HORNITOS – At once exciting and nearly ethereal, a candle-lighting and procession in the old Mexican town of Hornitos winds its way from plaza to cemetery each year on November 2, to celebrate All Souls Day, and Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead. Hornitos in Spanish means “little ovens,” as the town in Mariposa County is said ...

By Barbara Irion — AHWAHNEE — Wasuma Elementary School’s PTA held its first Color Run to raise money for the activities it provides for students throughout the year. This includes assemblies, field trips, music instruction, family movie nights, academic pentathlon, spelling bee, and book fair — to name a few. Students collected pledges per lap, or flat donations, from family ...

COARSEGOLD – Hairy legs? Check. Halloween costume? Check. Throat lozenges? Check. You’re ready for the 21st annual Coarsegold Tarantula Festival, which wouldn’t be complete without arachnid races, costume parades, hairy legs contest, scream-fest, pizza eating, pumpkin cake, poetry, crafts, and tarantula appreciation all the way around. Also known as the Tarantula Awareness Festival, it’s a very special day with family ...

FISH CAMP — Something spooktacular is happening this weekend, and visitors to Yosemite Mountain Sugar Pine Railroad will want to know: locomotive #15 has been taken over by Halloween spirits. Ghosts in the know say the eerie train will be rolling down the rails this on Saturday, Oct. 27. Children are encouraged to wear costumes and go trick-or-treating at the stores ...

O’NEALS — Minarets High School’s local climbing and outdoor activities club is on the move, having recently returned from Twin Lakes, where students and their faculty advisers hiked Kaiser Peak in the Kaiser Wilderness. With a handful of hiking, climbing and backpacking trips under their belts, the Glissaders Club, as it’s known, is getting ready to plan another big trip ...

OAKHURST — The elegantly undead Madam Gadzinka and her traveling sideshow family are making an appearance in town to perform a special pre-Halloween revue at the Golden Chain Theater, where they’ll reveal themselves for one weekend only. They have traveled all across America performing in small towns as they go — leaving each place forever changed, or so we have heard. ...

MARIPOSA — The Mariposa Symphony Orchestra, a program of the Mariposa County Arts Council, is excited to announce a series of very special chamber music concerts to be held at the Mariposa United Methodist Church on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 26 and 27 at 7 p.m., and the Greeley Hill Methodist Church on Sunday, Oct. 28 at 2 p.m. These ...

I just returned from Utah with an unexpected adventure full of scarecrows! Why were so many scarecrows congregated in one place? Some were resting under a tree and some were showing off in full sun. Some were scary scarecrows. Some were cute scarecrows and some were just plain silly scarecrows. Each scarecrow was definitely unique. Who knew that scarecrows were ...

YOSEMITE — Over the past 20 years, Yosemite National Park officials have achieved notable results in their work to protect bears by reducing the number of incidents between bears and humans. Compared to statistics at this point in 2017 — the lowest year on record — bear incidents in 2018 are down by 50 percent and damage amounts (in dollars) ...

I explored high places by horseback in Utah, looking out for miles and miles at amazing views showcasing the San Rafael Swell, Capitol Reef National Park and Grand Staircase/Escalante National Monument. We rode around parts of Boulder Mountain, the largest and highest plateau that is part of the Colorado Plateau. Those rides took us through stands of large aspens, spruce, ...