Things to Do in Placentia This Fall

We’d make room for a little silliness this fall. Placentia Library wants your favorite book character recreated on a pumpkin, and we’re already more interested in the homemade costume than in whether it wins. Give a very round pumpkin a very serious literary identity. We’re in.

The Heritage Festival deserves a Saturday of its own as Placentia celebrates its hundredth birthday. We’d invite someone who’s new to town to come along. The rest of the season can leave a little space for an idea as wonderfully unnecessary as a pumpkin dressed like a book character.

Give a favorite book character the pumpkin treatment

The library’s Pumpkin Book Character Decorating Contest is open to all ages, so grown-up readers get to have a go, too. Choosing a character is part of the appeal. A familiar face might be immediately recognizable; a more obscure favorite gives you an excuse to talk about the book.

The pumpkin stays uncarved, and decorations need to be nonperishable. Entries go to Placentia Library, 411 E. Chapman Ave., October 18 through 21, with the final drop-off at 5 p.m. Online voting runs October 23 through 26. Pumpkins go home October 29 through November 1, so you may be able to have yours back for Halloween.

Celebrate Placentia’s hundredth at the Heritage Festival

A city only gets one centennial. That gives this year’s Heritage Festival a reason to draw your attention even if local history isn’t usually how you choose a Saturday outing. The theme, “Stars, Stripes, and Stories,” brings Placentia’s hundredth birthday together with America’s 250th anniversary.

New to Placentia, or showing visiting family around? A hundredth-birthday celebration is a lovely occasion to get to know the city together. The festival runs October 10 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Tri-City Park, 2301 N. Kraemer Blvd. The full program is still being announced.

Let the car enthusiast choose this Saturday

Driving Hope Home combines a car show with a fall festival. We like that pairing for a group with uneven levels of interest in cars. There are games, fall activities, and food alongside the show, so the person who wants to linger over the cars has a reason to suggest it to everyone else.

It runs October 3 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Placentia Presbyterian Church, 849 Bradford Ave. Each attendee is asked to bring one new, unwrapped toy.

Take Ghost Busters outside

A familiar movie is a pretty good excuse to spend Friday evening on a lawn. Especially Ghost Busters. We’d choose this for friends who want to get together but don’t need the evening to revolve around dinner reservations.

The free Movies in the Park screening is October 23 at Champions Sports Complex, 505 S. Jefferson St. Lawn seating opens at 5 p.m., with the original film expected to start around 6:15 p.m. Bring a blanket or lawn chair. The movie selection can change, and inclement weather cancels the screening.

Read Persepolis with people who want to talk about it

Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood follows her childhood in Tehran during the Islamic Revolution, told in black-and-white comic panels. We’d be interested in how the drawings carry a child’s view of events that are changing the adults’ lives, too. That gives the library’s Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Graphic Novel Book Club plenty to discuss this October, especially for readers curious about memoirs told through pictures.

The group is for adults 18 and up. October’s discussion is October 8 from 6 to 7 p.m. at Placentia Library; the next meeting is November 12 at the same time.

Try an afternoon book club

The Adult Book Club leaves space for people who would rather listen before joining the discussion. We appreciate that. Walking into a new group is easier when you don’t have to arrive with something impressive to say.

Adults 18 and up meet November 10 from 1 to 2 p.m. at the library to discuss The Secret Lives of Murderers’ Wives by Elizabeth Arnott. This is the afternoon option if evening plans are harder to manage.

Stories with plenty of movement

Baby Giggles and Wiggles makes room for the bouncing that comes with the baby. Stories and songs are designed for children from birth through age 3 with their caregivers. It meets at 10 a.m. on October 9, 16, 23, and 30, then November 6 and 13.

Family Storytime welcomes all ages on Saturdays. Singing, dancing, rhymes, fingerplays, and crafts give children ways to join in beyond listening to a story. The upcoming 10 a.m. sessions are October 10, 24, and 31, then November 7 and 14. Both programs are at Placentia Library.

A quick way to narrow it down

Our first invitation to a crafty friend would be the pumpkin contest. For a group outing, we’d suggest the October 23 movie, with the Heritage Festival taking priority if visiting family want to spend time getting to know Placentia.

One clash is worth knowing about: Family Storytime and the Heritage Festival both begin at 10 a.m. October 10. We’d give the centennial its Saturday and choose October 24 or 31 for storytime.