Halloween Harvest Festival at Socrates Sculpture Park in Long Island City, NYC, on Oct. 31

Socrates Sculpture Park, the waterfront art park on Vernon Boulevard in Long Island City, holds its Halloween Harvest Festival on Saturday, October 31, from noon to 5pm. The day doubles as the park's season closeout. Registration runs through Eventbrite, linked from the park's website.

Art-making is the core of the program. From 11am to 1pm, iDig2Learn and the park's artists lead a hands-on bat workshop, billed as the season's last Field Guide. The park notes that nine bat species live in New York State. From noon to 3pm there are drop-in pumpkin decorating (pumpkins provided, first come, first served) and costume making from reused materials. Mehndi (henna) artists from Ajna Dance Company are also on hand from noon to 3pm.

Several activations tie into Lizania Cruz's Ecologies of Care, an interactive kiosk on view through November 15. At 1pm, Nick Nyhan of The City Sponge Blog leads a walking conversation on flood resilience, native plantings and the shoreline restoration. At 2:30pm, poet Tamra Cosby and participants from HANAC Astoria share poems inspired by the installation.

Flying Leap performs The Garden, an interactive show for children aged 0 to 5 and their families, at 12:30pm and 2pm. A community resource fair runs noon to 3pm with the Department of Mental Health and Hygiene, the Greater Astoria Historical Society and Growing Up Green Charter School, plus a Halloween costume swap.

Two contests round out the afternoon. The pumpkin carving contest runs noon to 2pm with limited slots, and children must be supervised. The dog costume contest, co-hosted with Chateau le Woof and described as New York's second-largest, runs 3 to 5pm with three prizes. Dog registration opens at 1pm at the Chateau le Woof table.

Food comes from the Planted Culture Vegan Food Market: Halloween Edition, curated by Erica Muñoz, from noon to 5pm. Listed vendors include Madrina Vegana (Mexican), RastaRant (Jamaican), Mama's Pearl Kitchen (soul food), Vegan Bites Dessert and Freakin Vegan, among others.