Anyone who thinks the best part of a football game is the halftime presentation should hotfoot it over to the Vero Beach High School Citrus Bowl for the 41st Annual Crown Jewel Marching Band Festival on this Saturday, Oct. 8. First held in 1982, the Crown Jewel, sponsored by the Vero Beach High School Band and the Fighting Indians Band Boosters, is now one of Florida’s longest running high school marching band festivals. Competition is fierce, as some 20 Florida bands, competing in five classifications, vie for awards. They are judged by high school and college band directors, in categories including percussion, color guard, music, general effect and visual, ultimately vying for the Sheila Knight Sammons Memorial Award for Overall Best Band award. As the host band, the Fighting Indians Marching Band will not compete, but will perform an exhibition. Gates open at 2:15 p.m., and competition begins at 3 p.m. Adult tickets are $14, and $6 for ages 6 to 18. Tickets available at the entrance and online. For more information, visit CrownJewelVB.com.
Prepare to be scared! Members of the GFWC Sebastian River Junior Woman’s Club will target your fears and cause chills to run down your spine at their 42nd annual Haunted House: Terror on Main Street. The Sebastian United Methodist Church provides a vacant field across from the church and volunteers construct the spectacularly scary setting entirely from scratch, from the frights, with occasional interaction by performers, to the creepy claustrophobia of the maze-like structure. The Haunted House supports their community programs and activities throughout the year. Organizers suggest that children should be ages 8 or older; little ones will be kept busy while their siblings go through. Unsure older children can be given “wimpy sticks” to give performers a heads-up for a toned-down version. The Haunted House, 1036 Main St., opens at 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 8-9, Oct. 15-16, Oct. 21-23 and Oct. 28-31. Admission for all ages is $10. For more information, visit SebastianHauntedHouse.org.
The Best of the Best Annual Juried Fine Art Exhibition opens the 62nd season of the A. E. Backus Museum and Gallery, showcasing works by amateur and professional artists. It runs from Oct. 8 to Nov. 18. Artists submit their best pieces to be accepted in this fine art competition in categories that include oil/acrylic, watercolor, three-dimensional and varied techniques such as mixed media, pastel, graphite, pen & ink, printmaking, graphics, collage, or computer-generated imagery. An independent jury panel of art professionals judges works on artistic merit, quality and craftsmanship, creative success and presentation, with prizes awarded in each category plus an overall Best of Show award and, at the conclusion of the exhibition, a special People’s Choice award. For more information, visit BackusMuseum.org.
James Balog, world renowned photographer, scientist and founder of the Colorado-based Extreme Ice Survey and Earth Vision Institute, returns to Vero with an exhibit at the Vero Beach Museum of Art titled Changing Nature: A New Vision. The photographic exhibit which “describes the ancient cyclical patterns of the earth’s life forms and the impact of human activity on those forms and cycles,” runs from Oct. 9 to Dec. 31 in the Holmes and Titelman Galleries. Co-organized by the museum with the Foundation for the Exhibition of Photography, the exhibit is divided into four sections — Survivors, Transformation, Combustion and Extraction. It reflects four decades of his photographic projects, revealing “nature’s dazzling beauty as well as its capacity for destruction.” A coordinated VBMA Film Studies, “Hidden Nature: Awesome Lessons of People Embracing Life on Our Planet,” will be presented from Oct. 11 to Nov. 8. That series opens with Balog’s extraordinary film “Chasing Ice” (2012), which documents the effects of climate change on the world’s glaciers. For more information, visit VBMuseum.org or 772-231-0707.
There is an old quip that the two happiest days of a boat owner’s life are the day they buy the boat and the day they sell it. You can do both at the Treasure Coast Marine Flea Market and Boat Show taking place from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Oct. 8-9 at the Indian River Fairgrounds, which features all things nautical, from all the necessary gear to new and used boats. The show is held in conjunction with the Treasure Coast Seafood Festival, which also offers art and crafts. Admission is $10 for adults; ages 12 and under are free. On Sunday there will be a Vero Beach Cornhole Tournament starting at noon. Cost is $35 per team in advance and $45 at the door (includes admission). For more information, visit flnauticalfleamarket.com or treasurecoastseafoodfest.com.
