Volunteers are needed to help with events at Macungie Memorial Park. The park is self-supporting and depends on events and donations to operate. Refreshment stand help is needed for upcoming park events. Volunteers do not need to be Macungie residents. For more information, call Diane at 610-967-1531.

Grace Lutheran Church, 28 W. Main St., Macungie, will hold an Apple Harvest Festival 1-4 p.m. Oct. 7. The festival will include food and drinks, games, face painting, cakewalks, apple pie, ice cream, a basket raffle and other fun activities. Donate one nonperishable food item to receive one free raffle ticket. For more information, visit www.gracemacungie.org or call 610-966-3325.

Grace Lutheran Church, 28 W. Main St., will offer a free community meal 4-5:30 p.m. Oct. 13 in the fellowship hall. Takeout is available.

Grace Lutheran Church holds a weekly free food distribution 2-4 p.m. every Wednesday, Oct. 4, 11, 18 and 25 for East Penn School District residents. Signs will be posted with directions for parking and pickup.

The Macungie Institute will continue to offer free weekly Pinochle and Mahjong on Wednesdays through 2023. Pinochle is 10 a.m. to noon and Mahjong is 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Other events include book club, Halloween cookie decorating, a photo contest, wine and cheese tasting, a Christmas bus trip to Sight and Sound and a Christmas toy drive. For more information, go to www.macungieinstitute.com.

The Macungie Farmers Market is open 4-7 p.m. or until dark every Thursday through October on Lumber Street, just off Main Street, Macungie.

There will be Food Truck Wednesday In The Park 4-8 p.m. Oct. 11, 18 and 25 in Macungie Memorial Park.

Lower Lehigh AARP will meet noon Oct. 12 in the lower level of Macungie Memorial Hall at Macungie Memorial Park. Dues will be collected; bring both cards. Tickets are now available for the Dec. 14 Christmas party. The next meeting will be Nov. 2. For more information, contact Dot at 610-967-3284.

There will be a cruise night 3 p.m. Oct. 21 at Macungie Memorial Park. Vehicles will start arriving 2 p.m. The DJ starts 4 p.m. For more information, call 610-966-4289.

The Autumn Mineralfest will be held 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Oct. 7 at Macungie Memorial Park, rain or shine. There will be dealers and tables of minerals, fossils, gems, geodes, crystals and more. There will also be hands-on lessons in gold panning and sluicing. Food will be available. For more information, call 610-966-4289 or go to www.mineralfest.com.

The Church of the Good Shepherd UCC, 235 E. Penn Ave., Alburtis, will hold its fall craft and vendor sale 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Oct. 14. There will be crafts, attic treasures, a gift basket auction, bake sale and good food.

Barktoberfest Pet Fair will be held 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Oct. 14 at Macungie Memorial Park. There will be a pet blessing service 12:30 p.m. There will be training demos, dog and cat rescues, vendors, pet groomers and sitters and more.

Forks of the Delaware Bottle Collectors Association will hold its 49th annual bottle and antique show and sale 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Oct. 21 at Macungie Memorial Park Hall.

The Macungie Minstrelaires present, “A British Invasion” 7 p.m. Oct. 27 and Nov. 3 and 2 and 7 p.m. Oct. 28 and Nov. 4 at Lower Macungie Middle School, 6299 Lower Macungie Road, Macungie. For tickets and information, visit www.macungie-minstrelaires.org. A portion of the proceeds will go to The Kindness Project.

The East Penn Chamber of Commerce and Macungie Memorial Park present the Macungie Halloween Festival and Parade 4-8 p.m. Oct. 29 at Macungie Memorial Park. There is an entry fee per family. There will be kids’ activities, live music, photo opportunities and food trucks. The Halloween parade begins 7:15 p.m. There will be cash prizes.

Trick or treating in the Borough of Macungie will be 6-8 p.m. Oct. 31.

The Alburtis seniors will have a meeting noon Oct. 18 at Church of the Good Shepherd, 135 Quarry Road, Alburtis. There will be a potluck buffet lunch followed by a meeting and bingo. There is a small charge. Bring a covered dish. For more information, call Doris at 610-966-3653.

Macungie borough offices are open to the public 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. For information, call 610-966-2503.

Macungie Borough Council has in-person public meetings at the Macungie Institute. The next meetings will be 7:30 p.m. Oct. 16 and Nov. 6.

Cash bingo is held weekly Saturday evenings at Macungie Memorial Park. Doors open 4:30 p.m. and games begin 6:30 p.m. For more information, call 610-966-4289.

The Macungie Park Board of Directors meeting is 7 p.m. Oct. 31.

For years our backyard nemesis has been baby bunny nests. Our dogs are experts at routing out the nests with tragic results for the babies and emotional trauma for sensitive young children. Finally, the mama bunnies seemed to have learned that our backyard is not a safe haven ... until our two-week vacation this summer.

Apparently the bunnies took the lack of activity in our yard as an invitation to re-nest. After finding two dead babies in our yard, we finally located the nest. I cornered a baby and picked it up to move it somewhere safe. Ben was helping and wanted to pet it before I took it to the front yard.

At this point, the terrified baby leapt out of my hands and went tearing across the yard. Let me tell you, a week-old bunny can really move! I caught it, only to have it escape again and dive under a bush in a corner. The dogs were observers from the back door, in a barking frenzy and desperate to join the action, as I crawled under the bush. I finally caught him and we relocated him and two siblings to a safe area in the front yard. In the end we counted a 50% survival rate as a success in our yard. Welcome back from vacation!

The copy deadline for the Nov. 1 column will be Oct. 26.