#Events: Halloween means subtropical tricks and treats

#Events: Halloween means subtropical tricks and treats - A man sleeping on a bed - Performance art

Halloween 2014 brings mischief to the Florida Keys with eerie events scheduled from the continental United States’ southernmost destination, Key West, to the island chain’s northernmost spot in Key Largo.

On Saturday, Oct. 25, the Key West Tropical Forest & Botanical Garden will host the sixth annual ‘Screaming Green Halloween’, a safe trick or treat Halloween for kids in Key West. The event is from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the garden on College Road.

Candy and craft stations will be set up throughout the garden so kids in costume can have fun hunting for tricks, treats and prizes. There will also be two age-group costume competitions, bounce house, games, food and more.

Admission is $5 for kids or $10 per family for the general public. For more information, call 305-296-1504 or visit www.kwbgs.org.

Through Sunday, Oct. 26, Key West will be filled with costumed partygoers for the city’s annual Fantasy Festmasking and costuming extravaganza. The 2014 festival is themed “Animated Dreams & Adventures” and includes 10 days of masquerade parties, costume contests and uninhibited festivities, all climaxing in an epic grand parade Saturday, Oct. 25.

The festival’s traditional Children’s Dayoffers food, games, arts and crafts as well as a costume contest. The family fun takes place Sunday, Oct. 26, from noon to 5 p.m. at the island’s Bayview Park at Truman Avenue and Eisenhower Drive. For Fantasy Fest information, visit www.fantasyfest.com. For Children’s Day details, call 305-292-8912.

Days and nights of ghoulish delight are planned for the 13th Annual Haunting of Fort Zachary Taylor, a Civil War–era fort beside Key West’s Atlantic Ocean shore. This year three spooky sections of the enchanted citadel will be the stage for live “shows,” treating visitors to otherworldly celebrations not suitable for mere mortals. Events will take place Oct. 26 and 30-31, and attendees are encouraged to don devilish costumes.

Ghost-seekers can access Fort Taylor and its surrounding state park from an entrance on Southard Street past Thomas Street. Admission to the haunting is $13 per adult, $10 for military personnel, $8 for kids and free for children under age 5. Hours are 8-11 p.m. (midnight on Halloween). Learn more at www.hauntedkeywestfort.com.

The Big Pine and Lower Keys Rotary Club gets into the scare business Tuesday through Thursday, Oct. 28-30 with the Zombie Asylum from 7 to 9 p.m. at Big Pine Community Park. Admission is free for kids and adults and the Lower Keys Chamber of Commerce will be serving ghoulish treats in the “graveyard.”

For information, call Steve Miller at 305-349-1779.