Slice of Life: Spooky Season Wrap-Up 2025

The Halloween season is over which means I’m already transitioning over into Christmas mode. I did manage to get out more this Halloween season and check out some local events this year! Though it’s been a particularly warm Autumn season, I’m glad it didn’t rain when I did go to these events and that we’ve been having good crisp Autumn weather (even though it’s mostly been warm). Here are some of my highlights of Halloween/Autumn Season 2025 and how I celebrated throughout the season.

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Blake‘s Cider Mill

Autumn in Michigan isn’t complete with out a trip to the cider mill. And I need to stop by another mill soon before the apple cider season is over. The weather was slightly windy, but thankfully not too cold. I love taking in the calming nature of an apple orchard and it’s slower pace.

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Nightmare On Bagley Pop-Up

This Spooktastic venue is one of the popular Halloween pop-up bars that is popular in the Metro Detroit area. I went with one of my friends who is also a fellow Halloween enthusiast and we were both amazed by how they go all with the seasonal décor and cocktails. The vibe is chill and the prices are inexpensive.

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Purple Kiss Concert

My fourth K-Pop concert of 2025! This was my first and last time I will see Purple Kiss live in concert since they are disbanding in November. I loved their solo and sub-unit stages as well as their group performances. It was a bittersweet experience and I wish the girls all the best in their future careers. I feel like their discography is so underrated.

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Lyla Sage (with Jillian Meadows) Author Talk

Schuler Books hosted a Author Talk event to celebrate Lyla Sage’s new release Soul Searching. Jillian Meadows and Lyla Sage got to take Q&A from the audience and interview each other. The conversation was engaging and very funny. Sage has me hooked on her Rebel Blue Ranch books.

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Book Swap Hosted by Kendra Reads With Love

Kendra, from Kendra Reads With Love (Insta), hosted a book swap and it was so much fun! i got to swap out some reads from my bookshelves and got to add some new reads to take home. I met some local bookish friends and made some new ones as well.

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Viviz: Legacy In North America Concert

My third K-Pop concert of 2025! This is my second time seeing Viviz live and I’m so glad they made another tour stop in our area. As always their performance was high energy and they even included a fun bingo game with challenges to interact with the audience more. I’m excited to see what music they’ll create in the future.

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Ban This Book Fest

Ban This Book Fest is a nonprofit festival in the Metro Detroit area dedicated to amplifying voices marginalized by censorship and book banning. Their goal is to make attendance accessible to as many people as possible. What a great festival for the first year! I can’t wait to see how this will expand for next year. A big thank you to everyone who made this event happen. I felt more empowered after this event and learned more about how we can stop the span of book bans across the US.

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Frankenfest

This was my second time going to Frankenfest and I had a great time. I felt like this year was bigger than last year with the addition of new vendors to the event. Thankfully it was not sunny and hot like 2024 and I found some great items to add to my ever-growing Halloween collection.

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Author Talk With Ebony Ladelle and Aaron Foley

I got to meet Ladelle again on her You’ve got a Place Here, Too book tour. Both Ladelle and Foley contributed stories to this YA collection of Black Love HBCU centered stories. I’m so excited to read this anthology and I thought their conversation was engaging.

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What were some of your highlights from Halloween/Autumn? Did you get to do anything fun? Let me know in the comments! And as always you can follow me on my Instagram page to see my bookish adventures, life stuff, and current reads.