Courtesy: Adobe Pumpkin Farm

From a goblin fundraiser to a green Halloween celebration to a books for treats exchange... there's lots of Halloween spirit to be found this month in northern California. Here's a look at the highlights...

Adobe Pumpkin Farm's Green Halloween

• Daily through October 31 
• 10:00 am to sundown
• 2478 East Washington Street, Petaluma, CA  94954 (corner of Adobe Road)
• Adobe Pumpkin Farms hosts a green Halloween event on their 30 acre farm. You can pick pumpkins, flowers, check out farm animals, plus there's weekend BBQ,  hayrides and other fun. There's also two haunted houses and a corn maze. It costs nothing to get in or park but you pay for going into the haunted house, going thru the corn maze, hayrides, etc.!

Goblin Jamboree Fundraiser 2009 at the Bay Area Discovery Museum

• Saturday, October 17 & Sunday, October 18
• 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.
• Grab your costumes and head to the Bay Area Discovery Museum which will be transformed into a haunted wonderland complete with games, attractions and live entertainment. Ride a spooky train or real ponies, enroll in the witches’ school, visit the petting zoo and enjoy a full brew of games, activities and live entertainment. Museum members tickets are $12, everyone else is $14 per person, except kids under age one are free.

St. Helena's 23rd annual Hometown Harvest Festival

• October 17th
• 8:30-4pm

Located just over an hour north of San Francisco in the Napa Valley, St. Helena has hosted its Hometown Harvest for more than two decades. The event features local bands, arts and crafts booths, wine tasting, food vendors, a silent auction, kids carnival, run events, and a pet parade.

39th annual Half Moon Bay Art & Pumpkin Festival

• October 17-18
• 9 am to 5 pm
• On Main Street between Miramontes and Spruce Streets in Half Moon Bay, CA.
• The World Pumpkin Capital of Half Moon Bay celebrates its bountiful fall harvest and autumn splendor with a special display of gigantically enormous weigh-off champion pumpkins, three stages of smashing entertainment, live music, the Great Pumpkin Parade, a bone-chilling Haunted House, massive weigh-off champion pumpkins, harvest-inspired crafts, homestyle foods, expert pumpkin carvers, photos with the grand champion gourd, pie-eating and costume contests, pumpkin carving for fun... and more. Admission is free.

Harvest Haunt Express

• October 18-19, 25-26
• Climb aboard Railtown’s answer to Halloween: the Harvest Haunt Express, with their “Skeleton Crew” aboard! Specially decorated steam-powered excursion trains depart on the hour from 11 am to 3 pm, filled with fun for the whole family! Step aboard for a six-mile, 40-minute round trip ride along the rails of the famous “Movie Railroad,” passing through California’s scenic Gold Country. Regular ticket prices apply.

Creepy Crawly Week at the Academy of Sciences

• October 24 – November 1
• In honor of Halloween, face your fears and join the Academy’s naturalists for lessons about creepy-crawly critters, including tarantulas, scorpions, snakes, and alligators. A special scavenger hunt will help visitors track down some of the creepiest critters in the building. Additionally, daily programs will allow you to meet—and sometimes touch—these traditionally frightening animals. You may even learn that they’re not as scary as you think! A celebration for Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) will wrap the week’s festivities on November 1. 

Boo at the Zoo

• San Francisco Zoo
• October 24 & 25
• 10:30am-3:30pm
• Costumes have been worn on Halloween for centuries to “trick” bad spirits and keep them at bay. To uphold this ancient tradition, the San Francisco Zoo welcomes all family-friendly wizards and witches, ghosts and goblins, princesses and superheroes to this festive occasion. Kids and their families can visit candy stations throughout the Zoo, take-home crafts, puppet shows and live entertainment. Kids ages 4-14 dressed in costume receive $1 off regular admission. 

PIER 39's Pumpkin Pandemonium

• October 25
• noon-4pm
• Throughout Pumpkin Pandemonium, ghouls and boys 12 and under are invited to: • Trick-or-treat at participating shops.* • Visit PIER 39’s enchanted pumpkin patch and take home one of 2,500 free pumpkins.* • Enter a Halloween costume contest for monstrous prizes. • Receive a free haunted Halloween photo. • Free frightful face painting. • A cauldron of crafts, while supplies last.

All Hallows Fantasy Faire

• Mother Lode Fair Grounds in Sonora
• October 24-25
• The event includes live music, a fantasy village, costumed performers, fire eaters, dragons, family games and more.

Fairfield Pumpkin Patch Festival

• Saturdays and Sundays through October 25
• 9:30am-5pm
• The Western Railway Museum’s Pumpkin Patch Festival features electric express “Pumpkin Patch Trains” on a scenic five-mile ride to Gum Grove Station. Gum Grove Station features a good, old-fashioned pumpkin patch created by local Rotary Club members. Highlights include a hay bale fort for kids to play on, hay rides, live music, games, homemade baked goods, stunning views of Mt. Diablo, and of course, pumpkins for sale, just in time for Halloween.

Books for Treats

• October 30
• Willow Glen neighborhood of San José
• Trick-or-treaters get gently read books instead of candy! Last year they handed out 4000 books to children.