38 fun events happening in Tucson this weekend, Oct.14-18 🧛‍♂️🧟

Tucson residents have a packed lineup of food festivals, live performances, creative workshops, family activities and Halloween events to choose from this week. Downtown will be especially busy, with Tucson Meet Yourself filling Jácome Plaza and nearby venues hosting horror films, concerts, dance events and nightlife. Families can find free trick or treating and fall festivals across Tucson, Marana and Oro Valley, while adults can choose from ghost tours, haunted attractions, art receptions and food centered gatherings. Several events are free, though visitors should plan to pay for food, shopping, tickets or workshop materials where applicable.

The biggest gathering is Tucson Meet Yourself, the annual folklife festival celebrating the traditions, cultures and diversity of the Tucson community. The festival runs from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday at Jácome Plaza, 101 N. Stone Ave. Admission to performances and demonstrations is free. Organizers have lined up nearly 50 food vendors, live music and dance, cultural demonstrations and work from dozens of local artists. The festival draws hundreds of thousands of people downtown each year, so attendees should expect crowds while exploring the food, music, art and traditions represented throughout the weekend.

Food lovers also have another monthlong option with the Chinese Chorizo Festival, which highlights a once prominent historic food symbol. Restaurants and vendors will offer dishes featuring Chinese chorizo throughout the month, with prices varying by event and menu item. For sports fans, Arizona Football is promoting a new game day experience that includes tailgating, the Cat’s Corner Premium Section and a Code Red Light Show. Tickets and seating information are available through Arizona Wildcats Football. Country music fans can also attend Boots in the Park, billed as a major country music gathering with multiple performers, line dancing, food and cold beer.

Several downtown events offer music and performance in more intimate settings. Club Congress, at 311 E. Congress St., is hosting a songwriting challenge in which participating songwriters create and perform songs written within four days, using a prompt selected from a hat. Another event at the 4th Avenue Coalition, 311 E. Seventh St., features 12 bands, a small skatepark, vintage clothing and art installations from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday. At Hotel Congress, DJ Chris Villas will play oldies, rap and R&B, Latin music and funk for guests looking to dance. Sustainable Tucson is also hosting BaRN Dance of Resilience, an afternoon of food, music, stories and community dancing at the Small Business Center, 600 S. Meyer Ave.

Halloween activities are spread throughout the city for families who want costumes and candy without a traditional haunted house. Hermitage No-Kill Cat Shelter and Sanctuary, 5278 E. 21st St., will host a family event with trick or treating and opportunities to feed cats. Admission requires one unopened item of pet food. Arizona’s Children Association is also hosting a trunk or treat with free candy. At Lincoln Regional Park’s soccer fields, 4325 S. Pantano Road, families can find trunk or treating, games, music and food trucks. The event is free, with food available for purchase. The Arizona Historical Museum, 949 E. Second St., will add trick or treating, face painting, a craft lab, games and a scavenger hunt.

The surrounding communities are offering their own fall celebrations. Marana’s annual festival at Marana Heritage Farm, 12220 N. Heritage Park Drive, includes carnival rides, mutton busting, live music and performances, a beer garden, food trucks, artisan vendors, crafts and a showing of Hocus Pocus. Admission is free, while food and shopping cost extra. Oro Valley’s Halloween celebration at James D. Kriegh Park, 23 W. Calle Concordia, includes vendors, music, jumping castles, crafts, food trucks and trunk or treating. The C3 Car Club Tucson’s fifth annual Trunk or Treat at Dave and Buster’s, 1390 E. Tucson Marketplace Blvd., will feature decorated vehicles, costumes and candy. Spreading Threads Clothing Bank and FACT are also hosting a trunk or treat with a costume parade at 6 p.m. during the event’s 5 to 7 p.m. schedule on Oct. 18.

There are several options for visitors who would rather make something than attend a large festival. Naked Fig Soap and Wijaya House are holding a coffee, tea and matcha themed soap making workshop at Wijaya House, 2516 N. Campbell Ave. Participants will make four round soaps and take home a reusable mold. At Many Hands Artisans, 3054 N. First Ave., guests can enjoy treats and tea while working on a Mad Hatter themed art project. Tucson Creative ReUse, 419 N. Fourth Ave., is hosting Buttons and Baubles, where participants can select from buttons, baubles and other materials to create a one of a kind piece. Park Place Mall is also partnering with Studio Fuerza for a free pilates class from 9:45 to 11 a.m. Saturday. Registration is required.

Arts and community events offer a quieter alternative to the weekend crowds. Catalyst Creative Collective, 4500 N. Oracle Road, will host the opening reception for Pieces of Us: The Art of Recovery and Resilience, a community mental health art show focused on the role of art in mental health and recovery in Southern Arizona. The reception includes hors d’oeuvres from Cafe 54, drinks and live music. The Southern Arizona Home Show returns to the Tucson Convention Center, 260 S. Church Ave., from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday through Sunday. Hundreds of home improvement, interior design and outdoor living vendors are expected. Admission is $8 for adults, and children 12 and younger enter free.

For people seeking scares, Tucson Terrorfest Horror-Con and Film Festival runs Friday through Sunday at The Screening Room, 127 E. Congress St., and the Ramada, 777 W. Cushing St. The event combines horror films with a convention experience compared with Tucson Comic-Con, but centered on horror. Old Tucson is offering guided 90 minute ghost tours at 6 and 8 p.m. on Wednesdays in October, along with Nightfall, which returns Thursdays through Sundays through Oct. 31 with scare zones, haunted mazes, stunt shows and live entertainment. Hotel Congress is offering a 30 minute walking tour on Fridays at 6 p.m. and Saturdays at noon and 1 p.m., featuring stories about the lady of the staircase, a Victorian gentleman in Room 214 and other reported ghosts. The Slaughterhouse, 1102 W. Grant Road, is also open Thursdays through Sundays through Nov. 1 with ghouls, butchers, chainsaws and clowns. For a less frightening Halloween outing, Trail Dust Town, 6541 E. Tanque Verde Road, is offering trick or treating near the rides, a Halloween stunt show and fall drinks and snacks on four Fridays this month, with no scares or haunted attractions.