A festival on Nauset Beach, a long weekend of last days, Women's Week in Provincetown, and a Tuesday at the Atwood with a Wampanoag historian

Last week the shoulder season was a rumor. This week it starts locking doors: a museum closes for the year, a circus tent finishes its run, a farmers market sells its last squash. In the middle of all that, Orleans throws a party on the beach. Monday is a holiday, and it is quieter than the weekend around it.

Reading the week

Saturday is the heavy day, and it splits by geography. If you're in Orleans, the day is Outermost Roots & Blues on Nauset Beach, gates at 11. If you're in Chatham, it starts early with birding on Morris Island at 8 and ends with Paint & Learn at the new Monomoy refuge center from 1 to 4. If you're in Brewster, pick one of three sessions at the Fungus Fair and walk down Lower Road to the Brewster Historical Society open house afterward. Pick one corridor. Trying to do all three means spending Saturday on Route 28.

Sunday belongs to music in small rooms. The Chang/Sun Duo plays the Orleans Historical Society meetinghouse at 3. Roomful of Blues is under the Payomet tent in North Truro at 6. Provincetown has Crys Matthews at 6 and Ruthie Foster at 7:30, both at the Provincetown Inn.

Monday is the holiday, so plan around what's closed. Town halls in Brewster, Orleans and Wellfleet are closed, as are the libraries in Chatham, Eastham and Harwich and the senior centers in Orleans and Eastham. What's open is outdoors: the Wellfleet Flea Market runs its holiday-Monday session, COASTSWEEP meets at Mayo Beach at 9, and Women's Week holds a free sunset bonfire at Herring Cove at 5.

Tuesday and Wednesday are better than they look. Tuesday has Linda Coombs at the Atwood, Mary Shelley at the Eastham library, and two poets at the Truro library. Wednesday has Cape Noir Live at Snow Library, Derek Gripper by candlelight in Eastham, and Cris Williamson in Provincetown. Plan around nights, not day counts.

This Week's Headlines

Monday is Indigenous Peoples' Day, and the closures are real. Brewster Town Hall and the Brewster Recycling Center are closed Monday; the Recycling Center and Swap Shop open Tuesday instead as a holiday exception. Orleans Town Hall is closed, and so are the Wellfleet town offices, the Eldredge Public Library and Chatham Community Center, the Eastham Public Library and Senior Center, and Brooks Free Library in Harwich. We could not confirm holiday hours for Snow Library, the Wellfleet library, or the Harwich, Eastham, Provincetown and Truro transfer stations, so call before you load the car.

The Orleans Senior Center has most programs on pause through October 23 for building maintenance and repairs. Transportation and respite services continue. Details are in the center's Sept/Oct Tidings newsletter on the town site.

Chatham's library entrance has moved. The Main Street door at Eldredge is closed for construction, so use the Library Lane side entrance. Tonight's Town Talk on the new Residential Exemption starts at 5:30; registration is recommended and walk-ins are welcome.

Doors are closing for the season. The Chatham Railroad Museum has its last weekend Saturday 10–4 and Sunday 1–4, and admission is by donation. The Chatham Marconi Maritime Center is open Saturday, the last day of its Wednesday–Saturday fall hours, then closes for a few days and reopens Fridays and Saturdays. The Eastham Farmers Market holds its final market of 2026 Friday morning. The Chatham Farmers Market has two Tuesdays left. Brewster's Sea Camps Bay property closes Monday for the off-season while capital work is done.

The pumpkins arrive Wednesday. Pumpkinpalooza puts its Pumpkin People up in Kate Gould Park from October 14 through November 1. The Chamber, which organizes it, gives those dates; ignore the other dates you may see online. The First Congregational pumpkin patch at the Chatham rotary is open daily 10 to 5, and its sales benefit the Chatham Children's Fund.

Women's Week is under way in Provincetown and runs through October 18. Monday evening brings a free sunset bonfire at Herring Cove, and by Tuesday the schedule covers concerts, comedy, films, panels and a community dinner. The Provincetown section below has the best of it for this week.

Don't Sleep On This

2026 Fungus Fair. Sat, Oct 10 · sessions 9:00–10:45 AM, 11:00 AM–12:45 PM, or 1:00–2:45 PM · Cape Cod Museum of Natural History, 869 Main St, Brewster · $35 members / $40 non-members, museum admission included. The Cape Cod Museum of Natural History spends one Saturday a year on mushrooms. There are identification tables, cultivation demonstrations, displays and vendors, which makes it the place to bring the phone full of trail photos you've been arguing about. You choose one of three timed sessions, and tickets are non-refundable, so commit to a session before you buy. For anyone who forages, or wants to, it's the most useful two hours in Brewster this week.

Monomoy Refuge Saturday: birding on Morris Island, then Paint & Learn. Sat, Oct 10 · walk 8:00–10:00 AM, Monomoy NWR, 30 Wikis Way, Chatham · $10 Friends of Monomoy members / $15 nonmembers, registration required. Ornithologist Fi Lowry leads a morning walk on Morris Island looking for late shorebirds, ducks, loons and raptors. Space is limited and you need to reserve. In the afternoon, it's National Wildlife Refuge Week and the Friends of Monomoy run Paint & Learn at the refuge's new center at 791 Main Street from 1 to 4: free, all ages, with families painting wildlife cutouts that go on display. Do the walk if you own binoculars and the painting if you own a six-year-old.

My Hideous Progeny: Mary Shelley and Her Creature, with Gregory Williams. Tue, Oct 13 · 6:00–7:30 PM · Eastham Public Library, 190 Samoset Rd · No charge. This is a literary-history talk about how Frankenstein came to be, held in October, in a library, on a Tuesday night. That's the right setting for it. If the story gets you curious, Waters Edge Cinema in Provincetown is screening the National Theatre's filmed Frankenstein on Saturday morning, so you can do both and argue about who the monster is.

🎨 Arts & Culture

Editorial pick: Memento Gorey: Preview Screening & Book Signing with Christopher Seufert · Tue, Oct 13 · 5:30–6:30 PM · Brewster Ladies' Library, 1822 Main St. Edward Gorey lived up the road in Yarmouth Port, and the Cape has been arguing ever since about how much of his gloom it can take credit for. Filmmaker and author Christopher Seufert previews his film and talks about the book that goes with it. A small library, an early-evening hour and a subject who drew people in fur coats looking worried: it's a very October hour.

🎞️ Marcella — Food & Drink has the details on this Orpheum benefit screening. Thu, Oct 8 · 6:30 PM · Chatham Orpheum Theater. 🖍️ After Hours Art Club — a teen creative club led by Amanda Newcomb and Deborah Donovan. Thu, Oct 8 · 4:00–5:30 PM · The 204, Studio 105, 204 Sisson Rd, Harwich · price not published. 🎃 Pumpkinpalooza — the Pumpkin People go up Wednesday. Wed, Oct 14 through Nov 1 · Kate Gould Park, Chatham.

🧵 Hands & Habits

Editorial pick: Halloween Costume Swap · Sat, Oct 10 · 10:00 AM–4:00 PM · Brewster Ladies' Library, 1822 Main St · no registration. Bring the costume your kid wore once and take one they'll wear once, and you don't have to bring anything to take something. It's the most sensible thing happening on the Lower Cape all week and it costs nothing. If you're coming from the Fungus Fair, the library is right down Main Street.

🧵 Boomerang Bags Sewing Bee — Fri, Oct 9 · 1:00–4:00 PM · Brewster Ladies' Library · price not published. 🪈 Native Flute Playshop with Armand and Angelina — Fri, Oct 9 · 1:00 PM · Center for the Spiritual Journey, 880 Main St, Chatham · $20. 💻 Understanding AI: A Practical Introduction for Seniors — Patrick Carey's hands-on series continues; bring a device. Tue, Oct 13 · 2:30–3:30 PM · Brewster Council on Aging, 1673 Main St · Free · Pre-register 508-896-2737. 🪵 Woodturning workshop — lathe, bowls, spindles, sharpening, in a series capped at six. Tue, Oct 13 · 3:00–4:30 PM · Cobb House workshop, 739 Lower Rd, Brewster · $100 members / $125 non-members for the four-workshop series · enrollment is by series; check with the Society. ⚡ Energy Navigators drop-in desk — help finding ways to cut utility costs. Sat, Oct 10 · 10:00 AM–1:00 PM · Snow Library mezzanine, Orleans.

🤝 Community

Editorial pick: Blessing of the Animals · Sun, Oct 11 · 1:00–2:00 PM · Pilgrim Congregational Church lawn, 533 Route 28, Harwich Port · donations requested for the Animal Rescue League of Boston's Brewster shelter. Rev. Amie Stuart Guiguere blesses pets on the church lawn, or a photo or a stuffed animal if the real one doesn't travel well. There are donuts and cider, and dogs need to be leashed and cats crated. This is the only thing on the Harwich calendar Sunday, and that's enough. Bring the dog. Leave the cat home and bring its picture.

♻️ Household Hazardous Waste Collection — for Harwich, Brewster and Chatham residents; small businesses need pre-approval. Sat, Oct 10 · 9:00 AM–noon · Harwich Transfer Station, 209 Queen Anne Rd. 📚 Friends of Snow Library Book Sale — fiction, nonfiction, cookbooks, DVDs and picture books; credit cards accepted. Sat, Oct 10 · from 10:00 AM · Snow Library lower level, 67 Main St, Orleans. 🏛️ Town Talk: Residential Exemption — Assistant Assessor Mira Milkova on how year-round owners apply. Thu, Oct 8 · 5:30 PM · Eldredge Public Library, Chatham · registration recommended; walk-ins welcome. 🌿 Brewster Natural Resources Advisory Commission — pond management, regenerative agriculture and Ballot Question 6. Thu, Oct 8 · 6:00 PM · Brewster Town Hall, Room A, or Zoom. 🏘️ Brewster Community Preservation Committee public hearing — residents weigh in on CPA spending before May's Town Meeting. Wed, Oct 14 · 4:00 PM · Brewster Town Hall, 2198 Main St, Zoom option. 🎃 First Congregational Pumpkin Patch — daily 10:00 AM–5:00 PM through Oct 31 · 650 Main St, Chatham · proceeds to the Chatham Children's Fund.

🍽️ Food & Drink

Editorial pick: Marcella — a benefit screening for Family Table Collaborative · Thu, Oct 8 · 6:30 PM · Chatham Orpheum Theater, 637 Main St · $35 per the Chatham Chamber listing ($10 show + $25 benefit). The documentary is about Marcella Hazan, the cookbook writer who taught American home cooks classic Italian cooking. The proceeds go to Family Table Collaborative's hunger work. Jeni Wheeler and Harry Henry host, with local chefs and food people as guests. It's a film about feeding people that pays for feeding people.

🧺 Outermost Friday — Market in the Park — makers, food trucks and live music on the green to start the festival weekend. Fri, Oct 9 · 2:00–7:00 PM · Orleans Village Green, Main St. 🥕 Chatham Farmers Market — the second-to-last Tuesday of the season; SNAP/EBT and HIP accepted. Tue, Oct 13 · 3:00–6:00 PM · Our Lady of Grace grounds, 60 Meeting House Rd, South Chatham. 🎃 Chatham Bars Inn Farm Fall Frolic — live music, lawn games, pumpkin painting for kids, farm produce and a food truck. Sun, Oct 11 · 11:00 AM–2:00 PM or 2:00–5:00 PM · Chatham Bars Inn Farm, 3034 Main St, Brewster · $10 per vehicle plus Eventbrite fees · rain date Monday, Oct 12.

💚 Health & Wellness

Editorial pick: Save a Life: Narcan Training · Tue, Oct 13 · 2:00–3:00 PM · Harwich Council on Aging, 100 Oak St · registration requested, 508-430-7550 x1. In an hour you learn to recognize an overdose and give Narcan, and you don't need a medical background. It's at the senior center and open to the community. One hour now means you know what to do if the day ever comes.

🛡️ Stay One Step Ahead: Avoiding Scams Targeting Older Adults — Cape & Coast Bank staff on spotting scams and what to do after fraud. Tue, Oct 13 · 2:00–3:00 PM · Brewster Ladies' Library. 🩺 Ask a Public Health Nurse — free consultations. Tue, Oct 13 · 9:30–11:30 AM · Harwich Family Pantry. ❤️ Blood Pressure & Wellness Clinic — Wed, Oct 14 · 10:00 AM–noon · Harwich Council on Aging · Free · by appointment. ☕ Death Cafe with Amanda Murphy — an open conversation about death and dying. Wed, Oct 14 · 10:00–11:30 AM · Center for the Spiritual Journey, 880 Main St, Chatham · no fee; registration requested. 🌲 Forest Bathing with Carol Marcy — Thu, Oct 8 · 1:00–3:00 PM · Cape Cod Museum of Natural History · $10 members / $15 non-members, museum admission extra; ages 15+; rain cancels.

🎶 Music & Live Entertainment

Editorial pick: Outermost Roots & Blues Festival · Sat, Oct 10 · gates 11:00 AM, music from noon · Nauset Beach, East Orleans · from $34.83 via TicketWeb. G. Love & Special Sauce and Digable Planets headline, with Ron Artis II and Grateful Dub on the bill. It happens rain or shine, and free shuttles run from Nauset Middle School and Orleans Town Hall. The free music around the festival matters as much as the festival. Market in the Park opens the weekend Friday on the green. Josh & the Doghouse Tenants play the free after-party at Hog Island Saturday from 7 (they replace the originally listed Dirty Water Dance Band). The Cape Connection closes it out at Hog Island Sunday from 7. You can do the whole weekend without a ticket except for the beach.

The live-music grid

Also worth the ticket: 😂 Comedy Night: Paul Nardizzi with Jason Merrill and Kyle Crawford — Sat, Oct 10 · 7:30–9:00 PM · Chatham Bars Inn, 297 Shore Rd · $60 including one drink; open to the public · reserve through the concierge, 508-945-6871, or Eventbrite.

🌿 Nature & History

Editorial pick: Eco-Restoration Tour with Tom Evans · Sat, Oct 10 · 9:00–10:30 AM · Cold Brook Preserve or Hinckleys Pond–Herring River Headwaters, Harwich (site given at registration) · Free · limit 15, advance reservation. The tour covers former cranberry bogs that have been returned to wetland, walked on an All Persons Trail that works for people who can't manage a woods path. Fifteen spots, free, ninety minutes. You see the wetland now, and Tom Evans explains what it took to get it there. Reserve early.

🐦 Bird Identification & Natural History Field Class with Peter Trull — Fri, Oct 9 · 8:00–10:00 AM · an HCT preserve in Harwich (see listing) · $20 · limit 13, binoculars required. It runs again Tuesday — Tue, Oct 13 · 8:00–10:00 AM · $20. 🦆 Morris Island birding with Fi Lowry — ✦ See Don't Sleep On This. Sat, Oct 10 · 8:00 AM · Chatham. 🎨 Paint & Learn at Monomoy — ✦ See Don't Sleep On This. Sat, Oct 10 · 1:00–4:00 PM · 791 Main St, Chatham · Free. 🏚️ Brewster Historical Society Open House — tours and demonstrations at the Cobb House Museum and Woodworking Shop (739 Lower Rd) and Windmill Village (51 Drummer Boy Rd). Sat, Oct 10 · 1:00–4:00 PM · Free. 🚂 Chatham Railroad Museum: closing weekend — model trains, a 1910 caboose and a Morse code simulator in the 1887 depot. Sat, Oct 10 · 10:00 AM–4:00 PM and Sun, Oct 11 · 1:00–4:00 PM · 153 Depot Rd, Chatham · donations. 📡 Chatham Marconi Maritime Center — last day of Wed–Sat fall hours. Sat, Oct 10 · 10:00 AM–4:00 PM · 847 Orleans Rd, Chatham. 🪶 Cape Cod Bird Club monthly meeting — doors 6:30, meeting at 7, with a hybrid option; confirm on the page given the holiday. Mon, Oct 12 · 7:00–8:30 PM · Cape Cod Museum of Natural History · Free. 🎧 Birding by Ear — learn birds by song and call. Tue, Oct 13 · 1:00–2:00 PM · Brooks Free Library, Harwich · contact [email protected] to join. 🔭 Bird Walk & Talk with Karl Fryzel — Wed, Oct 14 · 9:30–11:00 AM · Cape Cod Museum of Natural History · $10 members / $15 non-members, museum admission extra; call 508-896-3867 x133.

📚 Talks, Books & Big Ideas

Editorial pick: The Future of the Cape Cod Bridges · Thu, Oct 8 · 10:00–11:30 AM · Brooks Free Library, Thornton Meeting Room, 739 Main St, Harwich · Free · register with the Harwich COA, 508-430-7550 x1. Steven Tupper goes through the bridge replacement plans and what they're expected to mean. Every year-rounder already has an opinion about the bridges, built in traffic on a Sunday in August. Hear the plan before you argue about it again.

🪶 Linda Coombs: "From Time of Creation" — the Aquinnah Wampanoag historian on origin histories and traditional life, the day after Indigenous Peoples' Day. Tue, Oct 13 · 5:00 PM · Mural Barn, Atwood Museum, 347 Stage Harbor Rd, Chatham · $10 nonmembers, free for members · reserve online. 📖 Beyond the Book: Richard Zapf — the author on The Strange Story of Maria Hallett, the legend tied to the pirate Sam Bellamy. Fri, Oct 9 · 1:00–2:00 PM · Harwich Council on Aging · registration requested. 💡 The Power of Limits with David Epstein — the author of Range on how constraints drive creativity; online through Eldredge Library. Tue, Oct 13 · 2:00–3:00 PM · Virtual · registration required. ✍️ David Gessner's Writing Cape Cod — a five-day place-based writing course with David and Heidi Gessner, lunch included. Begins Tue, Oct 13 · 9:00 AM–2:00 PM · Cape Cod Museum of Natural History · $800 for the course.

🎭 Theater & Classical

Editorial pick: A Night at the Movies — Cape Cod String Quartet & guests · Fri, Oct 9 · 7:00–9:00 PM · St. Christopher's Episcopal Church, 625 Main St, Chatham · $55 (+ fee); free for students and under-21s with ID. This is the fourth year the Cape Cod String Quartet has brought vocalists and a band to St. Christopher's for film and Broadway music, from Jaws to The Lion King. Hearing the Jaws theme played by a string quartet in a Chatham church, in a town that has spent the last decade learning to live with real sharks, is a joke the whole room gets. The student price is free, and that's the best deal on the Lower Cape this week.

🚢 Titanic: The Musical — the Chatham Drama Guild's big fall musical, running through Oct 18. Thu, Oct 8 & Fri, Oct 9 · 7:30 PM · 134 Crowell Rd, Chatham · $35 cabaret / $30 / $25 student · confirm weekend curtain times with the Guild, 508-945-0510. 🥁 Chara Percussion: Reflections — The Waters of Life — water music from calm to turbulent, with Debussy, Glass and Karmanov's Past Perfect. Fri, Oct 9 · 7:30 PM & Sat, Oct 10 · 3:30 PM · Performing Arts Center, Route 6A, Brewster · $35 / $30 seniors / students & youth free. 🎻 Chang/Sun Duo — rescheduled from September; Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert. Sun, Oct 11 · 3:00 PM · Orleans Historical Society Meetinghouse, 3 River Rd · $30 / $25 members / free 18 & under. 🏚️ The Fall of the House of Usher — Gip Hoppe's Poe adaptation with music by J Hagenbuckle, running through Oct 25. Thu, Oct 8 & Fri, Oct 9 · 7:30 PM; Sat, Oct 10 · 2:00 & 7:30 PM; Sun, Oct 11 · 2:00 PM; Wed, Oct 14 · 7:30 PM · Cape Rep Theatre, 3299 Main St, Brewster · $40; $30 age 35 and under · PG-13. 📻 Cape Noir Live: "The Legend of Amelia May Dunne" — Hagenbuckle again, this time writing and directing a live radio western. Wed, Oct 14 · 6:30–7:30 PM · Snow Library, Orleans · Free.

🌊 Out Toward the Tip

The tip is busier than the Lower Cape this week, mostly because Provincetown has Women's Week and Wellfleet doesn't want the season to end.

Provincetown

🔥 Welcome to Women's Week Sunset Beach Bonfire — a free Women's Week welcome on the beach at sunset. Mon, Oct 12 · 5:00–6:30 PM · Herring Cove Beach (left-side lot) · Free, open to all. After that, the Women's Week Welcome Party is at Pilgrim House at 7.

🎤 Ruthie Foster — a Grammy-nominated blues and soul singer in the Mayflower Room. Sun, Oct 11 · 7:30 PM · Provincetown Inn, 1 Commercial St · $45 GA / $95 VIP / $125 Artist Circle. Earlier that evening, Crys Matthews plays the 50-seat Keyhole at 6:00 PM · $40. The day before, Lucy Kaplansky plays the Keyhole Sat, Oct 10 · 2:00 PM · $75.

🎶 Jonatha Brooke & Susan Werner — Mon, Oct 12 · 7:30 PM · Mayflower Room, Provincetown Inn · $45 GA / $100 VIP / $200 Artist Circle. Zoe Lewis & Mouths of Babes — Mon, Oct 12 · 6:00–7:30 PM · UU Meeting House, 236 Commercial St · $40. Cris Williamson — Wed, Oct 14 · 6:00 PM · $45 / $60 / $75 · the organizer lists both Town Hall and the UU Meeting House; check your ticket for the venue.

🍽️ Women's Week Community Dinner & Performers Showcase — dinner at 6, then the festival's performers on one stage at 7:30. Tue, Oct 13 · 6:00–9:30 PM · Provincetown Town Hall · $95 / $145.

🗣️ Crone's Panel: Language — Always Changing, Often Confusing — Tue, Oct 13 · 10:00–11:00 AM · UU Meeting House · Free. 📖 Nina Kennedy: Practicing for Love — reading and signing. Tue, Oct 13 · 4:00–5:00 PM · Provincetown Bookshop · Free, RSVP appreciated. 🥁 Drumma Queens of Cape Cod — outdoors in front of Town Hall. Wed, Oct 14 · 4:00–5:15 PM · Free; donations welcome. 🎬 Mary Oliver: Saved by the Beauty of the World — the documentary, in the town where she lived and wrote for decades. Tue, Oct 13 · 4:30 PM · Waters Edge Cinema, 237 Commercial St · $12–$15.

Away from the festival: 🖼️ Free Friday at PAAM — Fri, Oct 9 · 5:00–8:00 PM · 460 Commercial St · Free. Down the street, the Gregory Gillespie and group show reception is Fri, Oct 9 · 5:00–7:00 PM at Schoolhouse Gallery, 494 Commercial St. 🎭 Small Mouth Sounds — Bess Wohl's comedy about six people at a silent retreat. Thu–Sat, Oct 8–10 · 7:00 PM; Sun, Oct 11 · 2:00 PM · Provincetown Theater, 238 Bradford St · $40 with the Women's Week code; see the theater for standard pricing. 🧟 National Theatre Live: Frankenstein — Danny Boyle's staging, with Jonny Lee Miller as the doctor. Sat, Oct 10 · 10:30 AM · Waters Edge Cinema. 🥬 Provincetown Educational Farmers' Market — Sat, Oct 10 · 9:00 AM–1:00 PM · Ryder St beside Town Hall. 🖌️ Art Supply Swap — Sat, Oct 10 · 11:00 AM–2:00 PM · Provincetown Commons front yard, 46 Bradford St · Free; rain date Oct 11. 🎸 Grant King and Moon — two local songwriters in the Reading Room. Sun, Oct 11 · 2:00–3:15 PM · Provincetown Public Library · Free · reservations welcome, 508-487-7094. 📕 All About Love: bell hooks discussion with Mary DeRocco — Wed, Oct 14 · 10:30 AM–noon · Provincetown Public Library · limited space; register at [email protected]. 🎞️ Movie Night: The French Connection — Wed, Oct 14 · 5:30 PM · Provincetown Public Library.

Truro

🎺 Roomful of Blues — the September rainout, rescheduled. Sun, Oct 11 · 6:00 PM, doors an hour earlier · Payomet Tent, 29 Old Dewline Rd, North Truro · $25–$47; members $23–$42; $5 more on the day of the show.

🖼️ Cole Cook, Sheryl Jaffe and Dave Holbrook: Opening Reception — sculpture and mixed media at Castle Hill. Thu, Oct 8 · 4:00–6:00 PM · Castle Hill Gallery, 8 Meetinghouse Rd. 📜 Poetry Reading: Mary Ann Larkin and Patric Pepper — the two poets read from their work. Tue, Oct 13 · 6:00 PM · Truro Public Library, 7 Standish Way, North Truro · Free. 🧮 Great Beach Cleanup Trash Tally — sort and count what volunteers pulled off the beaches; stay as long as you can. Thu–Sat, Oct 8–10 · 9:00 AM–4:00 PM · Center for Coastal Studies (Winklers Crane Garage, North Truro) · sign up through the page. ❓ Fall Trivia Night — Fri, Oct 9 · 5:30–7:00 PM · Truro Vineyards pavilion, 11 Shore Rd · reservations requested.

Wellfleet

🎪 Cirque by the Sea: "Summer in the City" — final show — Sat, Oct 10 · 6:00 PM · Big Top at WHAT, 2357 Route 6 · Adults $35, children 2–18 $25.

🖼️ Artist Reception: Pete Hocking, "Your Apparition Passes Through Me" — an all-new show, with bites and drinks. Thu, Oct 8 · 5:00–7:00 PM · Wellfleet Preservation Hall, 335 Main St · Free. Saturday there's a second opening: "On Our Earth", with Prilla Smith Brackett, Phyllis Ewen, Vicki McKenna and Nick Thorkelson. Sat, Oct 10 · 4:00–6:00 PM · Wellfleet Public Library, 55 West Main St.

👻 Ghost Tour — a one-hour lantern walk past the reputedly haunted parts of the village, under a mile, fifteen people max. Thu, Oct 8 · 8:00 PM · from the Wellfleet Historical Society, 262 Main St · $20. It runs again Monday night — Mon, Oct 12 · 8:00 PM · $20. In daylight, the Historic District Walking Tour is Fri, Oct 9 · 10:30 AM–noon · $20, children free with an adult.

🦃 Natural History of Turkeys — a one-mile COA walk with a sanctuary naturalist. Fri, Oct 9 · 10:00–11:00 AM · Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary · $5 · RSVP 774-801-8119. 🐦 Early Bird Walk at Wellfleet Bay — two hours of fall migration. Wed, Oct 14 · 8:00–10:00 AM · $18 members / $22 nonmembers · registration required. 🍄 Cape Cod Mushroom Small Group Forage — Sun, Oct 11 · 10:00 AM–noon · meets at the Wellfleet Chamber of Commerce lot · tickets on Eventbrite.

🚶 CROP Hunger Walk — the Lower/Outer Cape walk steps off at 1:00 PM. Sun, Oct 11 · First Congregational Church of Wellfleet, 200 Main St · register or donate online. 🏖️ COASTSWEEP beach cleanup — Mon, Oct 12 · meet by 9:00 AM · Mayo Beach parking lot, Kendrick Ave. 🛒 Wellfleet Flea Market — Sat–Mon, Oct 10–12 · 8:00 AM–about 2:00 PM · Wellfleet Drive-In · weather dependent, bring cash. 🦪 House Pour — Preservation Hall's backyard hang with drinks, games and rotating oyster and food vendors. Mon, Oct 12 · 4:00–6:00 PM, and again Tue, Oct 13 · weather permitting. 🎙️ Open Mic Night — Fri, Oct 9 · 6:00–7:30 PM · First Congregational Church. 📜 Playreading Group: The Crucible, Act Three — Wed, Oct 14 · 4:00–5:30 PM · Wellfleet Public Library.

Eastham

🕯️ Secret Planet Cape Cod ft. Derek Gripper — the South African guitarist by candlelight, benefiting WOMR. Wed, Oct 14 · 7:00–9:00 PM · Chapel in the Pines, 220 Samoset Rd · $35.

🥕 Eastham Farmers Market — final market of the season — Fri, Oct 9 · 9:00 AM–noon · T-Time site, Route 6. 🤸 Payomet Cirque by the Sea: Performance and Play — the trapeze duo duET performs, then kids and adults try silks, juggling and balancing (Payomet waiver required). Fri, Oct 9 · 12:00–1:15 PM · Eastham Public Library. 🧟 My Hideous Progeny: Mary Shelley and Her Creature — ✦ See Don't Sleep On This. Tue, Oct 13 · 6:00 PM · Eastham Public Library · No charge. 🗼 Nauset Light open house — climb to the lookout room. Sun, Oct 11 · 1:00–4:00 PM · Free; donations appreciated. The Three Sisters Lighthouses open house, with a Seashore volunteer, is come-and-go Tue, Oct 13 and Wed, Oct 14 · 10:00 AM–noon · Cable Rd. 🎖️ Veterans Rendezvous Café — Thu, Oct 8 · morning · Eastham Senior Center, 1405 Nauset Rd. 🖼️ Art Reception: Independence House — Thu, Oct 8 · 6:00–7:30 PM · Eastham Public Library.

🗓️ Recurring weeknights & ongoing

Bookmark this one; most of it will still be there next week.

Editor's note

October on the Lower Cape is a long list of last times that nobody announces. The circus does its last show and the railroad museum shuts its doors. A farmers market sells its last vegetables to the same people who bought its first ones in June. You can let all of it slide past and find out in May that it closed, or you can show up this week and be one of the people who was there for the end of it.

Then come back Tuesday. Linda Coombs at the Atwood is a reminder that "the end of the season" is a very recent idea on land that has been lived on for a long time. Go to the beach Saturday. Go to the meetinghouse Sunday. Go to the museum Tuesday.

Next week: Wellfleet OysterFest is Saturday and Sunday, October 17–18, though daily hours aren't posted yet. Harwich Conservation Trust brings Owls Up Close to The 204 on Saturday the 17th ($10, registration). Cape Cod Theatre Company opens The Baker Street Irregulars in Harwich on Friday the 16th. Women's Week keeps going in Provincetown through the weekend.

— Arthur