Halloween lands on a Saturday this year, and Long Island's towns have built a full weekend around it. Friday belongs to two of the island's stranger traditions, a lantern-lit ghost parade in Oyster Bay and a costume dance party inside a former Sag Harbor church. Saturday brings a parade revival in Southampton, a downtown festival in Glen Cove and a drive-it-yourself map of Long Beach's most decorated houses. Sunday, the shelter dogs of Brookhaven throw a party, more than 180 restaurants drop their prices for a week, and everyone gets an extra hour of sleep. Here is the weekend, day by day.

Friday: ghosts in Oyster Bay, costumes in Sag Harbor

On the night before Halloween, Raynham Hall Museum leads its annual Halloween Ghost Walk and Dance Party through downtown Oyster Bay, Friday, October 30, from 6 to 8:30 p.m. The parade gathers at Oyster Bay High School at 150 East Main Street, with costumes, children, dogs, lanterns and noisemakers all welcome, and the museum's oversized ghost puppets traveling the route on volunteer shoulders. The night ends with a DJ dance party at the Derby-Hall bandstand in Townsend Park, with food and drink for sale from local vendors. Later that evening, from 7:30 to 9 p.m., the museum hosts Tarot and Tales: A Night with the Spirits inside the historic house itself.

Out east the same night, The Church, Bay Street Theater and Sag Harbor Cinema hold Spooky-Palooza, their third annual joint Halloween costume dance party, at The Church, 48 Madison Street in Sag Harbor, from 6 to 9 p.m. The evening runs on music from DJ Henry Eau, complimentary food tables, a cash bar and, new this year, a costume contest with a grand prize. Proceeds are split among the three arts organizations. Bay Street follows up on Saturday with spooky story readings at 12:30 p.m. and a Rocky Horror Picture Show screening at 8 p.m.

Saturday is Halloween: Southampton's Ragamuffin returns, Glen Cove parties downtown

Southampton Village brings back its Ragamuffin Parade on Saturday, October 31, seven years after the last one marched in 2019. Children 12 and under step off in costume at 9:30 a.m. from Shippy's at 36 Windmill Lane and walk a route through the village, with more than 75 businesses and organizations handing out treats along the way. The route ends at the restored Southampton Playhouse at 43 Hill Street, where a costume contest begins at noon, judged by a panel that includes the mayor and the police chief. A trunk-or-treat follows at Southampton Elementary School at 2 p.m., and Elm Street closes to traffic for an evening of trick-or-treating.

In Glen Cove, the Downtown Business Improvement District holds its Halloween Parade and Festival from 1 to 3:30 p.m., centered on Village Square. The children's parade steps off from the Staples parking lot at Highland Road and School Street, no sign-up needed, and the festival brings pony rides, bounce houses, games, a live DJ and trick-or-treating at participating downtown businesses, all free. A judged costume contest for children 12 and under starts at 2:30 p.m., with free registration through the BID closing at 2 p.m. that day. Parking is free in the Brewster Street and Pulaski Street garages.

After dark, Long Beach offers the lazier pleasure. The city's Halloween Decorated House Digital Map, now in its seventh year, plots 31 resident-registered addresses of the most decorated homes and storefronts in town. The map is posted on the city's website along with printable lists, tours are self-guided, and there are no judges and no prizes, just houses worth driving past. It runs through Halloween night.

Sunday: BarkFest, and Restaurant Week begins

On Sunday, November 1, the Town of Brookhaven turns its animal shelter into a fall festival. BarkFest runs from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Brookhaven Animal Shelter, 300 Horseblock Road, where more than 100 dogs are currently waiting for homes. Visitors can meet the adoptable dogs and cats, talk through the adoption process with staff, and take in a radio station on site, free raffles, a door prize and family activities. Admission is free, and nobody has to arrive intending to adopt.

Sunday is also opening day for the fall edition of Long Island Restaurant Week, which runs November 1 through 8 across Nassau and Suffolk. Participating restaurants, more than 180 of them, offer three-course prix fixe dinners at $30, $40 or $48 per person, with some adding a $25 two-course lunch. The deal runs all evening every night except Saturday, when it ends at 7 p.m. There are no tickets: diners book directly with the restaurant and order from the restaurant week menu. The promotion has run every fall since 2006.

Still time for a hayride

White Post Farms in Melville runs its fall farm festival through the weekend, with hayrides scheduled October 30, October 31 and November 1, weather permitting, included with admission. Pumpkin picking continues at 69 cents a pound while supplies last.

One more date to keep: clocks fall back an hour early Sunday morning, so the extra candy can be slept off. Check each organizer's page before heading out, since weather can move outdoor events, and Glen Cove has already named November 7 as its rain date.

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