And some Halloween fun is just for the kiddies, like the costumed sugar high that is trick-or-treating. Only for kids. I'm looking at you, gangly teenage candy hogs.

Get started on Friday night in Ferndale with the Halloween carnival and dinner in Belotti Hall at the fairgrounds at 5:30 p.m. ($8, $6 kids).

In Eureka, little ghouls under 12 can troll for candy in Old Town on Saturday from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. While you're there, check out the Discovery Museum's transformation into the Mystery Museum from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. ($5). It's still there behind the construction, and it's got Halloween crafts, games and fun the likes of which you have come to expect from the folks over there. Halloween party animals may want to hit up Boo at the Zoo over at Sequoia Park for the snake maze, scavenger hunt and the petting zoo on Saturday from noon to 4 p.m. ($6, $5 seniors and active service members, $4 kids over 3). For the more sci-fi inclined, there's the Journey to Planet Possible at the Jefferson Community Center at 1 p.m., which has an underwater maze (mazes are hot right now) and a robot, but no scary stuff and no sugar.

In McKinleyville, the costume parade is on Saturday at 11 a.m. in the McKinleyville Shopping Center. Later on from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., you can take your costumed little ones to the Humboldt Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Bayside for treats, skits and a campfire. Not enough Sweet Tarts yet? Head back to Eureka's Henderson Center for more trick-or-treating on Sunday at noon.

On Halloween, trick-or-treat on the Arcata Plaza from 4 p.m. and join the Marching Lumberjacks in the costume parade at 4:30. After that you can round out the evening at the Arcata Community Center at 5:30 p.m. for the Under the Sea Halloween Carnival ($2 donation, kids under 2 free). Or bring your goody bag to Redwood Acres for the Faith Center's free Kid's Karnival for children 5th-grade and under (that's right teens, keep walking) from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. with Jolly Jumps, cotton candy and candy candy.