FRIDAY
Get down to some spooky grooves: Tim Hayden’s bringing his signature DJ skills to bear at Bentley’s (419 N. Neil St., Champaign) tonight from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m., with a focus on Halloween-themed songs. Chances are excellent that you’ll hear plenty of macabre masterpieces that you never knew existed. Costumes aren’t required, but they are strongly encouraged. Cover is $2.
Old-school Halloween: Head over to the Heartland Gallery (112 W. Main St., Urbana) for spooky celebrations both pagan (Samhain) and Mexican (El dia de los muertos or Day of the dead). It’s going on from 5 to 7 p.m., and you can call 337-4767 for more info.
Just explore: Dallas and Co. is seriously one of the greatest places in all of C-U. A person could spend a few hours inside, simply just looking around and reinventing oneself into a magician if someone were so inclined. But it’s Halloween weekend, and that makes it especially fun, because Dallas and Co. is also THE spot to find what it is you are looking to dress up as this year. Find anything you need for Halloween, and then some. It’s located on the corner of University and 1st St.
View competent athletic teams: Tonight officially begins the Illinois men’s basketball season. Sort of. The latest Weber squad will show what they’ve got against an actual opponent. Nominally. Tip off against Missouri Southern is at 7:00 p.m., though this is less of an appeal to spend $22 to watch a beatdown from the nosebleeds than it is a chance to mention that NCAA basketball is finally here. Huzzah!
SATURDAY
Burnin’s too good for ’em: It actually kicked off on Thursday night, but what better time to see a performance of The Crucible than Halloween? Arthur Miller’s 1953 play lives on at the Krannert Center Studio Theatre. Saturday’s performance will be at 7:30 p.m., and tickets range from $9 to $15 depending on your educational status or lack thereof. Did you know that Miller wrote the play as a response to McCarthyism? Oooh, subtext!
Drive to a ghost town: You can, for real. That’s right. A ghost town. Horace, Ill. to be exact. Here’s how to get there: Drive due east on I-74 until you get to the Georgetown Rd. / Illinois Highway 1. Drive south for a bit, until you get to E. 1700th Rd., just south of Chrisman, Ill. / County Road 8. Take a right, and drive a few hundred yards and you are there. Our advice: go at night. The picture to the right is Horace, Ill. We promise.
SUNDAY
It’s like a dream come true: Yes, that’s right, there will be Punkin Chuckin’ right here in Champaign, Illinois. From noon to 4 p.m., the Champaign-Urbana Schools Foundation will host a pumpkin-catapulting event at the Pinehurst Fields at the corner of Prospect and Olympian. ACME Catapult will be launching pumpkins at a variety of targets, including an MTD city bus.
I’m smarter when I’m drunk: From 7-9 p.m. join question master Big Dave and see if you’ve got what it takes to beat a room full of degenerate alcoholics at trivia. And if you’re able to stay sober enough for long enough, you might just win a $50 Blind Pig gift card. More realistically though, you’ll make a fool of yourself in front of your friends and your family — just like you do every day. $2 well liquor drinks & $3 Guinness draughts. See you there!
Daylight savings time ends: Don’t forget to set your clock back on Sunday. You’ll get an extra hour of sleep, but when you wake, it will already be dark and you’ll be cold and miserable. Halloween is for candy, not binge drinking.