Dracula To Host Garden’s Pumpkin Party

In a rare daytime appearance, Transylvania’s most notorious resident ventures out-of-doors to play host at the annual Pumpkin Patch party at Queens Botanical Garden (QBG) on Sunday, October 26, from 1 to 4 pm. Count Dracula will welcome kids and their families to the courtyard of the plant shop, where a bumper crop of pumpkins in assorted shapes and sizes will be available for picking. Children can paint their pumpkins during a workshop, which will be ongoing throughout the afternoon. Admission is $5 each child; $4 each for QBG members and includes one pumpkin and workshop materials.

In addition to the Count and other friendly denizens of the dark, Garden staff will be on hand to offer instruction and advice, and will award prizes for the scariest and silliest jack-o’-lantern faces. Kids will also learn how to make "green-haired monsters," which can be taken home and grown on a sunny windowsill. Refreshments will be served.

At 3 pm, Eart’Acte, featuring flautist Stephen Josephs, will offer a performance of original music in the auditorium of the Administration Building. Admission is free. Dracula and friends will be available for photos before and after the performance, so parents should plan to bring their cameras.

QBG’s Pumpkin Patch and other family programs are made possible, in part, by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs; the New York City Council; the Zoos, Botanical Gardens, and Aquarium’s Grant Program of the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. QBG also thanks S.H. and Helen R. Scheuer Family Foundation; TIAA-CREF; Macy’s East; and individual contributors for additional support.

The Queens Botanical Garden is located at 43-50 Main Street in Flushing. For more information, call 718-886-3800 or visit www.queensbotanical.org.

Halloween Screening of Martial-Arts Films

October 31 and November 28, Fist and Sword, the monthly showcase for classic martial-arts films at the American Museum of the Moving Image, continues with a very timely screening of "A Chinese Ghost Story" on Halloween, October 31 and "Sword of Doom" on November 28.

Produced in 1987 by director Tsui Hark, "A Chinese Ghost Story" was influential in shaping the Hong Kong action genre popular in the late 1980s and through the 1990s. Its combination of fantasy and horror with romance and comedy has been widely copied.

Tickets are $10 for adults; $7.50 for college students and senior citizens with ID; $5 for children and free for museum members. The museum is located at 35th Avenue and 36th Street in Astoria. For more information, call 718-784-0077 or visit http://www.movingimage.us/> www.movingimage.us