Scary fun begins early at N.O. Zoo

• By JUDY BERGERON
• Advocate News Features staff
• Published: Oct 18, 2009

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Louisiana isn’t waiting until Oct. 31 to celebrate Halloween.

Many out-of-town events begin this week, including the annual Boo at the Zoo at Audubon Zoo, 6500 Magazine St. in New Orleans.

The popular Halloween event will run 5-9:30 p.m. Friday-Sunday, Oct. 23-25. Admission at 5 p.m. is $16; at 7 p.m., $13.

Children’s Hospital helps sponsor Boo at the Zoo, which offers games, activities, candy, decorations and entertainment.

Organizers say the party often sells out, so guests are encouraged to get their tickets early. Go to http://www.AudubonInstitute.org.

While at the zoo, visitors can still catch Audubon’s Dinosaur Adventure, an exhibition of dinosaur models for which new creatures will be added Tuesday, Oct. 20. The exhibit will be closed that day but will re-open Wednesday, Oct. 21. There is an extra admission fee for the show: $4, general public; $2, members and groups. 

The Audubon Insectarium, 423 Canal St., gets into the Halloween act on Saturday, Oct. 31, with special presentations throughout the day. Myths and fables about the most notorious bugs will be discussed. 

Also in New Orleans, The Historic New Orleans Collection will conduct Historic Haunts: The Myths and Legends of the Vieux Carré. The special Halloween-inspired guided tours of the Louisiana History Galleries of THNOC, 533 Royal St., will run at 2 p.m. Tuesday-Sunday, Oct. 20-30; and at 10 a.m., 11 a.m., 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 31.

The tours are intended for adults, and will cover the folklore behind the ghosts and ghost stories of the French Quarter.

Admission is $5, general public; free, THNOC members. For more information, go to http://www.hnoc.org.

The Friends of the Cabildo are again putting on Ghostly Gallivant Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 24-25. Volunteer actors will play out various scenes at each tour stop. The haunting and humorous tours of the French Quarter run 10:30 a.m.-3 p.m., and leave every half hour from 1850 House, 523 St. Ann on Jackson Square.

Tickets are $20. For more information, call (504) 523-3939 or go to http://www.friendsofthecabildo.org.

Children needn’t be frightened at the non-scary Halloween party, Ghosts in the Oaks, 6-9 p.m. Friday, Oct. 23, in the Carousel Gardens of City Park’s Amusement Park, 1 Palm Drive.