Try This: Pumpkin power

The third annual Screaming Pumpkin Derby offers activities for all ages. Participants can craft a race car using a single pumpkin using a variety of materials and compete for top honors. The derby also includes games, crafts, costume contests, photo opportunities and food.

When: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. today.

Where: Serendipity’s Event Center, 4700 St. Johns Road, Vancouver.

Admission: Free, $15 entry fee for pumpkin car.

Telephone: 360-737-2672.

Web: http://screamingpumpkinderby.com.

The pumpkin derby is one of many options for getting out and about this weekend. Others include frights for older kids and a local theater show.

Children’s author stops in Vancouver

Jan Brett’s newest book, “Mossy,” is the tale of a turtle with a garden growing on her shell. Brett is one of America’s best-known children’s authors and Illustrators. She tells stories about the natural world through her highly detailed art. She will sign copies of her book and put on a drawing demonstration.

When: 10 a.m. to noon Sunday.

Where: Barnes & Noble, Vancouver Plaza, 7700 N.E. Fourth Plain Blvd., Vancouver.

Telephone: 360-253-9007

Web: bn.com/events.

Frights and jack-o-lanterns

Pumpkin Patch and Frightland at La Center Farms offers fun activities for the family to explore the 27-acre farm. Visitors can find the perfect pumpkin in the pumpkin patch and wash off pumpkins with an old-fashioned hand pump. Visitors can also climb hay bales, explore a tree maze and shoot potato guns at targets. Or travel through Frightland, a haunted quarter-mile trail through the Haunted Woods, complete with graveyard and village, designed for ages 8 and older.

When: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. today and 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday; Frightland: 7 to 9 tonight.

Where: Pumpkin Patch at La Center Farms, 31215 N.E. 40th Ave., La Center.

Admission: Free, prices vary for pumpkins; Haunted Woods: $4, $3 for children.

Telephone: 360-573-8965.

Web: http://lacenterfarms.com.

A vaudeville hurrah

Audiences can catch the “The Sunshine Boys” before the curtain closes at the Serendipity Playhouse. The story follows aging vaudeville performers Al Lewis and Willy Clark who worked together as “Lewis and Clark” for more than 40 years but never spoke to each other offstage. Clark resented that Lewis wanted to retire and break up the act. When they’re invited to reunite on television for a comedy special, will they be able to put on one last act or will their personalities get in the way?

When: 8 tonight and 2 p.m. Sunday.

Where: Serendipity Playhouse, 500 Washington St., Vancouver.

Admission: $15.

Telephone: 360-834-3588.

Web: http://serendipityplayers.org.

On the case with ‘Alex Cross’

Young homicide detective Alex Cross must use all his skills as an investigator to keep up with a serial killer (Matthew Fox), as the game of cat and mouse turns personal. Cross will be pushed to his limits if he hopes to bring the killer to justice. “Alex Cross” is rated PG-13.

Where: Battle Ground Cinema, 1700 S.W. Ninth Ave., Battle Ground; Cinetopia Mill Plain, 11700 S.E. Seventh St.; Cinetopia Vancouver Mall 23, 8700 N.E. Vancouver Mall Drive; various Regal Cinemas locations.

Admission: Varies by theater.

Telephone: Battle Ground Cinema, 360-666-7200;Cinetopia, 360-213-2800 Cinetopia Vancouver Mall 23, 360-448-4100; Regal Cinemas, 800-326-3264.

Web: http://battlegroundcinema.com, http://cinetopia.com or http://regmovies.com.