The air is crisp. The skies are clear. The crowds have thinned, but certainly not disappeared, and there is no October like a Cape May October. For one thing, we have what no one else has (we think) Victorian Week (Oct.6-Oct.15). This 10-day extravaganza is now in its 34^th year and pays homage to all things Victorian, which in a town that achieved its National Historic Landmark status based on Victorian architecture – is a good thing. Another thing we do really well is put on a good bird show, appropriately called The Bird Show (Oct. 27-29). And Halloween? Nothing celebrates small town life like our Halloween parade and trick-or-treat-on-the-mall. But let’s start at the beginning.

 Victorian Week is Cape May’s last hoorah before we settle down for a long winter’s nap and we do it up in high fashion. From concerts to lectures to fashion shows and tea dances, the Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts, (MAC) which sponsors this 19^th century fest sees to it that your days are filled with all things Victorian. Victorian Week begins Friday, Oct. 6 at 7 p.m. with a Temperance Tantrums Dinner at the Inn of Cape May. In this mock temperance rally, members of the Eternal Sword Temperance Union demand that Dr. Physick and his dinner companions foreswear intoxicants and join the cause. Enjoy music, comedy, and a tipple or two.

 Vintage Dance Weekend begins Saturday, Oct. 7 with Vintage Dance Workshops.  From 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., instructor Patri Pugliese will teach participants to do the schottische, the waltz, the Virginia reel and other dances of the 19th century. That’s just a prelude to the Vintage Ball, 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 7 at Cape May Convention Hall. Guests will kick up their heels to live music of the era, with the band Spare Parts. Victorian dress is strongly encouraged. On Sunday, Oct. 8, the dancing continues at an elegant Tea Dance, 2 p.m. at the Chalfonte Hotel, 301 Howard St. Attend all three Vintage Dance Weekend events for just $75.

 Our theater scene is still strong and ties right in with the Victorian theme. Mayhem is added to the menu with Murder Mystery Dinners, 7 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday, Oct. 8-11, at the Chalfonte Hotel. This year’s melodrama, Bad Medicine with the Impromptu Players, centers on mysterious deaths at a Victorian resort, and invites diners to help uncover the culprit.

 Cape May’s two Equity theaters will also get into the act during Victorian Week. Cape May Stage will present The Woman in Black, Stephen Mallatratt’s hit Gothic thriller. Performances are 8 p.m. Oct. 6-8 and Oct. 11-14. East Lynne Theater Company will present Jesse Lynch Williams’ Why Marry?, recipient of the first Pulitzer Prize awarded for playwriting, is a delightful comedy exploring marriage versus cohabitation, 8 p.m. Oct. 6-7 and Oct. 11-14.

 Food is celebrated throughout the month of October beginning with a Champagne Brunch Walk on Sundays. You combine a leisurely stroll through town with brunch at the Magnolia Room at the Chalfonte Hotel. Or choose instead or even in addition, the Gourmet Brunch Walk, Wednesday, Oct. 11 at 10 a.m., which ends at the Mad Batter Restaurant on Jackson Street.

 And speaking of the Mad Batter, why not celebrate Oktoberfest in Cape May with a German Beer Dinner at the Mad Batter Restaurant. October is the ideal month for hearty German food and drink. The Mad Batter will offer a four-course German Beer Dinner, with a different beer paired to each course, on Friday, Oct. 20 at 7:30 p.m. Imagine Feinschmeckerrole! Imagine it, we can’t even pronounce it. But for the initiated, it is a rich dish of veal scallops rolled with prosciutto, sage, hazelnuts and chanterelles, served with red onion sauerkraut and butter herbed noodles. Mmmm. But wait. That’s not all. What’s a German dinner with a German Chocolate Cake? Book early, these food events sell out pretty quickly. The banquet will end with a dessert of German Chocolate Cake. The event is sponsored by the MAC as is the Chocolate Fantasy Buffet. This all-dessert buffet at the Washington Inn encourages you to indulge the inner chocolate addict in you. Hosted by pastry chefs Kathleen Cressman and Jeff Marshall, the Chocolate Fantasy Buffet is 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 15 and REALLY does sell out early.

 Don’t forget to put lima beans on the must have list when you visit Cape May this month. There’s just nothing better than the taste of lima beans in the morning and that’s just what you’ll get a sampling of when you pop on over to West Cape May’s Lima Bean Festival (Oct. 7 with an Oct. 8 rain date), which celebrates West Cape May’s farming roots. At one time this little borough was the Lima Bean Capital of the World. Held at the Wilbraham Park, the festival culminates with the crowning of the Lima Bean King and Queen and promises to give you gas – wait a minute, we read that wrong -  promises to be a gas.

 One thing a small town can really do is let parents breathe easy and relax at times like Halloween beginning with Historic Cold Spring Village’s (HCSV) 15^th Annual Pumpkin Festival, Oct. 21 (rain date Oct. 22). Sponsored by the Lower Twp. Rotary Club Recreation Dept., it’s an old fashioned gathering of crafters, food, and family fun. The highlight is, of course, the Halloween Parade at noon. Canned food donations are gratefully accepted. Admission is free.

 Cape May’s traditional Halloween Parade (Oct. 22) gets bigger and better every year. Registration to enter your child (or yourself) in the parade is at 1:30 p.m. at the Bandstand in Rotary Park on Lyle lane (behind the mall). The parade begins at 3 p.m. and ends an hour later with a Halloween party at the Physick Estate on Washington Street.

 The following Sunday, Oct. 29, from 2-5 p.m. is Trick-or-Treat-On-the-Mall. Sponsored by the Washington Street Mall Merchants Association, last year was the first time for this event and it was HUGELY successful. Everybody ran out of candy and no one expected such a turn out. Hint: Don’t wait until 4 o’clock to drag your kids out. Participating merchants on the Washington Street Mall will have a sticker in their window or door letting parents know which stores are trick-or-treating friendly.

 Never fear, we have plenty of adult-fun Halloween activities as well. On Friday, Oct. 13, ghost writer and psychic medium Craig McManus will host The Ghosts of the Physick Estate Tour & Lunch, a tour of the Physick Estate, accompanied by lunch at the Carriage House Tearoom & Café. Tours are at 11:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.; luncheon at 1 p.m. Later that evening, McManus hosts the “So You Think You Have A Ghost?” Dinner & Lecture, 7 p.m. at the Inn of Cape May, 7 Ocean St.

 And if you feel like stretching your legs, by all means drop over to the
Boo-tique on Beach Avenue in the lower level of the Hotel Macomber for tickets to the Haunted Cape May Tour. Now in its 11^th year and voted on our website as Best Cape May Haunted Tour, the 90-minute stroll boasts “No folklore, no fairy tales, no fantasies, only true tales of haunting phenomena as researched by paranormal investigator” Al Rauber. If you’re coming from out of town, you may want to call 609-884-4202 or visit www.hauntedcapemay.com for reservations.

 Saturday, Oct. 28^th is your chance to be someone else. All the local ghouls of Cape May will be roaming the streets. Many will end up at Congress Hall’s Phantom Ball. Great food, great prizes and frightening fun in which you too can watch locals spook the daylights out of each other. Celebrate the spookiest night of the year at Congress Hall. For details visit www.congresshallhotel.com. Also that evening is the annual Gables Halloween Party held at the Chalfonte Hotel. For details visit gablescapemay.com/events.html.

 Calling all birders. As many of you already know, Cape May, more specifically Cape May Point, is the migratory birding (and monarch butterfly) Mecca of the world. To celebrate and to initiate new members into this beautiful world, the New Jersey Audubon Society sponsors The Bird Show Oct. 27-29. Special events are held at Convention Hall in Cape May but please, please, please take a bike ride out to Cape May Point State Park (the lighthouse) and go to the bird observation deck where you will get a gander at other birders and get a view of the raptors coming through on their way to their winter homes. In addition, the NJAS sponsors many walks and workshops that weekend. For more information call 609-884-2736 or visit www.njaudubon.org.

 Well, that about raps it up. In between these large events is the Antique Show Oct. 8 at Convention Hall and the VERY popular Chester County Antique Auto Show on the mall Oct. 21 from 10-4.

 That’s all folks and don’t forget, when all else fails – you’ve got the beach and a place where you can watch the sun rise and set over the water.
Until November when we get into high-holiday gear, we bid you adieu.