s Community Relations Unit sponsors the Haunted House.

Trail of Treats will take place from 2-4 p.m. Saturday at Veteran's Memorial Park in La Vergne. The park is located at 115 Floyd Mayfield Drive, off Murfreesboro Road. Approximately 25 businesses will line up along the park's main trail to hand out candy and other goodies to the more than 2,000 children who attend each year. Businesses are encouraged to sign up to be a part of this annual event. The event is free to the public and to the businesses. For more information, contact the La Vergne Parks and Recreation Department at 793-3224.

The La Vergne Library’s children’s area will again feature Gross Grub, beginning at 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. Friday at the library, located at 5063 Murfreesboro Road in La Vergne. “Ghoulish delights” snacks will be delivered at this year’s event. Young people are encouraged to wear their costumes and stop by for food, fun and more. For more information, contact the Library at 793-7303, ext. 4202.

Parents are invited to escort their Halloween-costumed children to Trick or Treat Downtown and collect candy beginning at 4 p.m. Friday at a variety of stops around the Public Square. Look for the orange pumpkin displayed on the door or window of participating businesses.

Celebrate Halloween with pumpkin decorating and fall activities at Stones River Mall from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday. Don't forget to wear your costume for a special prize. The event will be held outdoors in The Shops at Stones River, near Dillard's. It will be moved indoors in the event of inclement weather.

Children can collect treats at the Rutherford County Community Care beginning at 6 p.m. Friday on County Farm Road. Participating residents dress up for the kids who trick or treat for “good candy.” Earlier in the day, children at the day care will decorate sugar cookies during a Halloween party.

Explore Victorian mourning customs through Saturday at Oaklands Historic House Museum, 900 N. Maney Ave., or the Sam Davis Home, 1399 Sam Davis Road, in Smyrna

Both historic houses are prepared for a funeral with mirrors draped in black cloth and clocks stopped at the time of death.

The Sam Davis Home will feature Halloween events from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. Friday including ghost tours beginning with a haunted hayride of the plantation. Once the hayride comes to a dead stop, enter the historic home to hear tour guides share their own strange experiences from beyond. The tour is not recommended for anyone under the age of 10. Admission is $5.

Ghost Tours
Haunted Murfreesboro is back for its fifth year.

The walking, storytelling tour of downtown Murfreesboro focusing on stories of Murfreesboro’s past, weird tales, strange tales, haunted tales as told be the ‘Borotellers.

These are true tales from Murfreesboro’s sordid past. Cost is $5. Please note the tour consists of a walk of approximately an hour. Recommended for ages 13 and up.

The Society for Paranormal Investigation and Research in Tennessee (SPIRIT)  will also share some of tales of the ghostly kind with the public over the next few weekends.

The tour starts at Big B Cleaners on the Square, with stops at the Blue Rooster, Liquid Smoke and Anatasia’s Attic. It continues on West College Street to Spring Street to Vine Street and back to the Square, ending at Pastime Barbershop.

The ghost tour of downtown starts at 7 p.m. Saturday.

An Evening of Swing
The fourth annual “Evening of Swing” gala, a dinner/dance event, will get under way beginning at 6:15 p.m. Friday in the James Union Building’s Tennessee Room.

The evening’s entertainment will feature the big-band music of the 1930s and ‘40s, as performed by MTSU’s two jazz ensembles, with MTSU music faculty members Don Aliquo and Jamey Simmons directing.

Individual tickets for “Evening of Swing,” which includes dinner and a gala evening of music and dancing, are $85 per person ($35 is tax-deductible). Tables seating 10 are available for $850 ($350 is tax-deductible) and patron and major sponsor tables are available for $1,000, $2,500 and $5,000.

Center for the Arts
A Southern Fried Murder takes the stage at the Center for the Arts this weekend.

Southern Fried Murder by Billy St. John takes place in New Orleans. Way down south in Dixie, there’s something rotten in the cotton. The audience may participate in solving the mystery with a special “prize” awarded to the first person to discover the secret hiding place of the will.

This comedy will play at 6:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday with performances through Nov. 14. A sit down dinner sponsored by Outback Steakhouse and dessert by Scott Trover will be served by the actors.

Reservations must be made at least 72 hours in advance and nightly seating capacity is 70. Tickets are available by phone at 615-904-2787, online at www.boroarts.org, and at the box office. Tickets are $35 a person or $60 a couple. This show is suitable for children.

Murfreesboro City Schools Fashion Show
Murfreesboro City Schools Foundation Fashion Show will be held Saturday at Stones River Country Club with a fashion preview and mimosas at 11 a.m., lunch at noon and the fashion show by The French Shoppe at 12:30.

City school teachers will model the fashions with a large selection available for purchase with 15 percent benefiting city schools.

Tickets are $30. Tables for 10 may be purchased and reserved.

For tickets send checks to Murfreesboro City Schools, 2552 S. Church St., 37127, ATTN: Cheryl Harris or Daphna Hayes, 615-893-2313, e-mail cheryl.harris@cityschools.net or daphna.hayes@cityschools.net.