Briefs: Halloween events and family fun

Halloween fun

VARIOUS VENUES SET

SPOOKTACULAR FUN

Technically, Halloween’s almost a week away, but the creepy clock’s already ticking with weekend haunts planned at a variety of venues.

The Springs Preserve’s annual Haunted Harvest celebrates its final weekend with a family-friendly array of frightful fun, including trick-or-treat stations, carnival games and entertainment.

Costumes are welcome (but adult masks are not allowed) at Haunted Harvest, which runs from 5 to 9 p.m. Friday through Sunday at Springs Preserve, 333 S. Valley View Blvd. Admission is $8 for adults, $5 for children ages 5 to 12 and free for those 4 and under; Springs Preserve members receive a 50 percent discount. For information, call 702-822-7700 or go online to www.springspreserve.org.

At Mandalay Bay’s Shark Reef Aquarium creepy creatures — from slithering snakes and piranhas to a rare Komodo dragon with daggerlike teeth and razor-sharp claws — transform the attraction into the Haunted Reef this weekend.

During Friday’s Community Day festivities, costumed children 12 and under will receive free admission — and the chance to trick-or-treat throughout the Haunted Reef. (Free trick-or-treat bags that children can decorate before entering will be available.) Also on Friday, adults will receive complimentary admission from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. if they donate blood at an on-site United Blood Services booth.

The Haunted Reef (inside Mandalay Bay, 3950 Las Vegas Blvd. South) will be open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday and from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday. (Last admission is an hour before closing.) Regular admission for Nevada residents is $15 for adults and $10 for children 5-12; kids 4 and under are free. For more information, call 702-632-4555.

Also on Friday, downtown’s Neon Museum celebrates its first birthday with a Boneyard Bash.

Dressed-to-thrill partygoers will mix with makeup artist Jonathan Seti (whose credits include TV’s “The Walking Dead” and “American Horror Story”), while the Phat Pack, Swamp Gospel, The All-Togethers and The Clydesdale will entertain. Celebrity magician Murray Sawchuck serves as host; various food trucks, including Slidin’ Thru and Bake My Day, provide the eats.

A VIP reception starts at 7 p.m. Friday, while general admission is from 8 to 11 p.m. at the Neon Museum, 770 Las Vegas Blvd. North. VIP ($125) and general admission ($75) tickets are available at www.NeonMuseum.org/boneyardbash; a portion of the proceeds will benefit the museum.

Family fun

STATE MUSEUMS

CELEBRATE 150

Halloween’s not the only holiday getting an early start this year: Nevada museums kick off the Silver State’s 150th birthday countdown this weekend with special festivities and free admission. (Mark your calendar for Oct. 31, 2014, the sesquicentennial of battle-born Nevada’s admission to the Union.)

At the Nevada State Museum (adjacent to the Springs Preserve at 309 S. Valley View Blvd.), visitors may converse with characters from the past — a miner, a trapper, a pioneer singer — and catch curators in action from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday.

Boulder City’s Nevada State Railroad Museum, 600 S. Yucca St., celebrates with the Halloween Express, which chugs into action at 10 and 11:30 a.m. and 1 and 2:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. New this year, free face painting and balloon creations will be available on the platform, while storytelling and crafts will take place in the dining car during train rides.

A model train show and mini-steam engine rides round out the festivities at the rail museum, which is open from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Costumed kids ride free aboard the Halloween Express; fares are $10 for those 12 and over and $5 for children 4-11 not in costume; kids 3 and under are free. For more information, call 702-486-5933.

Overton’s Lost City Museum focuses on “Nevada Milestones,” featuring panels, photographs and artifacts of gaming, mining, state symbols, notable women — and photographs, taken from 1871 to 1973, that depict Southern Paiute tribal life. The museum, 721 S. Moapa Valley Blvd. in Moapa Valley, is open 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. daily; regular admission is $5 for those over 18; for more information, call 702-397-2193.

Music

SIZZLEFEST JAZZES UP

WINCHESTER CENTER

A fiery Latin beat fires up the Las Vegas Jazz Connection, which checks into the Winchester Cultural Center Sunday for the center’s Sizzlefest II.

Trombonist Nathan Tanouye — principal trombonist for the Las Vegas Philharmonic since 1998 — leads the 17-member Jazz Connection big band. Vocalists Jerry Lopez and Toscha Comeaux, percussionists Michito Sanchez and Gabriel Falcon, plus harp and string players, will perform compositions and arrangements by Tanouye and Cocho Arbe.

The concert will begin at 2 p.m. at the center, 3130 S. McLeod Drive. For tickets ($12 in advance, $15 on the day of the show), call 702-455-7340 or visit www.ClarkCountyNV.gov/parks.

Dance

COLLEGE STEPS OUT

WITH FALL CONCERT

From ballet to ballroom, from modern to Middle Eastern, the wide world of dance inspires a free informal dance concert Tuesday at the College of Southern Nevada.

Special presentations from the CSN Dance Club and Improvisation class will augment the program, which also features jazz and yoga routines,

The free performance begins at 1 p.m. Tuesday in the Nicholas J. Horn Theatre on CSN’s Cheyenne campus, 3200 E. Cheyenne Ave. For more information, contact the CSN Dance Program at 702-651-4201.

Family fun

ZOPPE CIRCUS RETURNS

TO SYMPHONY PARK

It all started in 1842 in Italy, where Napoleone and Ermengilda Zoppe founded Circo Zoppe near Venice.

More than 170 years later, family tradition lives on with Zoppe — An Italian Family Circus, which returns to Symphony Park on Thursday for a four-day run.

Reviving the traditional one-ring European circus inside an intimate 600-seat tent, the Zoppe troupe transports audiences to a realm of acrobatics, equestrian showmanship and capers by clowns and canines alike, with audience participation a regular part of the show.

Zoppe — An Italian Family Circus will perform at 7 p.m. Thursday in Symphony Park, adjacent to The Smith Center for the Performing Arts at 361 Symphony Park Ave. Additional performances are 7 p.m. Nov. 1 and 2, 2 p.m. Nov. 2 and 3, and 5 p.m. Nov. 3. For tickets ($12.50-$50), call 702-749-2000 or click on www.thesmithcenter.com.

— By CAROL CLING