'Nature of Diamonds' exhibit opens at Field Museum

Chicago

A girl's best friend

The exhibit is so bright, you have to wear shades when the "Nature of Diamonds" opens at the Field Museum. Nearly 800 glittering objects, including some of the world's most stunning stones like the 128.54-carat gem that Audrey Hepburn donned in the movie "Breakfast at Tiffany's," tell the story of the objects that have inspired scientists, writers and gold diggers for millennia. Pieces owned by Mae West, Catherine the Great of Russia, Joan Crawford and Elton John among others will be on display. You'll learn where diamonds are found and how they're formed, mined, graded, cut, sold and used in cutting-edge technologies.

9 a.m. to 5 p.m. seven days a week, Friday, Oct. 23, through March 28. 1400 S. Lake Shore Drive. (312) 922-9410 or fieldmuseum.org.

They're creepy and they're kooky

Enjoy Halloween at the Spooky Zoo Spectacular at Lincoln Park Zoo. Young party animals can celebrate Halloween in a family-friendly environment and get another chance to wear this year's costume. Stop at trick-or-treating stations, listen to live entertainment, enter the costume contest and visit the Spooky Zoo Education Zone to learn fun facts about animals. Other activities include a haunted house and arts and crafts. Spooky Zoo takes place rain or shine, just like Halloween.

11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 24, at 2001 N. Clark St. (312) 742-2000 or lpzoo.org/events/spooky08.html.

Chicago-weenies scare up free fun

The recession need not put a damper on your Halloween. Take little Morticia and Pugsley to Daley Plaza for Chicagoween and bags full of free fun. Midnight Circus will perform, while Semmerling and Schaefer Mask Studios artists will demonstrate how to create an elaborate art mask. Pyrotechniq, which specializes in fully immersive fire and ultraviolet kinetic performances, will be on hand. Kids can enjoy free arts and crafts on Franken (Daley) Plaza; buy pumpkins or squash at the Harvest Market; and take in free viewings of films like "Gremlins" and "Young Frankenstein." On Saturday, Oct. 24, there will be a costume contest, trick-or-treating and hayrides.

Times vary from Friday, Oct. 23, to Saturday, Oct. 31, at 50 W. Washington St., Daley Plaza. (312) 744-3315 or chicago ween.us.

Midwest

Let's be civil

Just try getting around in a hoop skirt and you may understand the constant grimace on Mary Todd Lincoln's face. The ultimate in interactive history, Racine's Civil War Harvest Ball allows you to join Abe and Mary Todd Lincoln in the grand march and dance to the oldest re-created Civil War brass band in the nation. Learn the Virginia reel, polkas and waltzes of the period, and during intermission, Lincoln will offer a few words and reflect on his time in Racine County. You may catch a glimpse of General Grant or do-si-do with General Lee as you dance in Racine's Historic Memorial Hall on the Lake Michigan shoreline. The ball concludes with the singing of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic."

7:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 7, at Memorial Hall, 72 Seventh St., Racine, Wis. Cost for the dance, appetizers and birthday cake is $30 a person with a cash bar. For tickets, call (608) 527-4222 or 1stbrigadeband.org. For lodging options, contact the Racine County Convention and Visitors Bureau at (800) 272-2463.

Ghostbusters

Have a rocking weekend courtesy of Louisville's 21c Museum Hotel - except it's the chair that might be rocking from paranormal activity. The boutique hotel, contemporary art museum and cultural center, offers a pick-your-fright Halloween package. You can walk through the historic and haunted Waverly Hills Sanatorium or stroll through the "spookiest neighborhood in the U.S." The Halloween package includes two tickets to Waverly Hills Haunted House or two tickets to the Old Louisville Ghost Tour; luxury accommodations; gelato for two and breakfast for two at Proof on Main.

Package valid through Saturday, Oct. 31, at 21c Museum Hotel, 700 W. Main St., Louisville, Ky. Packages start at $255 and are subject to availability. (877) 217-6400 or 21cmuseumhotel.com.

Very superstitious

It all started Jan. 16, 1987, when a Belleville, Wis., police officer reported seeing a cluster of lights in the sky and soon he and his partner saw what is believed to be a UFO. Other citizens reported cigar-shaped objects in the late afternoon sky departing in clouds of vapor - more than a dozen reports of UFO activity came in from January to April. Belleville becomes the UFO Capital of the World on UFO Day when aliens and humanoids get together for a craft fair, kids' games, a pet parade, pumpkin decorating, lots of food and a beer tent, a film festival, a Monster Ball, a Forbidden Forest and a costume parade in the town just 17 miles south of Madison, Wis.

9 a.m. to 1 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 31, in downtown Belleville. (608) 424-3336 or belleville-wi.com/subsites/ufoday/index.htm.

Worth the trip

"CSI" fanatics may want to plan a trip to Washington, D.C., to visit the new National Museum of Crime & Punishment. View firearms, detection equipment, prison art and automobiles from hundreds of law enforcement divisions nationwide, including several from Illinois. Its galleries include an area dedicated to gangster Al Capone. Browse more than 100 different displays and interactive exhibits that focus on the history and legacy of crime and punishment in America and interact with a realistic forensics lab, create ID cards and fingerprinting and use a lie-detector test.

10 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays through February; 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. March through August. 575 7th St. N.W., Washington, D.C. Admission is $17.95 for adults; $14.95 for law enforcement officers, children (ages 5-11) and seniors age 60 and older; and free for children younger than 5. (202) 621-5567 or visit crimemuseum.org.