By Rita Howell
The weekend before Halloween offers a wide array of local activities… some of which have nothing to do with goblins and ghosts.

The South Panola High School Air Force JROTC will host a regional drill competition at the Batesville Civic Center Saturday, beginning at 8 a.m. and lasting until afternoon. The event is free.

Meanwhile on the Batesville Downtown Square morning activities for families are planned at an event billed as the “Scare on the Square.” There will be a walk and costume contest followed by “Trick or Trunk,”  with healthy treats to be handed out by local businesses and clubs.

Registration is 8:30-9 a.m. at City Hall. The walk/costume contest will begin at 9:15. Trick or Trunk will immediately follow.  

The event is sponsored by the Main Street program. Call 563-3126 for information.

Also Saturday morning, at the Factory Stores at Batesville, the annual Denim and Pearls Breast Cancer Awareness Walk will be held. Registration begins at 8 a.m. and the walk starts at 8:45.

Call organizer Carol Knight at 934-8231 for information.

A fall festival will be held for children ages 0-13 at the North Panola High School gym Saturday from 5-8 p.m., with fun, games, a costume contest and more. Admission is $2. Delta Sigma Theta sorority’s Oxford alumnae chapter is sponsoring the event.

Batesville Junior High School will present its Beauty Review Saturday night beginning at 6:30 p.m. in the school auditorium. Admission at the door is $7.

At Cossar Park Halloween activities are planned Saturday from 6 – 10 p.m. There will be a haunted trail, fortune telling, concession stand and cake walk.

The Pope Haunted House is open for business tonight and Saturday night, from dark until the crowd goes home. Admission is $7. The location is 788 Pope-Water Valley Road.

Coles Point Fire Department will have a chili supper Saturday with corn bread and drinks for $5 beginning at 6 p.m. Halloween trick or treating for the kids will be held during the supper.

Panola Playhouse’s production of Little Shop of Horrors continues with performances tonight and Saturday night at 7:30, Sunday afternoon at 2:30 and again on Monday night, Halloween, at 7:30.
Visit their website at panolaplayhouse.com for information and reservations.