Fond du Lac can't-miss events include Halloween concert, Thelma Arts Gala and Bears hockey

Mara Wegner, Fond du Lac Reporter
·4 min read

FOND DU LAC — The Ripon College Symphonic Wind Ensemble will host a free Halloween concert that includes costumes and trick-or-treating.

Other events in Fond du Lac County include the Thelma Arts Gala, a talk by a Harvard professor and a Bears hockey game.

Here are five can’t-miss events happening in the community this week.

1. Symphonic Wind Ensemble hosts Halloween concert

Assistant Professor of Music at Ripon College, Dr. Tobin Shucha, will lead the Ripon College Symphonic Wind Ensemble for a Halloween concert on Oct. 29.
Assistant Professor of Music at Ripon College, Dr. Tobin Shucha, will lead the Ripon College Symphonic Wind Ensemble for a Halloween concert on Oct. 29.

A Halloween concert, complete with costumes and trick-or-treating, will be presented Oct. 29 by the Ripon College Symphonic Wind Ensemble at the college. It is free and open to the public.

The event begins at 3:15 p.m. in Demmer Recital Hall, C.J. Rodman Center for the Arts. It includes a viewing of the world’s first horror movie, “The Haunted Castle” (1896). This short feature is more comical than frightening for today’s audiences, but concerned parents of younger children can pre-screen the movie online by searching “haunted castle 1896.”

Attendees are invited to wear family-appropriate costumes.

The director, Assistant Professor of Music Dr. Tobin Shucha, will lead the ensemble in “spooky” works including “Mars” from “The Planets,” by Gustav Holst; a medley from “The Phantom of the Opera,” by Andrew Lloyd Webber; “Hocus Pocus,” by James Syler; “Incantation and Dance,” by John Barnes Chance; and “Tight Squeeze,” by Alex Shapiro.

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2. Thelma Arts Gala includes auction, food and drink

Thelma Sadoff Center for the Arts’ 22nd annual fundraising event, “Thelma Arts Gala,” will be Oct. 26. It is set to run 5 to 9 p.m. at the center, 51 Sheboygan St., Fond du Lac.

The evening includes food, drinks and auction items to bid on. The Advocate of the Arts Award, honoring an individual whose contributions have enriched the local cultural community, will be honored.

Admission is $125 per person at thelmaarts.org.

3. Harvard professor to speak at Ripon College

Harvard University Professor Mathias Risse will talk about his new book, “Political Theory of the Digital Age: Where Artificial Intelligence May Take Us” during a presentation a Ripon College.
Harvard University Professor Mathias Risse will talk about his new book, “Political Theory of the Digital Age: Where Artificial Intelligence May Take Us” during a presentation a Ripon College.

Ripon College’s Center for Politics and the People will host Harvard University Professor Mathias Risse at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 26 in Kresge Little Theatre, East Hall, on the campus. He will talk about his new book, “Political Theory of the Digital Age: Where Artificial Intelligence May Take Us.”

Admission is free and the talk is open to the public.

Risse is a native of Westphalia, Germany, and received a Ph.D. from Princeton in 2000. He taught at Yale University before moving to Harvard in 2002 and is now the Berthold Beitz Professor in Human Rights, Global Affairs and Philosophy. He has written several books.

His work primarily consists of questions of ethics, decision theory and 19th-century German philosophy, revolving around issues with global justice ranging from immigration to climate change, obligations of future technology to future generations, human rights, inequity and taxation.

4. Fond du Lac Bears hockey team to face Ice Dogs Oct. 28

The second-oldest amateur hockey team in the nation is set to take to the ice Oct. 28. At 8 p.m., the Fond du Lac Bears will face the Fox Cities Ice Dogs at the Blue Line Family Ice Center, 550 Fond du Lac Ave., Fond du Lac.

The Bears are a full-check hockey team in the Great Lakes Hockey league — one of the last full-check leagues in the country.

Tickets are $8 per person at fonddulacbears.com.

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5. Outdoor showing of 'Grease' Oct. 28 is a sing-along

The outdoor movie screening of “Grease,” originally scheduled as part of Septemberfest and postponed because of rain, has been rescheduled for Oct. 28 on the Village Green.

Starting at 4 p.m., the Noon Kiwanis Club will host a costume and karaoke party before the film. A "Grease"-themed costume contest will be at 5:15 p.m., with the movie beginning at dusk.

The outdoor movie will be a sing-along, with microphones set up near the screen for audience members to take turns singing.

Seating is on the lawn, so take chairs or blankets. Hot chocolate, apple cider and popcorn will be available for purchase.

Contact Mara Wegner at mwegner@gannett.com or 920-996-7241.

This article originally appeared on Fond du Lac Reporter: Fond du Lac's can't-miss events include Bears hockey, Thelma gala