Skeleton Crew Theater performing outdoor Halloween show at Ja’Duke

TURNERS FALLS — After two years of indoor theater performances, Skeleton Crew Theater is back in the woods with their annual Halloween show this Thursday and Friday from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Ja’Duke Center for the Performing Arts.

The show will have 10 immersive sets featuring a cast of Turners Falls High School and Great Falls Middle School students, as well as all of the Skeleton Crew’s original larger-than-life “creature puppets,” according to founder Jonathan Chappell.

“Audiences will solve riddles, collect clues and find themselves celebrating Halloween immersed in a giant jack-o-lantern patch, weaving their way through the webs of a giant spider, a talking pirate skeleton with a broken headstone and many more,” he elaborated by email. “It’s like an escape room and haunted trail combined.”

National Spiritual Alliance holding psychic fair in Lake Pleasant

LAKE PLEASANT — The National Spiritual Alliance is holding a psychic fair from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 28, at Thompson Temple, 2 Montague Ave.

To register or for more information, visit spiritualallianceusa.org/calendar.

Turners Falls High School annual scarecrow contest next week

TURNERS FALLS — Scarecrows made by students at Turners Falls High School were put out on display on Monday in front of the building, where they will be judged on Nov. 3.

As he had in previous years, local disc jockey and retired radio personality Robert “Bobby C” Campbell has donated four $50 cash prizes to award-winning scarecrow-makers. Mia Bella Salon also contributed a $25 gift certificate.

The creations will be judged by Campbell, Principal Christopher Barnes, Assistant Principal Loren Messina and custodian Scott Curtis across a variety of categories, including scariest, funniest, most creative, fan favorite and potentially one more category to award the salon gift card.

Overwhelming majority votes down budget override at Erving special election

ERVING — The Selectboard and Finance Committee must go back to the drawing board to figure out how to fund eight budget categories after residents voted down a proposed budget override during a special election on Monday.

According to Town Clerk Richard Newton, there were 35 votes in favor of and 138 votes against the $1.83 million tax levy limit override, which would have translated to a collective estimated residential and open space tax increase of 17.75% from fiscal year 2023 to fiscal year 2024. An affirmative result would have allowed a $39,000 appropriation for the Wastewater Department Enterprise Budget to override the town’s levy limit. This was the only item out of four articles related to the override that was approved at last Wednesday’s special Town Meeting.

The Selectboard and Finance Committee must now either reconfigure a new override amoung to bring to a future Town Meeting or determine an alternative avenue to “support the town in sustaining the service levels that Erving residents are accustomed to and rely upon for years to come,” the Selectboard previously explained in a letter shared with Erving residents. Articles related to an override must be individually passed at a Town Meeting and collectively passed at a special election in order for funding to be approved.