The Troy Public Library is inviting children through the age of 11 to participate in a Spellbound Evening from 6 until 8 p.m. Saturday.

Teresa Colvin, children’s librarian, said the Spellbound Evening is a prelude to Halloween and will be an evening of delightful, slightly scary stories.

“We have a fun evening planned for the children in two age groups,” Colvin said. “The younger group will be up to age five and the other group, ages six to 11. We can promise a full-filled evening that will leave the children, ‘spellbound.’”

The younger group will be treated to games and activities including Monster Storytime.

“The children can participate in the Moon Walk and Pumpkin Walk and win Halloween Beanie Babies to take home,” Colvin said. “They can win prizes in the Witch Pitch and toss bags into the Witch’s Hat. Candy Corn bowling should be a favorite activity and they can ‘Spin’ for prizes, too.”

The older kids will be led into a dark room – a glow in the dark room – where they will participate in glow in the dark activities.

“Alien Bowling will be a real challenge, as will target shooting in the dark,” Colvin said. “And imagine playing miniature golf in a glow in the dark room. It will all be a lot of fun.”

And, what’s a Halloween party without a costume contest.

“We’ll have a costume contest for each age group,” Colvin said. “Prizes will be given for the funniest, the best and the scariest costumes so we encourage all the kids to come in costume and participate in the contest.”

When the wolf howls and the Spellbound Evening begins to wind down, the older group will whack away at the Frankenstein piñata and, when it breaks, Colvin said candy will fly like bats leaving the belfry.

“The small kids will participate in a Candy Grab and take home all the candy they can grab with one hand,” Colvin said. “Saturday night will be a Spellbound Evening and all children through age 11 are invited to join the fun.”

The Candy Pumpkin Contest underway at the Troy Public Library will run until Halloween when the one who guessed closest to the number of candy pumpkins in the jar will be announced and take home the prize.