HOW DID BIG BEAR DO IT? The town must have access to some really important calendar committee, the kind of committee that oversees when the seasons reach their peak and when holidays happen and when two big to-dos dovetail in a delightful way. And by our question, we mean this: Halloween, which is Oct. 31 each year, we probably don't need to say (but shall say anyway), has a knack for showing up at Big Bear Village right at the moment when a lot of the non-fir trees in the mountain town are going to town on the pretty foliage front. Not every city can say this; some are still warm on Halloween, and not so hot in the foliage arena, while other colder places have already gone leafless for the year. Thus if you want to see a photo-perfect yellow tree or two, and do some around-the-village trick-or-treating with your brood, you only need head up, up, up the mountain, to the big lake, or near it, at least, on Monday, Oct. 31
THERE ARE CELEBRATIONS... the weekend before Halloween around the area, including Oktoberfest, which bids Big Bear auf wiedersehen on Oct. 29, and Big Bear Alpine Zoo'll be hosting trick-or-treating on that same day (it's a Saturday). Sunday, Oct. 30 is perfect, and perfectly chill, for some leafy-looking driving around, while Monday, Halloween proper, revs up in the village. Over 50 shops are participating, and there's a dog costume contest, too, lending an eerie arf to the afternoon/evening proceedings. And what's that over at Village Trading Post? A haunted maze. For some picturesque autumn color in the trees, a snap to the fall air, and a small town to-do with trick-or-treating on Halloween night, head here before heading up the mountain.
