Hundreds of Jack-O-Lanterns to Light 'Brite Nites'

Each week, we’ll tell you about one great idea to give you a much deserved break, and make your life a little easier, and maybe a whole lot more fun.

This week, remind yourself of some of the wonderful things about Halloween, a magical day on the calendar. Take the whole family and your neighbors, too, to the annual Brite Nites Halloween event at Warren's Wagner Farms Arboretum. With several hundred original jack-o-lanterns on display, a Haunted House (that's not too scary for the young ones), and refreshments, it's becoming a favorite Halloween stop in the area.

Many of the pumpkins — maybe nearly 1,000 — were carved by local students and adults. The grinning gourds will light the pathways along the arboretum.

The arboretum's store will become the Black Hat Cafe featuring balloon art.

The family-friendly Halloween event benefits the Wagner Farm Arboretum, with the goal of raising as much as $30,000 for programs on the site, which include a community garden, a children's garden—where the jack-o-lanterns are on display—as well as numerous art and crafts classes during the year.

Tickets are available online, and at the gate while supplies last, and cost $7 for seniors and kids 4 to 14; and $10 for adults. Children 3 years and younger are free. Because the paths are not paved, strollers are not permitted. Gates open at 7 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights.

To get to Brite Nites, take the Mountain Avenue exit from King George Road just south of Route 78. However, Mountain Avenue no longer is closed east of Wagner Farms for a bridge construction project.