Save the date for Whitefish Bay's favorite fall tradition -The Great Pumpkin Festival. Read below for new details on the Whitefish Bay Civic Foundation's annual autumn event.

Dates: Wednesday, October 27, to Saturday, October 30, 2021, 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. nightly. Sunday, October 31, 2021, there will be a lighted display only from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. with no activities.

Please note: There will be no carving of pumpkins on site.

Locale: Old School House Park (5240 N. Marlborough)

Details: Help decorate Whitefish Bay's iconic park with carved pumpkins during this festive, fall tradition! Beginning Saturday, October 23, drive up to our convenient, self-service pumpkin pick-up on North Idlewild Avenue. Choose your favorite pumpkin from the patch. Next, take your pumpkin home to carve, it's time to be creative! Be sure to include a hole in the bottom, about 3-4 in diameter so it can be lit up. Then, starting Wednesday, October 27, bring your pumpkin back and we will display your creation for all to see! Carved or decorated pumpkins can be dropped off at the same North Idlewild Avenue location. Volunteers will be on-site nightly from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. to prepare the lighted display.

Activities: Enjoy music, food, and drinks nightly while you view the amazing pumpkins decorated and carved by your Whitefish Bay neighbors! Take a stroll through the 'Frightfish Bay' Halloween displays and check out the artistic giant-pumpkins carved by local master carvers:

Visit Whitefish Bay’s own Jack Pandl’s tent for delicious food, sip an adult beverage from Lakefront Brewery at our beer tent (cash and card accepted), and dance the night away to music from local artists. Here’s the music line up:

The October Bay Leaves magazine is now available on the Village website. Stories include:

School Board Appreciation Week is October 3 to 9: This week is Wisconsin School Board Week. We thank our School Board for their hard work, leadership, and dedication to our students' success!

Wisconsin’s 421 public school boards are the essence of representative government. Just as the citizens educated by our public schools form the backbone of our democracy, the boards that govern those schools live out democratic principles every day. Read more.

Save the date! Please help us celebrate the completion of this multi-year collaboration between the Whitefish Bay Garden Club and the Village of Whitefish Bay to restore Silver Spring Park. We will recognize all the partners that helped to create this lovely park featuring native plants that provide habitat for pollinators and retain stormwater so that Lake Michigan will be cleaner. The grand reopening will be on Wednesday, October 6, at 3:30 p.m.

Library Hours for Fall:

Outdoor All Ages Storytime, School House Park: We will be continuing outdoor storytime into September and October, on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10:00 a.m., through October 14. You can learn more about the dates and register on our website.

Virtual All Ages Storytime, Fridays through October 15, 10:00 a.m.: Join one of our youth services librarians for an All Ages Storytime on Fridays at 10:00 a.m. with books, songs, and more! Can't make the live event? We'll be sure to save the storytime so you can watch it later. Visit our Facebook page.

Getting to Know Medicare, Tuesday, October 5, 6:00 p.m.: A workshop designed to simplify Medicare and to help you make a more informed decision on your coverage without all the headaches and confusion. This program will be held in person. If this changes we will notify registrants. Presented by Grutz Financial. Please register.

Grades 6-12: Pick up a Take and Make kit for making your own beaded mask chain. We'll include all the materials you need, as well as instructions. Pick-up begins at 3:30 p.m. at the YS desk.

Outdoor Crafting: Craft Stick Yard Turtles, Wednesday, October 13, 4:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Grades 2-5: Using craft sticks and yarn, we'll make some adorable turtles! Weather permitting. Registration is required.

Rabies is a viral disease affecting the central nervous system. The rabies virus is transmitted from infected mammals to humans (typically via a bite) and is invariably fatal once symptoms appear. Human rabies is now rare in the United States, but still occurs frequently in many developing nations. The last four cases of human rabies in Wisconsin occurred in 1959, 2000, 2004 and 2010. All four Wisconsin cases acquired the disease from infected bats.

If you are bitten by any animal, immediately clean the animal bite or scratch wounds with liberal amounts of soap and water for 10-15 minutes. If the bite was by a species of concern, including a dog, cat, bat, ferret, raccoon, fox, or skunk, it is important to notify your local health department. The North Shore Health Department follows up on animal bites that occur in the North Shore. Call us at 414-371-2980 to report a bite. Notifying ensures that the biting animal is appropriately and legally observed or tested for rabies. It is also vital not to release or destroy a biting animal until a public health official or an animal control officer is consulted. You should also promptly notify your physician if a bite occurs. In most instances, observation or testing of the biting animal will rule out the possibility of rabies and will therefore eliminate any need for the bite victim to undergo the series of injections. If circumstances of the exposure warrant it, however, a physician will administer preventive medications (called post-exposure prophylaxis) to the bite victim.

Exposures to bats are worrisome because some people with very minor exposures to bats have contracted rabies. If there has been any possibility of physical contact with a bat, even without a known bite, the animal should be safely captured and held until a public health official or a physician can be consulted.

How to Prevent Rabies - Exposure to rabies may be minimized by the following measures:

More information is available on the WI DHS website: dhs.wisconsin.gov/rabies and CDC website: cdc.gov/rabies.