Grenadiers, ghost walks, and climbing rates

Life Lost and Found, a digital photography project by Tess Perrone Poe, opens with an artist reception at Greenfield Public Library Friday afternoon. Poe trained as a painter and has worked in printmaking, textile art, and sculptural installation across four decades before turning to the camera for this project.

Lake Wallace Fall Fest takes over the Sensory Trail off Whitlock Way in Belchertown Saturday morning.

Capt. Mighill's Grenadier Company of the 26th Continental Regiment sets up at Hall Tavern at Historic Deerfield, showing a piece of Washington's Continental Army modeled on the British grenadier companies. Included in general admission.

Downtown Showdown, presented by Connecticut Street Warriors, brings a car show to the MassMutual Center in Springfield. The venue's first show of this size in 15 years.

The second annual Blandford Ghost Walk steps off from Hill Cemetery on North Street, hosted by the Blandford Historical Society.

Homes Through the Centuries, a self-guided tour of Longmeadow houses and landmarks put on by the Friends of Storrs Library, runs Sunday from 10 to 3.

Steve Smithers works the Silver Shop at Historic Deerfield all day Saturday, demonstrating silversmithing at the bench. Included in general admission.

The Apple Place Fall Festival, at 540 Somers Road (Route 83) in East Longmeadow, runs 9 to 4 with artisans, a bakery, a creamery, and live music.

The Conway Festival of the Hills fills the town center Sunday: exhibitors and food from 10 to 4, the Covered Bridge Classic 10K at 10, logsplitting at 11:30, a parade through the center at 1, skillet toss at 2, the raffle drawn at 4, live music through the afternoon.

Artwalk is the UMass Fine Arts Center's once-a-semester circuit across three campus galleries: the University Museum of Contemporary Art, the Augusta Savage Gallery, and Hampden Gallery. Hands-on crafts, live music, and cider donuts from Atkins at each stop, so kids get a real reason to walk between buildings.

The Secret Lives of Bats at Arcadia Wildlife Sanctuary is a family program on the bats that live in the meadows and woods around the sanctuary. Timed for the week before Halloween, which is when kids are already asking about them.

Hawk Watch at Skinner State Park catches the fall raptor migration from the summit ridge above the Connecticut River. Half an hour is the right length for kids who can follow binoculars but lose patience with a full birding morning.

Color Quest 1: The Power of Color is the first session in the Carle After Dark family series, built around activities and art-making that experiment with how color works. Late-afternoon timing that fits after school pickup.

The Halloween Costume Donation Drive at the Carnegie Public Library, run by the Montague Public Libraries with The Brick House, collects the old costumes and accessories your kids have outgrown. Drop off what you have; the collected costumes go back out to families before Halloween.

Grow Play Learn at the East Longmeadow Public Library runs stories, songs, and movement activities in the Community Room. Structured enough that a toddler leaves with something new, loose enough that the wandering ones are still welcome.