Pumpkins, plays and streaming concerts: What to do in Calgary this weekend

The first weekend of October is coming up, the start of the pumpkin, apple cider and Halloween season. And the people of Calgary are looking for ways to get out there again — and safely enjoy the glorious fall weather.

Ghost Tours 

This year, there are ghost tours galore, but many of them seem to be selling out quickly. There are a couple of them with availability.

Calgary Ghost Walks has a tour this weekend, on Saturday night. You will learn about the spirits of Inglewood — and apparently there are a lot of them. There is a father who watches over his daughter, and the story behind a local curse. That tour starts at 9 p.m., and to find your guide, just look for the figure in a cape, carrying a lantern.

For full information and to register, go to calgaryghostwalks.com.

And if you're heading to the mountains, you can check out the ghostly past of the Bow Valley during a Banff Ghost Walking Tour. You'll take a stroll along the historic streets and learn about haunted landmarks and unsolved mysteries. Available in English or French. Go to banfftours.com to book.

Pumpkin season

It's harvest time, and many fields are ripe for the pumpkin picking.

Starting Saturday, both Cobb's Adventure Park, famous for its outdoor games, and Butterfield Acres family farm are open for pumpkin picking, and they will both be open every weekend this month. Check their websites before you go for ticket information.

First show at the Jubilee

For the first time since March 12, there will be a show at the Jubilee Friday night. It's probably the first large arena-type venue to reopen since the lockdown, and the Honens-Land's End concert, with 100 tickets, is already sold out.

Jonathan Love is the executive director of the Alberta Jubilee Auditorum Society.

"We're only allowed right now, according to Alberta Health parameters, 100 people at any gathering indoors. We have a chamber that houses 2,500 people. So we can quite easily and safely socially distance 100 people within that space," Love said. 

"This is sort of the first trial, and this is an opportunity for us to try all of our new safety protocols, and make sure that front-of-house is ready, and we're set to expand the capacity when we need to."

Love said there will soon be a schedule of coming events at the Jubilee.

Deer Woman

Two local theatre companies, Downstage and Article 11, are co-presenting the premiere of a film based on a play. It's called Deer Woman.

Tara Beagan is the playwright, producer and co-director, and the co-founder of Article 11.

"It's the story of a Blackfoot woman who is quite sickened in her spirit by the inactivity around missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls," Beagan said. "And when she believes she finds the person who stole her little sister, she enacts her own justice."

Beagan says it's a drama with a lot of comedy

"All the great survivors in the world have a great sense of humour," she said. "And that is really evident in this character Lila. So even though the world is fairly bleak from her perspective, she finds the absurdity and the laugh in it."

Deer Woman will be streamed online starting this Sunday and runs through Oct.18. Go to downstage.ca to reserve a free ticket.

Trade shows at BMO and Big Four

Something else we haven't seen in a while is a trade show. This weekend, there are two big ones. There's the Calgary Baby and Tot Show at the BMO Centre, and there's the New Earth Expo at The Big Four building, also down at the Stampede Grounds.

New Earth is a trade show focused on holistic health and alternative therapies when it comes to food, healing and beauty products.

Both shows are happening this weekend with COVID-19 health measures in place, including fewer exhibitors, wider aisles, screening at the entrance, counters to monitor traffic, and masks on everyone.

Classical Music by Black Composers

The University of Calgary is presenting an online concert celebrating classical music written by Black composers, initiated in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Edmond Agopian is the organizer, a music professor and one of the performers.

 "I thought it would be a wonderful thing to feature Black composers," Agopian said. "We tend to associate Black composers with the world of jazz, with names like Duke Ellington and Thelonious Monk and all these other jazz greats. But there are wonderful composers of African heritage who wrote classical music, such as Florence Price, Nathaniel Dett, Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson — so it's a learning experience for everybody."

The concert is free and streams online Friday night at 8 p.m., you can watch at stagestreamlive.tv or go to events.ucalgary.ca and follow the links.

CPO launches fall program

The Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra launches its fall program this weekend starting with an online string concert that includes a violin and cello duet of Passacaglia by Halvorsen. The concert features Donovan Seidle on violin and Arnold Choi on cello.

On Sunday afternoon, there will be a car choir, presented by Luminous Voices, a local professional chamber choir. 

WiL at The Ironwood

On the contemporary scene, B.C. singer songwriter WiL is performing at the Ironwood Thursday and Friday night. You can reserve your seat ahead of time by going to ironwoodstage.ca.

WiL plays at 8 p.m. on Friday.