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The Swedish Music & Sick Fraternity started a new Halloween tradition Saturday in Stillman Valley when its trunk-or-treat featured a giant pumpkin named Poppy that carver Lincoln Bias decorated and dropped from a crane 55 feet above the crowd.

Organizers said the event relied on area professional pumpkin growers.

Belvidere’s Funderburg House is the main setting for One Night At Slumber Mansion, a short film that will screen at 7 p.m. Nov.

5 at the Music Box Theatre during the Best of Chicago showcase and compete for festival awards.

Families brought leftover Halloween pumpkins to the Discovery Center Museum (711 N.

Main St.) on Sunday, Nov. 1, where a trebuchet launched them and the smashed pumpkins were donated to a farm for animal feed as staff explained the physics behind the launch.

The Illinois Department of Public Health is urging residents to get seasonal immunizations now (flu, COVID-19, RSV) as respiratory illnesses begin rising; shots can be given together and are available at the Winnebago County Health Department and other local providers.

Attendees made their own terrariums at Rock Valley Garden Center's hands-on workshop on Sunday, Nov.

1, where instructors guided plant selection and step-by-step assembly. The garden center will offer more weekly workshops through early Dec.

The Illinois 2026 Report Card shows Rockford Public Schools posted literacy gains and graduation rates rose from 77% to 81%, while math proficiency increased just 1%.

Superintendent Larry Huff noted Brookview earned a (Governor’s Blue-Ribbon), Marshall Middle ranked the state's top middle school, about 200 more students are in dual credit, and 39 earned the Seal of Biliteracy.

Trunk-or-treats drew more families this Halloween as organizers cited safety and neighborhood connections, and Cornerstone Baptist says its event grew from about 50 people to roughly 750 since it began (about 20 years ago).

The Winnebago County Sheriff’s Office announced Saturday that K-9 Quatro died after a sudden medical condition, and deputies held a law enforcement procession Saturday evening from the Animal Emergency Clinic on Spring Creek Road to the Coroner’s Office (Quatro joined the force in Sept. 2021).