FRIDAY, OCT. 28, 2011 >>>

1. Walking the line between sanity and madness - or pretending to do so - helps give Halloween its juice. Stripping that path down to historical storytelling heightens the experience in ways that slasher movies can't, because written words conjure up images unique to each individual's cranium. The scare becomes customized. That's the approach taken by The Fort Nisqually Foundation as it celebrates Halloween in the style of past centuries by telling ghost stories around a roaring bonfire from 7-9 p.m. tonight and tomorrow. Once again held inside the walls of Fort Nisqually Living History Museum, "Bonfires, Beaver Pelts & Bogeymen" will send shivers down your spine as storytellers bring forth the spirits of the fur trade.

2. Nancy Fullerton, assistant curator of Latin American Art from the San Antonio Museum of Art, convinced the folks at the Tacoma Art Museum to let the public have a sneak peak of the new exhibition, Folk Treasures of Mexico: The Nelson A. Rockefeller Collection from the San Antonio Museum of Art. The terms of the agreement forces Fullerton to lead a 10:30 a.m. tour of the exhibit and something about a private margarita party. We'll investigate the margarita thing.

3. Orca Books in Olympia welcomes poet Linda Back McKay and photographer Lenny Zimmerman at 7 p.m. to celebrate the release of their new book, The Next Best Thing. McKay is a Minneapolis poet, writer and teaching artist with the Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis, Minn. Zimmerman is an artist and photographer living in Puyallup.

4. Lynn Di Nino has organized another TRIPOD Slide Show inside Madera Architectural Elements in downtown Tacoma. At 7 p.m. Marse Lear, Peter Serko and Kristin Giordano will show their photographic wonders under the theme, "Landscapes For Interior Transformation." Grab a gist of the TRIPOD series here.

5. Doing its part to keep Fircrest's Halloween celebrants from choking on family-friendly pabulum, Wheelz Skate Arena will fill its rink with chainsaw exhaust, dry ice and rock music. Beginning at 8 p.m. the skating complex hosts an all-ages extravaganza of assaultive after-hours entertainment, an invitation for the morbidly curious to skate to the musical stylings of Argonaut, The Fun Police, The Plastards, Verlee For Ransom, as well as DJs Klik and Travis Bakers on the ones and twos. Warning: If Plastards singer Bill becomes enthusiastic with a chainsaw, sit up and take notice.

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the South Sound

LINK: Movies open today!