What to Know
- SHAQTOBERFEST at the Queen Mary
- Sept. 29 through Oct. 31, select nights
- The Halloween event from legendary basketball star Shaquille O'Neal includes family-fun happenings earlier in the day and eerier sights by night
SHAQTOBERFEST: A new multi-day/night to-do, themed to the thrills of the scariest season, always makes for whimsical and welcome news, but the treat opening at the Queen Mary in Long Beach on Sept. 29 is extra-extraordinary: Shaquille O'Neal is at the Halloween-loving helm of this brand-new happening. Look for trick-or-treating opportunities earlier in the day along with sweeter sights, while more intense frights will materialize at night. It's haunting the area near the said-to-be-haunted ocean-liner on select nights through Oct. 31.
Pacific Airshow: Loops, rolls, and spins will wow spectators as acclaimed several squadrons and ultra-talented aerial pros take to the sky for three days of incredible air artistry. Huntington Beach is the place, there are cabanas and club seats if you'd like to go the VIP route, and the line-up of teams set to show is available to peruse. Tickets? Those start at $25, so "dive" into all the exciting things you need to know before flying for one of the planet's best-known sky-taculars.
Fall Harvest Festival: Trying to explain an autumn day spent at Underwood Family Farms in Moorpark? You might use the words "goat" several times and "huge pumpkin patch" frequently and rhapsodizing about the treats, games, wagon rides, and hay pyramids? That will happen, too. Good thing, then, that this month-long event opens on Oct. 1 so your pals will know exactly what you love about it. It's ticketed, and open daily, and weekends? They each boast a homespun theme.
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CatCon: Little bean-bedecked paws, soft-as-velvet noses, a scritchable spot just behind the ears? Living with a cat is full of cozy moments. But where can you go to commune with other feline-favoring humans, all while enjoying cat-focused vendors, cat celebrity meet-and-greet moments, and a bounty of furry adorableness? This ultra-cute con playfully padding into Pasadena Convention Center on Oct. 1 and 2. Bonus: Check out the Nicolas Cage cat-themed art show.
Spider Pavilion: You know South Coast Botanic Garden as a wondrous, leaf-laden, bloomful bastion of natural glory, which means you also know that lots of critters, including spiders, call it home. But the amazing arachnids are making their official eight-legged entrance at the Palos Verdes Peninsula destination, courtesy of a brand-new Spider Pavilion. Oodles of orb weavers will be on view, giving visitors up-close views of remarkable webs. Other fall-fun events, like tarantula-themed happenings, are on the schedule; scurry this way now.
