Pumpkin patches, improv and Cowtown Opera: Calgary entertainment this weekend

Now that the snow has all melted, it feels like fall again, just in time for the first weekend of October. The Calgary Homestretch's Ellis Choe has a menu of entertainment options for some great October activities. 

Pumpkin palooza

First up, the perfect fall activity, hitting the pumpkin patch for that perfect gourd. Starting this Saturday, there are a number of places you can go to make a day of it.

Cobb's Adventure Park kicks off its Pumpkin Palooza this Saturday. Head east on the Trans-Canada Highway just past the community of Pineridge to check out their pumpkin patch. Cobb's is open weekends 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

Then there's the Autumn Pumpkin Festival at Calgary Farmyard, which boasts the biggest corn maze in Alberta. They have face painting, pig races, a corn maze, petting zoo, zip lines and, of course, pumpkins. That goes all month every weekend, Oct. 5 through Oct. 27.  

And then there's the Adults-only Date Night at Butterfield Acres. It involves a wagon ride to the pumpkin patch for some pumpkin carving, and ends with hot chocolate and s'mores around a campfire. Apparently this date night is really popular — it sold out last year. So get your tickets early (Note: they're available only online, and they're $19.99). Go to butterfieldacres.com and follow the links. 

The Kinkonauts

If you're an improv fan, The Kinkonauts kicks off their 13th season of improv theatre this Saturday night with a radio play, a one-night-only show called Conflict of the Cosmos. We can't tell you too much about it because once the improv theatre hits the stage, the rest will be made up on the spot with the help of audience suggestions. Nicole Zylstra is one of the Kinkonauts and director of this show.

"Conflict of the Cosmos is a not-so-subtle play on The War of the Worlds," she said of the 1938 Orson Welles radio play (based on the H.G. Wells novel), in which the word is under attacked by aliens. 

"So what we're doing is an improvised version where again the Earth is under threat," she said.

"We're inspired by that format of the live newscast. We're doing it as a radio play, as a tribute to that original story and because our radio play team last Christmas did an improvised radio play based on It's A Wonderful Life called It's an OK Life Considering, and that was so much fun. That was so much fun that we decided to adapt the format for other types of stories."

Conflict of the Cosmos will be performed Saturday at 8 p.m., at the Alexandra Centre in Inglewood.

Cowtown Opera

Another troupe that's kicking off its 2019-2020 season is Cowtown Opera. The company opens its season with the Canadian premiere of Who Killed Don Giovanni? It's a twist on Mozart's famous opera based on the legendary womanizing character, Don Giovanni.  

"It's music of course, by Mozart. But we put a modern spin on it," said Michelle Minke, the founder and artistic director of Cowtown Opera. 

"It is a murder mystery. It's kind of like a humorous twist and all in modern English, so we're trying to figure out who actually did kill Don Giovanni. Did somebody kill him and take us on a whirlwind — you know putting a new context on this great show. Don Giovanni is one of history's most famous womanizers. So it's kind of enjoyable to see the defeat of him, that's for sure, especially in today's movement. But he's definitely a modern-day Casanova."

Who Killed Don Giovanni? opens Friday at 7:30 p.m., followed by two shows on Saturday and two shows on Sunday at cSpace King Edward. 

Cheech and Chong

Comedy duo Cheech and Chong are on what they call their O Cannabis Tour, to celebrate the recent legalization of recreational marijuana in Canada. Cheech Marin is 73 and Tommy Chong is 81 now, and they're still going strong with this all new show "featuring 50 years of stories, skits and songs."

It's their first ever cross-Canada tour, and the Calgary show takes place Friday at 8 p.m. at the Jubilee Auditorium.

Live music in Calgary

Pavlo is an internationally renowned, award-winning guitarist from Toronto, known for his Mediterranean music. He has performed for Prince Charles, worked with The Tenors and Oscar Lopez, and he's coming to Bella Concert Hall this Saturday night.

If you love the blues, you may want to head over to Arts Commons Friday or Saturday night to see Jontavious Willis — he's hailed as an American blues prodigy. 

Also, The Real Sickies, a fun, pop punk rock band from Edmonton, plays in Calgary Friday night at Broken City.