NOTE: Community bulletin board-type items are welcome for inclusion in the Happenings! section of the Xpress newspapers. Please allow enough lead time for publication. Email your calendar or event notice to [email protected].

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 11

Halloween Harvest Festival at Douglas Orchard and Farm, 36 Locust Street, Douglas from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Get ready for a tail-wagging, treat-filled Halloween Festival with our amazing partners, Dog Orphans. Bring your pups dressed in their spookiest, silliest, or most creative Halloween costumes for our paws-itively adorable Dog Costume Parade Contest—winners will be announced with fang-tastic prizes. Kids can join the spooky scavenger hunt around the farm and grab their treat bags full of goodies. Don’t forget to come in your Halloween best, because it’s costumes galore for everyone! Plus, enjoy magical performances by the Witches of Sutton and the talented Dance Sensation children’s dance troupe. It’s going to be frightfully fun for the whole family! 

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16

• The Blackstone Valley Chamber of Commerce (BVCC)  announces its upcoming Business After Hours networking event, hosted by Fidelity Bank in Millbury. The event will take place on from 5:30 - 7:30 p.m. at Fidelity Bank’s Armory Village branch, located at 16 South Main Street, Millbury. It’s free to attend!

• The Friends of the Auburn Public Library host Robert Stacy, historian at the Museum of Worcester who will give a presentation on “The Lives of Worcester Workers 1830-Present from 6:30-8 p.m. at the Pakachoag Center, 203 Pakachoag Street, Auburn. The doors open at 6 p.m. Admission is $15. Payment by cash, check or PayPal. The event is a fundraiser for the Friends. Kindly pre-register at 

Friendsofauburnplibrary @gmail.com

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 18

Auburn Homecoming and Fall Festival from 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. Join us for a wonderful celebration of our Fall Festival and Homecoming at Auburn High School, 99 Auburn Street, Auburn. Enjoy sports games, a live band, a truck load of pumpkins to decorate, with food trucks, ice cream trucks, wonderful artisans and awareness groups.

• A Meat Raffle will be held by the Millbury Lions Club, 2 p.m. - 5 p.m., St. Charles Hotel, 126 West Main St, Millbury. Early bird tickets at 1:30 p.m. Funds will help the Millbury High School Boys Varsity Basketball Team.

• The First Congregational Church of Dudley, 135 Center Road, is holding a Turkey Supper with seatings at 4:30 and 6 p.m. The menu includes turkey, stuffing, mashed potato, turnip, squash, gravy, cranberry sauce, bread and butter, golden gingerbread and tea. Tickets are $18 each for ages 13 and up, $10 for ages 6-12 years. Kids 5 and under are free. For reservations, call 508-943-7320 and leave your name, phone number, time of seating and number of guests in your party.

• St. Peter’s Parish in Northbridge is having a Haddock Dinner at 5:30 p.m. in the parish hall.  Bring your family and friends for a wonderful meal and meet some new friends.  Tickets are $17 per dinner and include salad and dessert. To go meals will be available for pick up at 5 p.m.  All orders must be purchased in advance by Tuesday, October 14. Please call the parish office at 508-234-2156 or email parishoffice@stpeterrockdale. org to order your meals or if you have any questions.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 18 and SUNDAY, OCTOBER 19

• 45th Annual Waters Farm Days 53 Waters Farm Road, West Sutton. 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Antique tractor and Doodlebug show, animal exhibition, 4H animals, craft vendors, tractor pull, car show, food vendors, barrel train, kids’ bouncy houses, robotics club, police/fireman meet and greet, blacksmith and shingle making demonstration, pottery demonstration, peddler shop, tractor-pulled hay rides, apple crisp, and circa 1757  farm house tours. 

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 19

• The Museum of the Millbury Historical Society at the Asa Waters Mansion, 123 Elm Street, will be open from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m. This coincides with the Asa Waters Fall Festival. Some of the museum’s holdings are: 100 years of Aftermath yearbooks; photos: churches, schools, downtown, sports; scrapbooks; research books & histories of Millbury & Sutton going back to colonial times. Also, President Taft photos and memorabilia; military uniforms, guns, and flags.

• Fall Festival in Nelson Park, North Grafton, 6 Prentice Street from 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. There will be music, inflatables, food trucks, and local businesses joining in on the fun! FREE!! Music, food, games and more! Decorate a pumpkin and build a scarecrow while supplies last. Presented by Coral Care & Country Bank. 

• The New England Country Music Club will host “The Rhode Island Rednecks” at the Progressive Club, 18 Whitin Street, Uxbridge, Doors open at 12:15 p.m. Music from 1-5 p.m.                                                                          

• Join Oxford Ecumenical Food Shelf Volunteers for the Annual Crop Hunger Walk. Beginning at First Congregational Church, 355 Main Street, Oxford at 1 p.m.  Please arrive at 12:30 to sign in. This is an easy 3.5 mile walk through Oxford. A small monetary donation is requested. This year’s goal is $2500 which will help stock the shelves of the Food Shelf, Oxford’s community food pantry, in the weeks ahead. Register at crophungerwalk.org or just show up on the 19th. The food pantry is open to Oxford residents for free.

• Uxbridge Youth Soccer League will again host its annual RC Air Show and Vendor Fair from 12 – 4 p.m. at the Sutton Street Field Complex (298 Sutton Street, Uxbridge). Donations are recommended at $5 per person.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 22

Friendly Trick or Treat from 3 – 4 p.m.at Grafton Municipal Center, 30 Providence Road,Grafton.  Hosted by Grafton Rec and sponsored by the Town.  The event is designed for ages 5 and under, though all are welcome. Come visit Town Hall and trick or treat at town offices and tables set up by local businesses. Dress up in your costume and collect goodies in a safely lighted and non-scary environment. Start at the Senior Center Gym tent to collect your bag and a map. Face painting available!

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 23 

• The Sutton Garden Club will host Gretel Anspach, Trustee of Mass Horticulture and a Lifetime Master Gardener of the MA Master Gardener Association,who  will talk about cold frames and hoop houses to extend the growing season by as much as 2-4 weeks.  These tools let you transition seedlings and from windowsills or greenhouses to the outdoors.  Presented at 7 p.m. at the A.L. Dudley-Gendron Post 414, 156 Boston Post Road, Sutton. The Garden Club welcomes new members: $20 individual or $30 for a family.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 25   

• St. Patrick’s Church Autumn Recycling Event, 7 East Street, Whitinsville. 8 a.m. – 1 p.m.  Accepting gently used books (no encyclopedias), media & magazines, gently used textiles/clothing and accessories, electronics for a fee (no propane, batteries, lightbulbs),  rinsed bottles/cans returnable in MA (no glass).

Please keep items for each station separate.  Call 508-234-5656 or contact 

[email protected] for price list or questions. Proceeds benefit Youth in Action service projects.

• Blackstone Valley Crop Hunger Walk will start at 9 a.m. at the Village Congregational Church in Whitinsville. Registration starts at 8:30 a.m. For more information, contact Barbara Fortin at 508-234-2137.

• The Sutton Historical Society will be set up at the M. M. Sherman Blacksmith Shop, 6 Singletary Avenue, from 4-7 p.m. as part of the OMG Pumpkin Festival 2025 hosting a miniature Halloween village exhibit, Revolutionary War metal detecting finds from several Sutton farms, and interpreters sharing some of Sutton’s more colorful and historic events.  This community event at the Sutton Common is sponsored by the Sutton Fourth organization and includes a costume parade, tractor parade, scarecrow and jack-o-lantern contests, trunk-or-treat at the school complex, as well as a Boo Bash at the Sutton Library.  More information can be found at thesuttonfourth.org.  This event is free and open to the general public of all ages.  The Historic Sutton Center Walking Tour begins at 5 p.m. on Sutton Town Common, 4 Uxbridge Road. Re-enactors will guide visitors to multiple stops around the Common sharing the town’s history and some stories befitting the Halloween season.  

• Great food and fellowship can be had at the Community House Ham & Bean Supper, 5 p.m. at 8 Court Street, Uxbridge (behind the Uxbridge Town Common). Sponsored by the Uxbridge Congregational Church. The menu includes baked ham, home-cooked beans, potato salad, coleslaw, brown bread, beverages and dessert. $!5 per person, children under 6 years are free. For reservations, call 818-361-2881. Limited tickets will be sold at the door.      

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 26

• Howl-O-Ween Costume Parade at the Uxbridge Dog Park (rain date Nov. 2). A family friendly event that invites dogs of all shapes and sizes (and their humans) to show off their most creative costumes. Registration from 12-12:45 p.m. Parade starts at 1 p.m. sharp. Suggested donation: $10 per dog. Proceeds go towards maintaining the Uxbridge Dog Park. 

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 30

• “Vampires in New England? Myths and Realities of the Undead.” The Willard House Clock Museum presents Old Sturbridge Village Historian and Curator Tom Kelleher with an intriguing story that goes back hundreds of years. “Did some rural Yankees 200 years ago believe in vampires” Kelleher queries. “Why did scores of early new Englanders open the graves of their sweethearts, sons, daughters, husbands and wives?” What were they looking for and what did they do with the unearthed corpses? And what about Count Dracula? So many questions.

The presentation will take place from 6:30 – 7:30 p.m. at the museum, 11 Willard Street, North Grafton. Wear your Halloween costume and the museum will have treats.

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 1

• Annual Holiday Fair from 9 a.m. – 2 p.m.  at St. Denis Church, 23 Manchaug Road, Douglas. Crafts, raffles, baked goods, kids’ table. Luncheon served from 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. Vendor spaces still available. Visit SaintDenisChurch.com for more information.

• St. Peter’s Parish in Northbridge will hold its Annual Holiday Fair from 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. in the parish hall, 39 Church Avenue, Northbridge. Come out with your family and friends to enjoy the day!  We will have all of your favorites:  White Elephant Table, Baked Goods Table, Holiday Table, Craft Table with beautiful handmade quilts.  There will also be tables filled with raffles (you never know what will be there!), a silent auction, scratch ticket raffle, quilt raffle and a gift basket raffle.  Stay and enjoy a bite to eat with all of your favorite foods being served.  For more information, please contact the parish office at 508-234-2156 or email: [email protected]     

• Meat Raffle, sponsored by the Millbury Lions Club will be held from 2 p.m.- 5 p.m., St. Charles Hotel, 126 West Main Street, Millbury. Early bird tickets available at 1:30 p.m. 

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 7

• Then Grafton Land Trust will hold its annual dinner meeting at 6 p.m. at the Highfields Golf Club in Grafton. This year’s speaker will be Dr. Stephen Mrozowski, the founding director of the Andrew Fiske Memorial Center for Archeological Research at University of Massachusetts Boston.

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 9

• A Polka Dance featuring Dennis Polisky & Maestro’s Men will be held from 1-5 p.m. at the Uxbridge Polish American Social Civil Club, 217 Mendon Street, Uxbridge. Plenty of seating and room for dancing. Full bar, food and raffle tickets will be available for purchase. $15 admission.  For more information, call 

508-278-7583.

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 11

• Charlotte Wilson will share fascinating facts about Sutton’s citizenry during Revolutionary days at 7 p.m. in the first Congregational Church, 307 Boston Road, Sutton. Courtesy of the Sutton Historical Society.