SMOKEY POINT — While a number of Halloween-themed community events will kick off during the weekend before Halloween itself, the Downtown Marysville Merchants Association will be commemorating Halloween on Oct. 31.

From 4-5 p.m. that Monday, participating merchants on Third Street will dress up for the occasion and hand out candy to trick-or-treaters for free.

"It's great for kids who are toddlers up to 10 years old, and their folks," said Mary Kirkland, owner of Hilton's Pharmacy on Third Street. "You don't have to line up in any particular order, either. Just come on by and enjoy."

The Marysville Rotary's "Pumpkins for Literacy" pumpkin patch, at the Plant Farm at Smokey Point, will run through Sunday, Oct, 30, one day before Halloween, to give local families a chance to pick up their choice of jack-o'-lanterns. Their pumpkin patch is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily through Oct. 30, with pumpkins priced by size. Field trips to the Plant Farm at Smokey Point can be scheduled through Whidbey Island Bank by calling 360-657-3100. The Plant Farm is coated at 15022 Twin Lakes Ave. in Marysville, and is online at www.theplantfarm.com.

Third-generation farmer Gary Biringer and his wife Julie have replaced the former Biringer Farm Pumpkin Patch with this year's new Black Crow Pumpkin Patch, located at 2431 Highway 530 in Arlington. Their pumpkin patch is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily through the month of October. Visitors can bring family and friends to picnic in the old covered wagon, while kids can enjoy a hay bale maze, a slide and a skeleton graveyard. A trolley will take visitors to the patch's "you-pick" pumpkins and "you-dig" carrots, as well as its decorative gourds, corn stalks, local honey, fresh apple cider, honey crisp apples and kettle corn on the weekends. Weekday tours can be arranged by appointment by calling 360-435-5616.

Foster's Produce and Corn Maze, located at 5818 Highway 530 NE in Arlington, and Strotz's Country Feed, located at 21713 27th Ave. NE in Arlington, are also welcoming visitors through Oct. 31. Foster's Produce and Corn Maze, with its giant pumpkin patch, will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, while Strotz's Country Feed, with its "you-pick" pumpkins, will be open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays, and from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sundays. For more information, log onto www.fosterscornmaze.com or www.strotzscountryfeed.com.

Contact Marysville Globe Reporter Kirk Boxleitner at kboxleitner@marysvilleglobe.com or 360-659-1300 Ext. 5052.

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