From corn mazes to cranberries: What's up in October?

Leaves are changing colours. Storm clouds are rolling in off the mountains. October has arrived.

The next few weeks will be full of crisp mornings and Thanksgiving turkey and spooky movies. But before you hunker down in the frosty chill of a rainy Fraser Valley winter, explore and enjoy the last events of a bustling autumn. The month has something for everyone, from spooky real-life ghost stories and horror movies to pumpkin patches and corn mazes.

Cranberries, corn, and pumpkins

The final harvests of the season continue as the weather cools off, and many will be accompanied by familiar festivals. Celebrate pumpkins, cranberries, and corn, among other things, at some of the season's last big outdoor events.

The Fort Langley Cranberry festival will start next weekend, on Oct. 7, in Fort Langley. The festival, now in its 34th year, will feature various vendors and local musicians while celebrating the cranberry and its role in local history and business.

Cranberries aren’t the only fall fruit facing another harvest season. Crowds will also gather to celebrate pumpkins, especially at Langley’s own Giant Pumpkin Weigh-Off. The competition, in which growers spend the spring and summer creating the biggest pumpkin they possibly can, truck them to the event, and then measure them, will again take place at Krause Berry Farms. It’s BC’s largest pumpkin weigh-off event. (We wrote about giant pumpkin growing last year; read that story here.)

Looking for a more reasonable-sized pumpkin that you can take home to carve? Check out a local pumpkin patch:

Langley | Chilliwack | Abbotsford | Harrison

Spooky and scary

After securing a pumpkin to carve into a jack-o-lantern, scope out some of the other options in the Fraser Valley for spooky (or not-so-spooky) Halloween plans.

The Fort Langley National Historic Site’s annual Grave Tales tours will start up again on Oct. 13 and run on weekends until the end of the month. The popular event will take visitors through horrifying historical tales of Fort Langley. (Read one of those scary stories here.)

Across the river in Mission, the River's Edge Horror Film Festival will feature independent scary movies on Saturday, Oct. 21 at the Clark Theatre. Filmmakers from the Lower Mainland will attempt to terrify viewers within their two-minute short films. Movies will be fairly family friendly—they will be made for PG-13 audiences and won’t include guns, nudity, or recreational drug use.

If scary isn’t your style this month, most cities in the Fraser Valley are planning family events for trick-or-treating in and around downtown areas. Pick out your best princess or pirate attire (or anything else, really) and do some candy-collecting at an event near you.

Langley | Abbotsford | Mission | Kilby Historic Site

Fall eats

There are plenty of seasonal treats beyond cranberries and candies in October: including the famous Bavarian celebration of Oktoberfest.

Though it’s originally a party from the other side of the ocean, Oktoberfest has several dedicated hosts who bring the festival (or celebrations like it) to the Fraser Valley every year.

In Chilliwack, the Brewhalla Beer and Music Festival will kick off on October 7 in Watson Glen Park. Craft breweries from throughout the Lower Mainland will set up to show off their favourite brews. If you miss it in Chilliwack, there will be a second festival in Cloverdale on October 28.

Breweries and craft beer locations throughout the Fraser Valley will also be running their own special deals and events to celebrate Oktoberfest this month. Find a list of them here.