Until November 5
Edmonton’s premiere haunted experience is already spreading the scares, and it won’t even stop on Halloween. Until November 5 (Thursdays-Sundays, all week prior to Halloween), you can survive your way through Deadmonton’s Icons of Darkness and Return of the Living Dead… if you dare.
October 1, 7:30 p.m.
This Saturday, Melissa McClelland and Luke Doucet bring their musical partnership, Whitehorse, to St. Albert’s Arden Theatre. With over a decade of songwriting and performing experience, these stallions have really hit their stride.
October 1, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Dive down to On Side Restoration to hang out with superheroes, hot cars and scrumptious food — and to help fill the Boyle Street Community Services emergency donation room with sweatpants, socks, sleeping bags and travel-size personal hygiene items for Edmonton’s most vulnerable citizens.
October 1, 9 p.m.
Born in Norfolk, Va., Karen Hester fell in love with music from an early age — especially the songs of Dolly Parton. Now having opened for artists like Trace Adkins and Ricky Van Shelton and performed around the world, Hester pays tribute to the Backwoods Barbie at the River Cree Resort and Casino.
October 2, 8 p.m.
Trixie and Katya, drag’s dynamic duo, will perform unparalleled feats of theatrical eroticism and hilarious ingenuity at the Jubilee Auditorium. Get tickets to the show critics call “shockingly poignant and mercifully brief.”
October 4, 7:30 p.m.
The Rockies are some of the most beautiful mountains in the world, but they can be a real pain to climb. The Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour takes you to the top of many peaks (and the valleys that lead to them) so you can watch the fearless athleticism and take in picturesque views without ever leaving your Arden Theatre seat.
October 6, 7 p.m.
Creative Directors Nobu Adilman and Daveed Goldman have worked with Patti Smith, David Byrne and Rick Astley — now they want to work with you. As Choir! Choir! Choir!, the Toronto-based singing group will teach you original arrangements to songs you love at Union Hall, then get you to sing like they did with members — and fans — of The Tragically Hip.
October 7 to 31
The Spruce Ridge Scare has been spooking people of all ages in Spruce Grove for four years, and now it’s back for a fifth. It’s an amateur haunted house put on by a family that’s in it for the love of the ghoulish game. Dress in your Halloween best, and don’t forget a food bank donation.
October 7, 6 p.m.
Radio host Jason Gregor is gonna pig out on pizza at the Edmonton Expo Centre, and he’d like some company. So pack your car to watch family friendly film The Bad Guys on Canada’s biggest LED screen while local pizzerias provide pies for you to eat and then vote on, all to fundraise for KidSport.
October 7, 7:30
Shumka mean “whirlwind,” so it’s a fitting description of the dance the Ukranian Shumka Dancers have developed over 60. years. The new tour will present four of Shumka’s newest works, including “Disneyesque Mosquito’s Wedding,” a tribute in film to the Ukrainian pioneers in Canada, and “Promised Land,” a salute to the bravery of the people in current Ukraine, at the Jubilee Auditorium.
October 7 to 30
Stumble (safely) through the shadows at the fifth year of DARK, where you’ll face a menacing jokester, a harrowing harvest deal or late-night demons at one of three haunted houses in Fort Edmonton Park.
October 7 and 8, 7:30 p.m.
The only thing as iconic as the original Star Wars visuals is its soaring score, the songs of which you can hear in full orchestral beauty at the Winspear Centre as the ESO (along with the Kokopelli and Òran choirs) plays John Williams’ Oscar-winning music.
October 8 to 30
The Wolves, a Pulitzer Prize finalist, follows nine teenage girls playing competitive soccer as the prepare to enter the world of adulthood. The Off-Broadway hit runs most of October at the Citadel Theatre.
October 12, 9:30
With big costumes, personalities and pomp, pro wrestling and burlesque have a lot in common. That’s why a group of top burlesque dancers have created BurlescoMania, a one-night-only main event show, to pay tribute to their favourite wrestlers. Get a ringside seat close enough to feel the performers’ sweat (and glitter). We just hope referee Domino Effect can keep everyone under control.
October 13, 6:30 p.m.
Edmonton’s largest food and drink laboratory is back at Telus World of Science. Imbibe in cocktails with a scientific twist and pair them with food from some of Edmonton’s best food-and-drink pair-makers. You can also see live science feats like the Liquid Nitrogen Irish Cream Ice Cream experiment and compete in the Cocktail Shake-Off and Free Pour Challenge.
October 13 to 23
Through a series of speakers at over 30 events around town, LitFest brings a diverse range of authors and readers together for a two-week festival celebrating big ideas in non-fiction writing.
October 13 and 14, 7:30 p.m.
Nicholas McGegan conducts the ESO in Handel’s Royal Fireworks Music and Rameau’s opera Naïs — both originally composed to celebrate the 1749 treaty between Britain and France. Watch and be wowed as the bring this timeless music to life, along with ESO soloists performing Bach, Vivaldi, Handel, and Rameau.
October 14 and 15, 7:30 p.m.
Ballet Edmonton opens its new season with Remeo (not Romeo), which features three works: “Till Leaves Fall” by Diego Ramalho, “Swan” by Artistic Director Wen Wei Wang, and “The Rite” by choreographer Shay Kuebler. These emerging and experienced choreographers will direct some of the best dancers in the country, all at the height of their artistic powers.
October 14 to 31
Edmonton Ghost Tours reach scary heights during a historically horrifying trolley ride over the High Level Bridge. You’ll hear gruesome stories of ghosts who still haunt the Arts Barns, the University of Alberta, and even the High-Level Bridge itself.
October 15 and 16
The Edmonton Short Film Festival returns for its 10th year at Metro Cinema, starting with a comedy night, featuring a selection of comedic short films, on October 14. It’s a great way to get out, have a few laughs and support local filmmakers.
October 16, 2 p.m.
The first thing everyone thinks of, when they think of Oktoberfest, is classical music — at least that’s the case if you’re part of the Edmonton Recital Society, which is putting on an Oktoberfest celebration with an all-star cast of brass players from the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra.
October 19 to November 6
Popular York University professor Martin Delancey raises a question in his classroom: Is it possible to move the Danish island of Greenland, in its entirety, south in the Atlantic? This modest proposal sets the stage in The Wrong People Have Money, at Varscona Theatre.
October 23, 24, 29 and 30, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Dress up as your favourite creepy critter and see the creatures at the Edmonton Valley Zoo’s Boo at the Zoo. Bring your trick-or-treat bag too, for candy stops around the zoo, and check out the All About Bats table to see that, while bats make great Halloween icons, they aren’t so scary once you get to know them.
October 25, 7:30 p.m.
All-time Canadian comedy icon Mary Walsh has crammed her best routines and most popular characters from her award-winning career —including Dancing With Rage and This Hour Has 22 Minutes — into one evening of comedy at The Arden Theatre.
October 31, 7:30 p.m.
Is there a more suitable time to watch the frightening 1925 Lon Chaney version of The Phantom of the Opera than on Halloween? We say no. Watch — and listen — as master silent film accompanist Dennis James plays the Davis Concert Organ as the film is projected above the Winspear stage, taking you to the Paris Opera House from nearly 100 years ago.
