We would like to add two more events to the list of Halloween happenings in our area.
 

Monday, October 31

 
Halloween Haunted Garden

4611 Springfield Ave.

5 – 7 p.m.

All ages, free

This annual Halloween party features 10+ spooky “Sets” with five being “Treat” stations, over 2,000 full sized candy bars, about 1,600 hugs and thousands of fruits, pretzel bags and bite-sized treats. The PHILLY THRILLERS will entertain the folks who are waiting in line.

NOTE: Volunteers are needed to hand out treats and tricks. Anyone who is free Monday from about 4:30-7:30 p.m. and has a warm costume, can help deliver the candy. Treat delivery starts at 5 p.m., so volunteers must commit from about 4:30 to about 7:30 p.m. At least two people are assigned to a station, so come with a friend or make new ones at the event.

You can also help with decorating needs today until 5 p.m. and doing a run-through in the early Monday afternoon, to turn on machines, check power, batteries and fluids, and ‘break’ the glow sticks into eerie perfection.

Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror

University of Pennsylvania – Irvine Auditorium, 3401 Spruce Street

7:15 p.m.

Free, open to the public

Following Penn’s annual Halloween concert tradition, the 1922 German classic movie “Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror” is screening Monday night, accompanied by a musical score performed by famed organist Peter Edwin Krasinski on Irvine’s 10,731-pipe Curtis Organ. For more information go here.

Thanks to everyone who submitted pumpkins. Now it’s time for you, dear readers, to cast your vote for your favorite pumpkin in the 2011 West Philly Local Pumpkin Carving Contest. The “Readers’ Choice” winner will win two prizes from our sponsors: Aksum, Dock Street Brewery, Mariposa Food Co-op, Milk & Honey, VIX Emporium and Wake Up Yoga).

On Monday we’ll announce winners in the Scariest, Funniest, Philly-themed, and Kids categories, which will be decided by a crack panel of judges.

Check out the slideshow below or go to the Flickr gallery and jot down the number of the pumpkin you like best. Click on your choice to register your vote. The voting is open until 6 p.m. Monday. One vote per person.

Voting has ended.

Henry, a big grey tabby mix cat (grey with darker grey stripes) has escaped from his home at 5012 Kingsessing Ave.

Henry has a white belly and chest. He is fairly social and usually comes when called by name.

Please contact Christina at 215-514-6630 or Brendan at 267-597-9679 if you see him wandering around the neighborhood.

The Clark Park Farmers’ Market (43rd & Baltimore) has a nice selection of pumpkins today if anyone still needs one. But hurry up, it closes at 2 p.m.

Here’s a great chance to get your dog or cat vaccinated and examined. A low-cost vaccine clinic will be open this Sunday, Oct. 30, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Penn’s Alpha Psi Veterinary Fraternity (4002 Pine St.).

Members of the community are invited to bring their cats and dogs for physical exams, rabies and distemper vaccines ($10) and microchipping ($20). Flea and tick prevention products ($10), as well as additional vaccines that will be available.

The event marks World Rabies Day. All proceeds will go to benefit the PSPCA and help the homeless and abused animals in Philadelphia.

UPDATE: Police say that the two men connected with the incident below have been charged with robbery, aggravated assault and weapons charges. They have also been charged in connection with another robbery on Oct. 25 in the 5600 Springfield Ave. In that case, police say the 18-year-old, whom they identified as Tory Winchester of the 5600 block of Springfield Ave., and three other men, including the unidentified 17-year-old below, broke into an apartment at about 12:30 a.m. Three males in their 20s were in the apartment and awoke to find the four men each pointing handguns at them. The four suspects ordered the men to walk down the stairs to the apartment’s living room and asked about narcotics and money, police said. One victim was punched and another was pistol whipped, police said. The four suspects escaped with a cell phone and a transpass.

Two men are in police custody after their brazen plot to rob three residents in an apartment at 4725 Chester Ave. last night fell apart.

Police say a 17-year-old man armed with a handgun burst into the apartment at about 10:30 p.m. and demanded that the three people inside – two women and a man – hand over cash and other belongings. The man then called two accomplices on a mobile phone and told them he would let them into the building. Police said he then marched the three victims at gunpoint down the building’s stairs to the main entrance to meet two accomplices. When they arrived at the door the victims fled outside and found police.

The 17-year-old and an 18-year-old accomplice were apprehended. A third suspect is still at large. Police were searching the area last night in patrol cars and from a helicopter.

There were no injuries. The male victim, who resided in the apartment, is 19. The females are 24 and 29 years of age.

The charges against the two men in custody will be forthcoming, police said.