October Happenings: The Best Spots To Embrace Fall In The Desert

This charming non-profit art studio, nestled on a bucolic 3-acre campus in La Quinta, offers several fall-inspired activities for the creatively-minded, including daily paint your own pottery sessions with a multitude of Halloween and Thanksgiving pieces to choose from (think mugs, dishes and lanterns, most priced between $15-20), as well as a ghost and pumpkin votive-making class to really get you in the spooky spirit!

Get your weekly thrill on throughout the month via the Palm Springs Cultural Center, which is hosting scary movie viewings each Tuesday night at the Historic Camelot Theatre. Features include Fright Night, Rosemary’s Baby, The Cabin in the Woods, and A Nightmare on Elm Street. Additional October events include a showing of The Bad Seed with special guest Patty McCormack and a screening of Psycho emceed by Hitchcock experts Richard L. Edwards and Steven C. Smith.

Located about 40 miles west of Palm Springs, just off I-10 in Redlands, is Southern California’s largest pumpkin patch! My go-to ever since moving to the desert and a true smorgasbord of fall fun (you can easily spend an entire day there!), the place is chock full of such attractions as rides, food kiosks, photo ops, live entertainment, a petting zoo, a corn maze, and fields upon fields of pumpkins, all of which you can pick right off the vine yourself! (Open daily through Nov. 2nd. Entry fees vary.)

What better way to embrace the season than with a visit to an idyllic working lavender farm? Offering tractor rides, boutiques with handmade goods, strolls through olive groves, and an array of dining options – most featuring themed meals and cocktails (lavender sourdough pizza, anyone?) – all lit by more than half a million twinkle lights, 123 Farm (located about 30 miles west of Palm Springs) is a magical experience for the entire family. (Running now through October 27th.)

Palm Springs Bottle Shop is getting the scary season started right with an inspired wine, weenies & pumpkin carving evening this Friday at their Mojave Flea Trading Post location. (*BYOP!) Tickets run $20 and include two glasses of vino, a hot dog and a chilling good time! For those not wanting to partake, PSBS offers a truly stellar selection of non-alcoholic wines (which I’ve sampled and absolutely love!), as well!

All Color Growers nursery in Bermuda Dunes is hosting its 5th annual Pumpkin Patch the last two weekends in October, with onsite live music, a beer garden, a corn pit, barrel rides, and a plethora of craft and food vendors, including Valley fave Buena Matcha, who will be whipping up her famous green tea powdered drinks. (Though I’ve only sampled the delectable sugar-free options, I hear her pumpkin spice matcha latte is not to be missed!) 

Shop ’til you drop at Palm Desert Anthropologie’s Fall Soiree, taking place on October 19th from 12 to 4 PM. Partake of free apple cider and other treats as you peruse the store’s cozy line of autumnal goods, including candles, table settings and home décor. And you just might be able to catch a glimpse of the 2024 holiday collection (pending availability), as well! Because it’s never too early for some Yuletide cheer, am I right?

Old Town La Quinta’s Fall Festival returns Sunday, October 20th with countless activities on hand for kids and adults alike! Alongside the regularly scheduled farmer’s market (one of my preferred weekend haunts), the center will feature a pumpkin patch, face painting, live music, and photo ops. There will also be beer and wine offerings available for purchase courtesy of La Quinta Brewing Company – for those 21 and over, of course!

One of my favorite fall events and one of the La Quinta Historical Society’s most popular, tours of the famous Haunted Hacienda (aka J & J Ranch) will be taking place the evening of October 25th. Brave guests are invited to walk the spacious grounds and venture inside the original 1926 adobe and surrounding structures, all of which will be decked out in their signature, fabulously over-the-top Halloween splendour. (Tickets run $10 and are available at the door.)

A visit to The Living Desert is always a blast, but the place will be even more spooktacular during its annual Howl-O-Ween event on October 26th and 27th. With guests invited to dress in costume, all manner of Halloween-inspired pop-ups will be stationed throughout the park, like trick-or-treating, face painting, arts and crafts, and specialty food and drinks (including “worm juice” for the kiddos). Bonus – the zoo is currently offering a free child’s ticket with every adult ticket purchased.

I have yet to experience one of PS Underground’s fabled “over-the-top theatrical culinary events,” but always hear excellent things! And what better time to jump in than with this year’s Halloween extravaganza, Ruby, hosted on October 31st. Set in a vampire’s lair, the evening is centered around an “exquisite selection of blood-red wines” and a “menu that sinfully delights in the dark and the decadent,” promising an otherworldly good time!