Rosetta Stone to have Halloween Bash

Rosetta Stone to have Halloween Bash

YOUNGSTOWN — Rosetta Stone Cafe, 110 W. Federal St., will have an indoor-outdoor Halloween party from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m. Friday. There will be a costume contest with a $250 top prize and cornhole tournaments. The band Redline will perform indoors and these bands will perform outdoors: Grand Fury, Robbie Jay Band, Grey Dealer, Asway from Eden, Denny London, J.D. Eicer and the Goodnights, Gingerspittz and Melva.

Halloween festivities planned at Truck Night

BROOKFIELD — Truck Night at Yankee Lake will have its annual Halloween Bash on Saturday. Gates open at 2 p.m. and the festivities will run late into the night. Hay rides, a large bonfire and a pumpkin cannon that can shoot pumpkins more than 300 feet will be part of the event. There will be a Best-Decorated Truck contest, with the winner getting $100. In addition to these special attractions, Truck Night at Yankee Lake will have its usual participant events, including mud pits, hill climbs, rock crawls and trail rides. The party bus will also be running. Go to trucknight.com for more information.

Author, columnist David Giffels to speak

YOUNGSTOWN — David Giffels, author and columnist at the Akron Beacon Journal, will be the next speaker in the Ytown Reading Series at 7 p.m. Monday at Cedars Cafe on Commerce Street.

Giffels’ books include “All the Way Home: Building a Family in a Falling-down House,” a memoir about coming of age as a father in a ramshackle mansion. He is also the co-author of two other books: “Are We Not Men? We Are Devo!” and “Wheels of Fortune: The Story of Rubber in Akron.”

Giffels’ writing has also appeared in the New York Times Magazine and he is a contributing commentator and essayist on National Public Radio station WKSU in Kent. He has won dozens of journalism awards, including the 2006 national award for commentary from the American Association of Sunday and Feature Editors.

The Ytown Reading Series was started last month by Christopher Barzak, a novelist and Youngstown State University professor, as a gathering of the literary community. It is the first Monday of the month during the school year. Admission is free, and attendees can bring samples of their own writing to read after Giffels’ address. For more information, e-mail Barzak at cmbarzak@ysu.edu.