West Philly’s own professional theatre company, Curio Theatre, is throwing a party this Saturday to celebrate its 10th anniversary and raise money to help keep this important community resource going strong.

This year’s benefit, titled “The Carnival Macabre,” kicks off at 7 p.m. at the St. Francis DeSales Ballroom (917 S. 47th St.) and will include games of chance, fortune tellers, silent and live auctions and dancing. The Gold Standard Café will provide a buffet and there will be an open beer and wine bar along with a signature cocktail. Second Vision will supply the music.

Tickets are $50 and are available online here.

Speaking of Curio, the company recently announced the debut performance of the 2014-15 season: The Matter of Frank Schaefer, which will open Nov. 18 at 8 p.m. The performance takes on the story of the Methodist minister from Lebanon, Penna. who was defrocked after officiating at his son’s gay wedding.

“What grabbed us right away with the story of Frank Schaefer is that it felt like a civil rights movement was starting right in front of us,” said Curio Artistic Director Paul Kuhn.

That’s just a taste. We’ll have more information on The Matter of Frank Schaefer before the premiere. In the meantime, please do what you can to help support the amazing work at Curio.

We hope that our little neighbors and their families are getting their costumes ready because this year’s Spruce Hill Halloween costume parade for tots will be held on Friday, Oct. 31, the Spruce Hill Community Association (SHCA) announced earlier this week. The parade will start at 4:30 p.m. from the assembly area at 45th and Baltimore (next to Milk and Honey). The assembly will begin at 4 p.m.

The parade will follow the usual route down Larchwood to 43rd Street and over to the scarily decorated 4200 block of Osage (“Little Osage”), where the everyone will be welcomed with cider and treats.

SHCA, who is the sponsor of the parade, is asking that all tots be accompanied by an adult and that everyone be extra careful crossing streets to get to the parade and especially afterward, as darkness falls.

SHCA also invites little neighbors to stop by their center at 257 S 45th Street during trick-or-treating. “SHCA board member and Mel-Lo Townwatch leader Jackie Waiters will continue the long standing tradition of delighting trick-or-treaters with hand assembled goodie bags,” their announcement reads.

Dear West Philly Local readers, we’re happy to announce our 4th Annual Pumpkin Carving Contest. We hope that more people will participate this year because we’ll have some awesome prizes from local businesses, plus there will be random drawings for prizes. Are you ready? Here are the rules:

The contest runs from October 15 through October 31, 2014. All ages are welcome to participate.

Submit a snapshot of your pumpkin by email (contest@westphillylocal.com) that includes your name, address (West Philly residents only please), and age (if you are entering the Kids category). Entries from kids 12 and under will also be entered into the Kids category. Be sure to get a good photo that shows off your pumpkin’s best features. If you’re an Instagram user, please upload your photo there with the hashtag #westphillylocal.

Winners will be selected in the following categories:

Scariest
Funniest
Kids (12 and under)
Best Philly-Themed
Readers’ Choice (grand prize)

There will also be a random drawing for those pumpkins that didn’t win in any of the above categories, so everyone has a shot at an awesome prize.

The entry deadline is 6 p.m. on Friday October 31.

Voting for the Readers’ Choice will run on October 31 – November 2. Note: One entry per person.The winners will be announced on November 3.

If you need ideas check out the pumpkins entered in our previous contests here.

International House Philadelphia (IHP), which has been serving scholars and the Philadelphia community for more than 100 years, is holding a couple of special events this month.

IHP’s Open House will be held on Tuesday, Oct. 14, 3 – 7 p.m. Community members are invited to tour the House, including its residential facilities, conference center and theater, and learn more about the services and programming offered there. You can also meet staff and some of the current residents from all over the world. You can explore IHP’s history by attending a historical exhibit on Tuesday. Last but no least, learn more about language courses offered at IHP, meet the teachers, and even sign up for some classes. Admission is free, but if you’re planning to attend this event, please RSVP. You can read more about the Open House and RSVP here.

On Friday, Oct. 31, IHP is throwing a Night of the Philly Dead: Brews and Brains party. It is a new, annual event and IHP staff hope that you will join them at their inaugural celebration of the undead’s favorite day of the year. There will be a zombie themed dance-party paying homage to the cult-classic movies, scary-good catering provided by TV Chef Barbie Marshall, craft beer, and themed cocktails, all included in your cost of admission ($50). Costumes are encouraged and there will be a competition. 9 p.m. – 2 a.m. For more information and tickets, go to this page.

There will be many more fantastic events this Fall at IHP, including some great film screenings, exhibits, and cultural events. For more info, click here.

The City is off for Columbus Day today, which means administrative offices and courts are closed. Public schools and libraries are also closed. Post offices are closed, too, and there will be no mail delivery. Some banks are closed, too.

There will be no trash and recycling collection today. Monday collections will be picked up on Tuesday and collections for the remainder of the week will be delayed one day.

SEPTA will operate on a regular weekday schedule today.

Good news for local late-night public transportation users. SEPTA is extending again its pilot “Night Owl” weekend subway service on the Market-Frankford and Broad Street lines, this time indefinitely. The service was introduced in June, prompted by the changing city, and initially it was planned to try it until Labor Day and evaluate it. Then it was extended until November and now SEPTA says that the service is so popular that it’s staying for an indefinite time.

Here’s some stats from SEPTA regarding the popularity of this service:

– An average of 15,000 riders each weekend have boarded trains between midnight and 5:00 a.m. since June 15. That’s 6,000 riders more than those who previously used overnight bus service.

– Weekend overnight train service has been most popular during holiday weekends (24,430 riders on July 4; 17,192 passengers over Labor Day weekend).

According to SEPTA, passenger safety was also evaluated during the pilot. Issues have been minimal, due to an increased police presence on overnight trains.