The last week of October has a particular feel in the valley. The leaves have mostly made their exit, the lifts aren't spinning yet, and the whole place seems to take a breath before winter. It's a good time to be a local. The restaurants are a little quieter, the mornings carry a bite, and with Halloween arriving just after this week wraps up, there's a lot of orange in the air.

Glenwood Springs is the busiest town on the calendar this week, and the Hotel Colorado is doing much of the heavy lifting. It hosts a Halloween Costume Ball on Saturday, River Bridge's Annual Pumpkin Paint Night on Tuesday and Ghosts of Glenwood Springs on Friday, which feels like a fitting choice for a building with that much history. Over at the Glenwood Vaudeville Revue, Queer VOICES, an original theatre project, takes the stage Sunday. On Thursday the same venue hosts the Wild & Scenic Film Festival, presented by the Middle Colorado Watershed Council.

Up valley, Aspen offers two very different evenings. The Vienna Boys Choir performs Saturday at the Michael Klein Music Tent and Harris Concert Hall, and Digable Planets close out the week Friday at Belly Up Aspen. If you only make one trip over Snowmass Canyon this week, you'll have a choice to make.

Families have plenty of options. The Great Pumpkin Craft visits the New Castle library on Saturday, then the Carbondale and Glenwood Springs branches on Wednesday. Carbondale also has a Halloween Boo Bash at Mountain Sprouts Play Cafe on Saturday and a bilingual Creepy Crawly Night at Sprazzo on Wednesday. Basalt keeps things creative at The Art Base and the regional library.

One event I'd especially recommend is Thursday's Remembering the Valley Journal: A Celebration of Local Journalism at the Carbondale Branch Library. Those of us who write about this place should never take a community paper for granted.

You'll find the full list of this week's events below. If you're organizing something in the valley, whether it's a gallery opening or a library storytime, submit it to The Valley Insider and we'll help spread the word. Have a good week, and enjoy the costumes.

This Week's Events

Saturday, October 24

Sunday, October 25

Monday, October 26

Tuesday, October 27

Wednesday, October 28

Thursday, October 29

Friday, October 30

Have an event coming up? Submit it to The Valley Insider.