Water Damage Restoration in Providence, RI

Halloween is coming next week, and with the holiday comes lots of spooky-themed activities that make for a perfect fall day.

If you're looking to squeeze in some last minute haunted attractions, you're in luck - Rhode Island has plenty to offer. Whether a traditional walk through a haunted house or a puzzling journey through a corn field burial ground, there's something within driving distance for every age and level of horror fan to enjoy.

Read below for five haunted attractions from across the state to try this spooky season.

Scary Acres

Dark October nights turn Confreda Farms into Scary Acres, Rhode Island's largest scream park with three unique haunted attractions. Guests can ride on the Dark Harvest Hayride through a haunted town, walk through the Haunted Burial Grounds Corn Field and finally try their luck at the park's newest addition, Curse of the Bayou.

Not scary enough? Scary Acres offers an additional thrill challenge on Blackout Weekend, where all the lights are turned off in the cornfield.

Combo tickets for all three attractions must be purchased for a specific day and time slot in advance, and will cost $30 or $35 depending on the day. Specialty blackout tickets are $30.

When: Scary Acres' season lasts through Oct. 27, with hours from 6:45-9 p.m. on Thursday and 6:45-10 p.m. Friday-Sunday. Blackout weekend will be Nov. 1-2.

Where: 2150 Scituate Ave., Hope, RI

More:Looking for family-friendly Halloween fun in RI? Check out these 6 events.

Haunted Gallows

Just 30 minutes outside of Providence on the Massachusetts border is a 600-acre farm home to Haunted Gallows, a terror experience in the Burrillville woods.

The adventure has two thrilling attractions: Dark Fair, an immersive sinister carnival that tests the limits of reality, and Bathsheba's Woods, an ancient forest that explores a time full of witchcraft accusations. After the walkthroughs, guests can calm their nerves in the family-friendly Boo Patch.

Haunted Gallows offers general admission tickets for $28 or VIP tickets for $48, to be bought online or in-person.

When: This coming weekend of Oct. 25-27 is Haunted Gallows' final weekend for the season. Hours are 6:30-10 p.m. Friday-Saturday and 6:30-9 p.m. Sunday.

Where: 505 E. Ironstone Road, Burrillville, RI

More:Looking for family-friendly Halloween fun in RI? Check out these 6 events.

13th World

For the last 22 years, 13th World has been improving their haunts to create a terrifying outdoor walk full of iconic scary movie characters.

Lovers of extreme fear can enhance the experience with Touch of Fear, a necklace that allows them to be touched by the monsters. 13th World also offers special terror events like XScream, an R-rated experience with the most intense haunt possible, and Blackout, a completely dark version of the walkthrough.

Regular admission tickets cost $25 or $30 depending on the day. Touch of Fear costs an additional $5, and fast passes cost an additional $15.

When: 13th World will be open Oct. 25-27 from 6-10 p.m. and Oct. 30 from 6-9 p.m. XScream will be from 6-9 p.m. on Nov. 1, and Blackout will be from 6-10 p.m. on Nov. 2.

Where: 4097 Diamond Hill Road, Cumberland, RI

Haunted Hayride at Seven Cedars Farm

Seven Cedars Farm's haunted hayride winds through 21 acres of dark woods while various scary characters like dinosaurs and clowns pop out of the trees. A low-sensory hayride with no characters is also available on select No Fright Nights.

Tickets cost $20 for the haunted hayride or $13 for No Fright Nights. Limited tickets are available at the door, but Cedar Farms recommends purchasing online.

When: The farm's haunted hayride will be open for its final weekend from 7-10 p.m. Oct. 25-26 and 7-9 p.m. Oct. 27. Wednesday non-scare rides are available from 6-8 p.m. on Oct. 23 and Oct. 30.

Where: 20 John Mowry Road, Smithfield, RI

The Haunted Trail at Dark New England

This East Providence attraction turns the back lot of the Brightridge Club into a haunted outdoor trail. As guests make their way through the animatronics, strobe lights and fog, terrifying characters lurk in the shadows waiting to make the perfect jump scare. True lovers of fear can try their luck on the path in complete darkness on special lights out nights.

General admission tickets cost $25, and VIP tickets, which give guests more direct interaction with the actors, cost $35. Tickets can be purchased online or at the door.

When: Dark New England's Haunted Trail is open from 7-10 p.m. Oct. 25-27, and the special lights out event will run from 7-10 p.m. Nov. 1-3.

Where: 59 Brightridge Ave., E. Providence, RI

More:Dartmouth man's backyard haunts have led to The Haunted Trail. It'll amaze Halloween fans.

PROVIDENCE — There are baskets, and then there are slam dunks.

Ask Kevin Connolly about the headliner for Providence College’s “Late Night Madness” this Saturday, and he knows it’s the latter — if he does say so himself.

The show sold out just five days after the Friars announced they landed the country music superstars, the Zac Brown Band, to play for students and alumni at the annual bash inside the Amica Mutual Pavilion. It was the first sold-out Late Night Madness since the college moved the basketball homecoming event off campus from Alumni Hall to the 14,000-seat complex in downtown Providence five years ago.

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It’s the largest-ever Late Night Madness in the college’s history, and the buzz on campus, as well as among many far-flung alumni, is palpable.

“People couldn’t believe it,” Connolly, a senior assistant vice president at Providence College, associate deputy athletic director, and an organizer for the event, told the Globe, recalling the days after the announcement in August. “They really thought that they were getting, like, tricked on Twitter.”

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Related: How a Taylor Swift song became an anthem for top-ranked Providence College Friars

“I had alums contacting me from all over, just being like, I can’t believe this is Providence College,” said Sarah Firetto, the college’s director of alumni relations. “Even if they weren’t able to make it … [they’re] just so proud that, you know, we’re offering something of this magnitude.”

What’s now known as Late Night Madness has been around for decades, following in the tradition launched by the late Lefty Driesell, the legendary basketball coach.

Driesel invented Midnight Madness at the University of Maryland in October 1971, when he kicked off his team’s training regimen with a mile run just minutes after 12 a.m. — the earliest possible start of practice on the first day allowed under NCAA regulations. Providence, in time, adopted its own version as the practice caught on and spread from campus to campus.

These days, the Friars start practice weeks earlier than mid-October — and Late Night Madness is anything but a grueling, sleep-deprived run.

Festivities now, instead, focus on introducing the rosters of both the men’s and women’s basketball teams to the larger Friar community, ahead of the season’s first games. The regular season for both teams kicks off Nov. 4. Aside from the headliner, the crowd will also take in performances from student groups.

“It’s a huge recruiting event for them,” Connolly said. “They have all their top recruits that come in, so you really just try to put your best foot forward to really kind of close them on the deal.”

About six years ago, college officials saw potential to expand the popular event beyond the student body, according to Deirdre Driscoll-Lemoine, associate vice president of college event management and planning. They decided to wrap it into the school’s Homecoming weekend, which draws legions of alumni and families of current students.

“We felt this would be the secret sauce that we needed to make a successful weekend,” Driscoll-Lemoine said. “And that has proven to be true, because our numbers have gone up significantly. We are attracting thousands of people to the campus, as well as to the city of Providence.”

Part of the move meant providing Late Night Madness with a bigger venue than Alumni Hall, the on-campus athletic facility that holds about 1,500 people. The college had been drawing acts as big as Nick Cannon in 2013 and basketball legend, Shaq, who stopped by three years later.

“We couldn’t fit every student in our on-campus facility,” Connolly said. “So the only way that we could do that is if we moved it to the AMP, and then when you moved it there, you got to fill 12,000 seats … So you had to kind of sweeten the pot.”

The Friars also have a tremendously strong fan base: There’s a 1,400-name waitlist for season tickets, Connolly said.

And they also want tremendous talent.

“Like our [Men’s Basketball] Head Coach Kim English said, Late Night Madness is something that you either do big or you don’t do it all, because there’s really no in between,” Connolly said. “And recruits, as they’re going to different places, if it’s not done at a high level, it’s going to be hard to land them. So I just think we’ve made the decision … just to go all in on it.”

In its first year downtown, the event brought in John Legend, the singer behind mega hits such as “All of Me,” as its headliner.

“I got choked up, when he first came out, because … we were on another level, and there was kind of no going back from that,” Firetto said.

Related: Providence College’s Steve Napolillo is kind of a big deal

Aside from some COVID pandemic interruptions in 2020 and 2021, the college has continued to draw big name acts, such as Kahlid in 2022 and OneRepublic last year — a series that has left organizers trying to outdo themselves each subsequent year, Firetto said.

So how do the Friars pull them in?

The approach is to find artists who can appeal across generations and still fit a budget, as the college subsidizes tickets so students pay only $40 to attend, Connolly said. The school works with an agency that advises organizers on attracting acts and takes it from there, according to Connolly,

The Zac Brown Band, with hits including “Chicken Fried” and “Knee Deep,” is the largest act Late Night Madness has landed, financially speaking, Connolly said.

When this year’s headliner was announced, Zac Brown had just played three straight, sold out shows the prior weekend at Gillette Stadium with Kenny Chesney.

Days later, Brown had sold out the AMP, too.

“I have talked to parents of freshmen who are so excited and like, bought their tickets immediately,” said Madeleine Walsh, who helped make Taylor Swift’s “You Belong With Me” a must-play, Friar game-day anthem before she graduated last year. “I feel like the Late Night Madness lure hasn’t been this big in, like, years.”

Susan Sarlund, whose son, Charles, is a junior studying finance, will be in the crowd on Saturday night after she makes the trip up from New Jersey.

She wouldn’t miss it, of course: She has been going to Late Night Madness for the last three years.

“It’s funny, Charlie will say, ‘Well, Mom, you know, Providence, it’s just different here.’ And that word has … taken on a really true meaning the last couple years,” Sarlund said. “It really is different. It’s a small school — only 4,000 kids. They’re small and mighty.”

Sarlund has friends with grown children who attend schools “all over the place,” she said.

But none of them have heard of anything quite like this, Sarlund said. This is essentially a concert, she said — a party where Friars from across the ages are together, singing and dancing in the seats, waiting and ready for those first wins of the season.

Rendering courtesy of 195 District Park

Shovels hit the dirt Sept. 24 as the 195 District in Providence, R.I., broke ground on a brand-new 3,500-sq.-ft. pavilion set to bring dining, public restrooms and essential infrastructure upgrades to the bustling waterfront park.

"This is a win for Rhode Island," Gov. Daniel McKee said during the ceremony. "We're thrilled that local businesses will be at the heart of this pavilion, offering locals and visitors a true taste of the Ocean State all year long."

Newport Buzz reported that with the facility promising Wi-Fi, grading and drainage improvements, and electrical upgrades, the transformation is poised to make the 195 District Park a year-round destination when it is completed next summer.

Mayor Brett Smiley was quick to echo McKee's enthusiasm, heralding the project as "a game-changer" for downtown Providence.

"It's more than just a building — it's a new chapter for the waterfront," Smiley said. "This pavilion will bring economic vibrancy and create a dynamic hub for everyone to enjoy."

Marc Crisafulli, chair of the I-195 Redevelopment District Commission, noted the pavilion's potential to boost the district's appeal.

"With 5,000 daily visitors, this is already a hot spot," he said. "Now, it's only going to get hotter."

One of the pavilion's feature attractions will be The Guild Brewing Company, partnering with Seven Stars Bakery to provide food and beverages throughout the year.

Jeremy Duffy, co-founder of The Guild, is excited about elevating the park experience.

"We're bringing two iconic Rhode Island brands to the table," he said. "And we can't wait for everyone to dig in."

Designed by the New York-based Architecture Research Office (ARO), the new building will feature cedar shiplap siding, operable storefront doors for indoor-outdoor dining, and panoramic views of the Providence River, making it clear that the pavilion will be as much a visual attraction as a functional one.

The general contractor for the downtown project is Shawmut Design and Construction, a national building company with a Providence office.

Old Freeway Property Transformed Into Vibrant Park

The 195 District Park Pavilion will be geared to offer year-round food and beverage concessions to park users and the surrounding community, as well as provide public restrooms, storage space for the park and a small office for park staff.

Plans call for it to be located at the junction of the Ship Street and Elbow Street paths on the west side of the park. The site was chosen after significant studies were undertaken by ARO and multiple community review meetings.

The overall 195 District was developed after a stretch of Interstate 195 through Providence was relocated in 2011, freeing 26 acres of land for redevelopment.

Since then, the city and developers have been creating the 195 District to be a thriving neighborhood and innovation center in the downtown area.

The redevelopment commission noted on its website that, so far, 13 projects totaling 2.1 million sq. ft. have been either completed, planned, or are under construction, including 958 housing units and 270,000 sq. ft. of wet lab space. Among the anchor developments in the district is 225 Dyer, home to Cambridge Innovation Center (CIC) Providence, which provides flexible work space to more than 240 companies; and Venture Café Providence, a business development service.

With a focus on high-quality housing and a growing life sciences cluster, there are still opportunities available for investment in the 195 District, according to development officials.

The project was made possible in part by a 2021 voter-approved bond and represents a major aim by the city to keep Providence on the map as a go-to destination. Expected to be a year-round staple for the district, the pavilion should bring people together and fuel the local economy.

A portion of the new building's funding came from Rhode Island's "Beach, Clean Water, and Green Bond" approved by voters in a special election held in March of 2021. According to 195 District developers, the bond will only permit the district to utilize these funds for infrastructure improvements in the park.

The pavilion is intended to activate the park year-round, serve as an amenity for park users and the surrounding community, and support the 195 District's economic development goals.

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It may have confronted many delays due to the pandemic, supply chain issues and unplanned structural deficiencies, but Providence’s Track 15 food hall is “chugging along” with plans to open in February. We met up with developer Chris Marsella, President of the Marsella Development Corporation, Matthias Kiehm, principal of Convivium Hospitality Group, and Michael Anthony, who has a background in hospitality ventures and beverage development in major Las Vegas restaurants, to get an update on the project. The $25 million investment was initially announced back in 2021 but is now on the fast track (please excuse the pun)! This week they announced all seven partners for the food hall.

The name is a nod to the building’s origins as a transportation hub. Built in 1898, the station greatly supported Rhode Island’s machinery, textile and jewelry industries with the operation of fourteen intercity rail lines before closing in 1986 when the smaller Amtrak station was built nearby.

Taking over the space that once housed the original Capital Grille, Raphael’s and Bar Louie, the 18,000-square-foot development has now secured seven tenants, including the newest, an Indian concept called Little Chaska from Sanjiv and Vandana Dhar of Kabob and Curry, Rasoi in Pawtucket, Rasa in East Greenwich, and Chaska in Cranston’s Garden City Center, as well as Tolia, which highlights a Turkish menu from chef Alp Gumuscu, who is formerly the executive chef at Yagi Noodles in Newport. Gumuscu will focus on introducing diners to the cuisine of the region of Anatolia, which surrounds Turkey, Greece and other parts of the Middle East. These two latest additions join the five other concepts that have already committed, including a seafood and raw bar concept from Dune Brothers; regional Mexican cuisine from chef Maria Meza and her family at Dolores; burgers and more from There, There; and two Italian concepts from Kevin O’Donnell, chef and owner of Giusto and Mother Pizzeria in Newport.

“We are excited to welcome the Dhars and Alp Gumuscu to the Track 15 family,” says Marsella. “They are the final pieces to this culinary puzzle we’ve been putting together, and we look forward to showcasing their exceptional talent.”

It’s been a long time coming but we’re getting closer to final destination. The development will involve indoor and outdoor seating for approximately 600 patrons, an entertainment venue, and a 10,000 square foot plaza which will provide outdoor seating and a home for special events. They plan to include “flipboard”-style menus for each business, similar to those that announce train track arrivals and departures in transportation hubs. Menus will change with the seasons. Marsella is already starting to get in some of the final menus for the businesses, which is reigniting his passion for this project.

“Building this food hall has been a labor of love for all of us,” continues Marsella. “Despite the challenges of renovating a historic building, our team is making progress every day, and we can’t wait to open our doors to a truly unique experience that is unlike anything in Rhode Island.”

The vendors all know each other and support one another, and there’s some friendly competition too. Kevin O’Donnell, owner of Giusto and Mother Pizzeria, says he is excited to “bring a little taste of Newport to the Providence community.”

“At Giusto PVD, Brian and I will be serving up some of our favorite homemade pastas highlighting great ingredients from Rhode Island farmers while Lauren, Kyle and I look forward to sharing our love for sourdough pizzas made with local stone-ground flour at Mother Pizzeria PVD,” O’Donnell continues.

The owners of downtown favorite Dune Brothers are equally as thrilled to add to their expanding locations, including the Providence Innovation District shack, the new Looff Carousel location in Riverside, and the upcoming market and restaurant on Ives Street in Providence.

“We’re elated to bring our pier-to-plate restaurant to Track 15 and to continue to showcase delicious seafood from local fishermen and women,” says Nick Gillespie, chef/owner and Monica Gillespie, co-owner. “In addition to Dune Brothers classics like the lobster roll, fish sandwich and fish and chips, the space enables us to introduce some new items as well as a raw bar. We are excited for Rhode Island to finally have its own food hall and very proud to be a part of this project!”

When it came to determining the lineup, Marsella maintains that Matthias Kiehm, principal of Convivium Hospitality Group, was a pivotal force as he wanted to ensure that the hall was reflective of Rhode Island’s diverse culinary scene.

“When we started this journey, we probably ate ourselves through roughly 150-plus restaurants in Rhode Island,” Kiehm explains. “First, we identified which cuisine we wanted to look at and did all the research. We went to five fish places, five Mexican places, and so on, and then identified our top picks for each and started curating it. We ate a lot!”

One of those tastings was with There, There, which started out as Dips Dips mobile eatery, but pivoted to open a sandwich shop on Providence’s West End in the former Bucktown space at 471 West Fountain St. Chef/owner Brandon Teachout says the Track 15 partners did the initial tasting from their food truck at Moniker Brewery.

“The food hall is an exciting project, and we came down here and checked out the space, talked about the vision and the history of the location,” Teachout recalls. “We were like, ‘Yeah, we definitely want to be a part of this.’ I think a lot of people agree that Providence wants a food hall like this, and the caliber of people that they have involved…. We are honored to be asked, honestly.”

Teachout says the menu will include an abbreviated version of the one currently being served at his West End location, with a fast casual approach. He also already knows where they will be set up within the hall.

“We’re in a the corner spot, next to Dolores, and [across the way] here [the food hall is] going to expand another fifteen feet to be a little lounge area,” he says. “And we’ll be near the stage — so, the party spot!”

In addition to the announced merchants, Marsella teases that the space will also have a full bar featuring local spirits and beer and servicing both indoor and outdoor patrons.

“And we’ll have food carts with gelato and other things,” he says. “As the space develops both inside and out, we’ll see what other additional offerings we can add that don’t require a full kitchen, whether it be coffee or even retail.”

With the demolition of the interior of the building officially completed and plumbing installed, Track 15 is on track (sorry again) to open in February 2025. Be sure to check this space for more updates.

The Rhode Island Attorney General’s Office announced Tuesday that demolition work on the westbound span of the Washington Bridge has been paused.

NBC10 Boston affiliate WJAR obtained a statement from the McKee Administration and the Attorney General's Office, saying, "The engineers for RIDOT, in cooperation with the state’s legal team, have reached the point in the demolition of the Washington Bridge where work must be paused to preserve evidence for the legal case. The goal is to be able to continue demolition as swiftly as possible while ensuring important evidence is preserved.”

There was no immediate word on what specific evidence the attorney general's office is looking to preserve, or if planned road closures would be continuing.

Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee announced in August that the state had filed a lawsuit against 13 companies that provided design, construction, and inspection services related to the troubled bridge -- which carries Interstate 195 over the Seekonk River from Providence to East Providence and serves as a key gateway to Providence.

McKee said at the time that the lawsuit seeks to hold accountable those companies responsible for the near-miss catastrophic closure of the bridge and to recover the significant resources required to rebuild the bridge and compensate the state.

In the lawsuit, the state argues that the companies failed to timely and adequately identify worsening structural issues that ultimately led to the sudden and unexpected closure of the bridge.

During the demolition and construction of the new bridge, the state is rerouting six lanes of traffic — three in each direction — on the eastbound bridge structure.

The bridge carries nearly 100,000 vehicles every day.

The sudden westbound closure in mid-December initially wreaked havoc on traffic, turning a 40- to 45-minute drive into several hours, stranding commuters for hours and sending others veering off their normal path. Some schools closed and held classes remotely.

The Associated Press contributed to this report