Best Bets: Celebrate the season at Schaumburg’s Halloween carnival
Halloween happenings
• The Village of Schaumburg hosts its third annual Halloween carnival featuring rides, a haunted house, trick-or-treating, costume contests, arts and crafts, and food vendors at Wintrust Field, 1999 S. Springinsguth Road, Schaumburg. Free, but parking is $5. House of Creeps (for ages 13 and older) is $17.50 in advance, $25 at the door. Tickets for House of Creeps kids’ hour (for those younger than 12) is $10. schaumburghalloween.com. Carnival hours: 5-10 p.m. Fridays, Oct. 18 and 25; 1-10 p.m. Saturdays, Oct. 19 and 26; and 1-9 p.m. Sundays, Oct. 20 and 27. House of Creeps hours: 6-11 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Oct. 18-19 and 25-26; 6-9 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 27; 6-10 p.m. Oct. 28; 6-11 p.m. Oct. 31-Nov. 2; kids’ hour: 2-5 p.m. Oct. 19-20 and 26-27
• Chicago’s 10th annual Arts in the Dark family-friendly Halloween parade, consisting of floats, spectacle puppets and performance artists, takes place on State Street, moving south from Lake Street to Van Buren Street. The parade celebrates local arts makers. artsinthedark.com. 6-8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 19
Blues in the ’burbs
• Tommy Castro & The Painkillers headline a concert at the James Lumber Center for the Performing Arts, 19351 W. Washington St., Grayslake. Joining them is Chicago blues guitarist/vocalist Nick Moss and his trio, whose latest release is “Get Your Back Into It!” $15-$33. jlcenter.clcillinois.edu. 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 18
• Blues rocker and guitarist Ronnie Baker Brooks, son of legendary Chicago bluesman Lonnie Brooks, celebrates the release of his Alligator Records debut “Blues in my DNA” at FitzGerald’s, 5516 W. Roosevelt Road, Berwyn. $25-$35. (708) 788-2118 or fitzgeraldsnightclub.com. 8:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 18
• Vocalist Lynne Jordan, singer/songwriter/guitarist Donna Herula, violinist Anne Harris, vocalist/percussionist Peaches Staten and Sheryl Youngblood are among the blueswomen performing “Leading Ladies of the Blues” at the Al Larson Prairie Center for the Arts, 201 Schaumburg Court, Schaumburg. $40-$48. (847) 895-3600 or prairiecenter.org. 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 19
• Blues singer/songwriter and harmonica player Corky Siegel, co-founder of the famed Siegel-Schwall Band and Chamber Blues, which incorporated blues, jazz and classical music, headlines Studio5, 1934 Dempster St., Evanston. He’s joined by multi-instrumentalist Randy Sabien, a veteran of “A Prairie Home Companion” and “Austin City Limits.” $35, $45. studio5.dance. 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 18
More music
• Gospel legends the Blind Boys of Alabama, a group founded 70 years ago whose members have all been men with vision impairment, perform at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts, 9501 Skokie Blvd., Skokie. Group members have crossed musical boundaries performing everything from traditional gospel songs to contemporary spiritual material. $49-$79. (847) 673-6300 or northshorecenter.org. 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 18
• Also performing at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts is the traditional bluegrass ensemble and Grammy Award-winning band The Steep Canyon Rangers, whose members have played with banjoist comedian/Steve Martin. $35-$55. (847) 673-6300 or northshorecenter.org. 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 24
Flamenco in concert
Miguel Fernandez, known as El Yiyo and described as “a Flamenco dancer for the YouTube generation,” performs at the Athenaeum Center for Thought & Culture, 2936 N. Southport Ave., Chicago. Produced in partnership with the Royal Opera of Madrid, SO-LA-NA and the Instituto Cervantes Chicago, the dance concert features live music by guitarist Falete and vocalists Diego Amador Jr. and Aaron Molina. $55-$99. athenaeumcenter.org. 6 and 9 p.m. Friday, Oct. 18, and 3 and 6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 19
Step Afrika! returns
The Auditorium Theatre, 50 E. Ida B. Wells Drive, Chicago, opens its season with the return of Step Afrika!, a dance ensemble that blends traditional African dances and styles practiced by historically African American fraternities and sororities with contemporary dance. The ensemble performs “The Migration: Reflections on Jacob Lawrence,” whose final movement “Chicago” showcases the city’s role as a haven for African Americans migrating north during the early 20th century. Tickets start at $29. (312) 341-2300 or auditoriumtheatre.org. 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 19
Puppy yoga
Adorable, adoptable puppies join yoga students for a 40-minute class followed by a play session at 360 Chicago, the observation deck on the 94th floor of 875 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago. Proceeds from the special 360 Chicago Sky Yoga class benefit One Tail at a Time, a Chicago pet rescue association that finds forever homes for animals rescued from overcrowded shelters. $75. 360chicago.com/activities. 7:30 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 19
Last chance to see the Viking ship
This is the final weekend to tour the replica Norwegian Viking ship at Good Templar Park, 528 East Side Drive, Geneva. Built in Norway in 1893, the ship — patterned after a 1,000-year-old excavated ship — was an attraction at the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Tours resume in April 2025. $7 for adults, $4 for teens, and free for kids 12 and younger. vikingship.us. 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 19-20
Bozo’s Circus comes to Highland Park
Madame ZuZu’s Emporium, 1876 First St., Highland Park, celebrates legendary TV clown Bozo at a pop-up Bozo’s Circus. The family-friendly event includes entertainment, kids’ art stations, discussions and a Grand Prize Game. Shimshi, an illusionist and mentalist, performs at 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 19. $14 for adults, $8.50 for kids. (847) 926-7359 or madamezuzus.com. Timed, dated entry at 10 a.m., noon and 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 19, and 9 and 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 20
Frank Lloyd Wright exhibition
“Photographing Frank Lloyd Wright,” a new exhibition showcasing Frank Lloyd Wright’s early photography and images by photographers who documented his work, opens at the Driehaus Museum, 50 E. Erie St., Chicago. The exhibition, which includes photos that appeared in the publications LIFE and Architectural Forum, “offers insights into how photography influenced public perception of his work.” Adults $20, seniors $15, students $10. driehausmuseum.org. Thursday, Oct. 24, through Jan. 5, 2025