October is the true start of the fall season and brings with it the chilly weather, chunky sweaters and pumpkin spice everything, and like every season there comes with it the urge to do the quintessential things of the season. While a bucket list can be endlessly long and four things is barely a scratch at the surface, here’s an October bucket list and exactly how to tackle each of them in the local area.
1) Get Lost in a Corn Maze:
The Twin Cities Harvest Festival and Maze is the perfect place to get lost in some corn!
The family-owned maze boasts the title of the largest one in Minnesota spanning over 20 acres devoted to the event.
If you’re heading to the Harvest Festival, buy your tickets online and save a few dollars off admission.
Otherwise, a personal favorite of mine is Afton Apple Orchards, which has a simplified version of the Twin Cities Harvest Festival production. Afton still has plenty of maze to get lost in, with 15 acres and three different mazes in one, allowing for a customization of difficulty– or if you’re like my family, you’ll break into teams and each start with one of the mazes and race to finish them all! To make it more difficult, the mazes have trivia questions hidden throughout with punches that you have to find and complete to truly finish the maze.
2) Carve a Pumpkin:
Another thing that must be done in October to truly harken back to childhood is to cut into a pumpkin! Whether you prefer to pick your own or snag something from a supermarket and get to it, both are fully suitable methods to get your gourd.
Afton Orchards supplies the opportunity to get your pumpkin and maze in one, if you prefer to pluck from the patch, but otherwise check out Pine Tree Apple Orchards for some pumpkin picking and apples in White Bear Lake. Beyond their pumpkins, their pastries and other products are delicious and the perfect pair to your carving night.
Once you’ve got your hands on a pumpkin, consider using a free print-out guide to tackle more intricate designs or freehand something more classic.
Whether you’re into carving your own or not, if you want to marvel at others work head to the Minnesota Zoo’s Jack-O-Lantern Spectacular anytime between October 4th through Halloween itself. The event anticipates over 5,000 carved, lit pumpkins. If you’re pinching pennies, go on an off day from Sunday through Thursday for cheaper tickets!
3) Drink Hot Apple Cider (or something stronger):
While it might be very easy to snag some apple cider at a maze or pumpkin patch, if you can’t snag one at a local co-op shop like Wedge Co-Op or coffee shop like one of the many locations at Spyhouse Coffee.
Otherwise, if you’re a drinker, hit Oktoberfest on the 5-6th or 12-13th for festivities and drinks alike.
4) Spook Yourself!:
Whether with a movie or a haunted house, October calls for one to try and get their heart racing!
If you’ve already seen all the scary movies you desire, instead try downloading the small, largely unknown game Hide and Shriek. The game is a one-to-one head-to-head battle between players in an spooky, arcane high school where both stealth and jump scares are involved.
The game is the perfect Halloween tradition if you can’t get together with your spooky pals for a movie marathon.
Otherwise, check out one of the many haunted houses in the Twin Cities like Valleyscare or Haunted Basement for intensely scary experiences or find something lighter with Fright Farm which offers a very controlled haunted hayride that even the easiest spook can get a safe heart race with.
With the stress of the semester in full swing now as October begins, it can be easy to ignore the festivities of the new, fall season, but when November suddenly rolls around, it can be said to realize you didn’t do any of the classic, October things. Instead, pick out your favorite activities now and squeeze something festive into the month.