Ghouls and Gourds 2016

According to the organizers:

On Saturday, October 29, 2016, Brooklyn Botanic Garden (BBG) celebrates Halloween and the harvest season with Ghouls & Gourds, a zany, colorful festival for families and visitors of all ages. Against the vibrant backdrop of BBG’s fall foliage, visitors will be treated to magical sights and sounds, including stilt-walking troupes Mortal Beasts & Deities and The Shinbone Alley Stilt Band; live musical performances featuring Brooklyn’s chart-toppings young lions of roots reggae, New Kingston; Gotham’s purveyors of Yiddish party music, Metropolitan Klezmer; NYC’s late-night sax king, Eddie Barbash;and a raucous resurrection by Pam Fleming’s Dead Zombie Band. Award-winning troubadour Billy Jonas & the Band will get kids moving with recycled instruments made from buckets, barrels, cans, and more. Fabulous entertainment will be presented in the round at the Hayloft, including the miniature divas of Phydeaux’s Flying Flea Circus of Fate and the Mettawee River Theatre’s woodland creatures.

Kids can get up close and personal with a variety of critters both real and imaginary—with an entomologist and her bugs at Dr. Rutledge’s Insectorium, composting demonstrations with adorably icky worms, and, just for toddlers, a Pretend Petting Zoo. Other hands-on activities will include Vegetable Midway withBrussels Sprout Bowling, Rutabaga Skee-Ball, and more! Bookworms can check out the Children’s Book Barn, where there will be readings and book signings by 20 local children’s book authors and illustrators and a pop-up book shop from Community Bookstore. To cap off the day, everyone is invited to join a herd of stilt walkers and giant puppets in Brooklyn’s zaniest costume parade, followed by a drum circle led by Brazilian percussion band Maracatu NY.