🧟 Scream your way through Philly’s haunted attractions | Things to Do

Well it’s sad to say but Red October is over. The Phillies lost their playoff series to the Mets last night (boo), so, naturally, this morning Philadelphia was greeted with a brisk chill in the air. Sigh. Maybe next year.

While the rest of the month won’t be red for the Phils, Halloween season means we can embrace the color red for a different reason — haunted house fun. This weekend, get your heart (and blood) pumping at a scary Halloween attraction, watch the sweet and smart doc Patrice: The Movie, or catch Stevie Wonder at the Wells Fargo Center.

— Rosa Cartagena (@_RosaCartagena, Email me at thingstodo@inquirer.com)

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I love a good jump scare on TV, but that fear truly hits different when you experience it IRL. Zombies, ghosts, and other monsters are taking over farms and forests all around Philadelphia for thrill seekers looking for a good scream. Bring your scaredy-cat friends to laugh at them while you pretend to be fearless. Good luck with that.

📅 Need to know: Monday is Indigenous Peoples’ Day (a three day weekend for some!) which means some Philly spots might be closed. No fear, our handy guide is here.

💍 Meet Patrice: She calls herself a “totally cool person with a disability who could do most anything.” But Patrice Jetter can’t get married without losing her life-sustaining benefits. Now she’s starring in Patrice: The Movie, a funny and endearing Hulu documentary about the fight for marriage equality for disabled people.

🎤 Bring the tissues: A choir of 500 local singers will unite at the Mann Center tonight for an emotional performance of Considering Matthew Shepard, a narrative show about the gay Wyoming college student whose 1998 murder sparked a movement for hate crime protections to include LGBTQ+ communities. The Downstage performance will be intimate and powerful.

🎥 Grab the popcorn: The Philadelphia Film Festival kicks off 11 days of film screenings next week and with a slate of 100+ films — including film festival favorites and soon-to-be Oscar darlings — coming to local big screens. Watch the new flicks everyone will be debating.

🎧 Listen up: You can see Stevie Wonder at the Wells Fargo Center on Saturday (more on that below) but you can also tune into a new podcast produced by Questlove and the Obamas all about The Wonder of Stevie. Catch up on what you need to know.

🏳️‍🌈 Head to the Gayborhood: Now in its second year, OURfest will celebrate National Coming Out Day (Oct. 11) with a parade and festival this weekend (Oct. 11-13) featuring beer gardens, food trucks, and resources for LGBTQ+ communities.

📅 My calendar picks this week: Scrapple & Apple Festival at Reading Terminal Market, Turkey Day Tailgate, Northern Liberties Fall Festival

For one night only, head to the YèShì Chinatown Night Market on Saturday to see live music and dance performances while sampling great dishes from Chinatown restaurants, including Yakitori Boy, Korea Taqueria, and Miss Saigon. Sip bubble tea or smoothies before trying your hand at lantern making or learning how to play mahjong. Plus, local vendors will be selling cute trinkets, jewelry, and arts and crafts for anyone who wants a little treat for themselves (or if you’re already planning your holiday shopping list). Don’t miss the nighttime fun.

🥧 Pie of my eye: It’s the perfect time for sweet potato, pumpkin, and apple pies — or frankly any other sweet treat you fancy — so we rounded up some of the best bakeries in South Jersey for you to try. Report back on your faves.

📸 Red carpet star: Philadelphia’s own Colman Domingo — the West Philly-raised actor you’ve probably seen behind recent titles Sing Sing, Rustin, and The Color Purple — was just named a cochair for the 2025 Met Gala, which will focus on Black men’s fashion. Here’s what we know so far.

🎄 The Birds and the Nicks: The legendary Eagles Christmas album returns this year, this time with legendary Fleetwood Mac singer Stevie Nicks joining Jason Kelce, Jordan Mailata, and the gang. Out Nov. 29, it’s called A Philly Special Christmas Party.

🎁 Jack Skellington tried it first: The beloved costume shop Spirit Halloween recently announced that they’re breaking into the holiday game with new stores focused on Christmas — and they’re planning to open in Pennsylvania and New Jersey suburbs.

🎭 News junkies and theater kids unite: The satirical political play 44 — The unOfficial, unSanctioned Obama Musical lands at the Suzanne Roberts Theatre on Oct. 29. Will it be funny to watch just days before Election Day? Um, probably.

Pop music critic Dan DeLuca breaks down the best shows coming up.

🎹 Saturday: Whatever you think of the never ending Presidential election season, it has at least one thing going for it. With the intent of encouraging participation in the democratic process, it gets Stevie Wonder out on the road and playing music from his matchless catalog for people. On Saturday, Wonder brings his “Sing Your Song! As We Fix Our Nation’s Broken Heart” tour to the Wells Fargo Center as part of a 10-date concert trek that he has said is meant to promote “joy over anger, kindness over recrimination, peace over war.”

🎤 Thursday: English singer Calum Scott plays the Fillmore Philly in Fishtown. This show could’ve played out like a pep rally, if the Phillies — who love Scott’s cover of Robyn’s “Dancing On My Own” — had beaten the New York Mets…but now it might be more like a wake for a Red October that never really was.

🎸 Tuesday: Back in April, Maggie Rogers played an intimate show at the TLA on South Street to hype her knew album Don’t Forget Me and point forward to a future date at the much larger Wells Fargo Center. Now that date has arrived, with a show on Tuesday.

Read more music picks.

Hello, Princeton! Such a pretty campus. Last weekend I got to see one of the final performances of the world premiere production of Empire Records: The Musical at the McCarter Theatre. It was based on the iconic ‘90s counterculture film that featured young Liv Tyler and Renée Zellweger as part of the (very cool) teens working at a record store that’s facing a corporate takeover (very uncool). Turning the caustic cult classic into a show tunes-filled stage show was risky, even with screenwriter Carol Heikkinen writing the book. The result was rather uneven — great singing from the cast, an incredibly dynamic set design, and some of the same favorite jokes transferred well, but it didn’t quite capture the sarcastic, biting tone that made the original film so good. That’s what happens when developing a crowd-pleasing musical, but hopefully future iterations of the show will capture that clever magic again.

You’ve probably already heard the news — two of our favorite shows, Abbott Elementary and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, are teaming up for a crossover episode that will be maybe the biggest event in Philly TV this season. Quinta Brunson, Rob McElhenney, and Charlie Day teased the news last week and there are already so many theories about what will happen when the gang goes to an elementary school. All we know now is that it will happen in episode nine of the new Abbott season, which just premiered last night. What do you think they should do? Let me know!

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This week I’m starting the new Diego Luna-Gael Garcia Bernal boxing show La Maquina.

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated the release date for ‘A Philly Special Christmas Party.’