How do you know it’s Fall in Los Angeles? Certainly not by the weather; another scorcher is due this weekend. Nope, it’s the harbingers of Halloween that warn us of Autumn’s approach, from the costumes lining the drugstore aisles to the TV ads trumpeting horror fests at our amusement parks.

Soon enough we’ll be sharing the most spooktacular events of the season. But for this weekend we're serving up the events without a side of scary. Among the highlights are festivals celebrating Italian and Hispanic culture, the Jewish New Year, two fundraising doggy walks, and an exhibit filled with hundreds of spiders.  (Okay, maybe we get a little bit scary). Also, if your family doesn't celebrate the Jewish New Year, you might want some ideas for camps that are in session for next week's school holiday.

Keep reading for some of our favorite choices for the weekend. And some exciting news - Mommy Poppins has been nominated by Parents Magazine in the Best Local Blog category. Please vote for us if you agree!

Boston has a particularly musical sound this weekend, from the free, outdoor Berklee Jazz Festival in the South End to the two-day Life is good Music Festival in Canton with kiddie favorites Laurie Berkner Band, Ben Rudnick and Friends, Keller Williams and Imagination Movers on the Kids Stage. Kids even the opportunity to ask Laurie Berkner questions about her music - be sure to plan ahead for that!

Admission to over 60 museums in Massachusetts is free on Saturday, thanks to the Smithsonian Museum Day program. A diverse group of museums is participating and includes the American Textile History Museum in Lowell, the Blue Hills Trailside Museum in Milton, the EcoTarium in Worcester, Spellman Museum of Stamps & Postal History in Weston, Spencer-Peirce-Little Farm in Newbury, the MFA and Old South Meeting House in Boston, and Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology and Harvard Museum of Natural History in Cambridge.

If the rain keeps you at home, you can check out our favorite apple recipes - a perfect fall activity.

Read on for some of our top choices this weekend. And some exciting news - Mommy Poppins has been nominated by Parents Magazine in the Best Local Blog category. Please vote for us if you agree!

Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer - talented singers, songwriters, instrumentalists, and educators  who play dozens of instruments perform for Boston-area kids at The Center for the Arts in Natick on Saturday, October 15. Mommy Poppins Boston is offering its readers the chance to enter the drawing for a Family 4 Pack of tickets to the show!

To enter, send me an email and let me know you're interested in attending the show. One winner will be drawn at random and notified on Tuesday, October 11.  If winner doesn't respond to our email notification within 48 hours, another winner will be drawn. (Email addresses of entrants will not be collected, sold or otherwise abused.)

And subscribe to our weekly Boston newsletter to be sure you stay up-to-date with what's going on in and around Boston!

And you thought the end of summer meant the end of fun? Forget that! This weekend’s jam-packed with picks for everyone.  There’s a small-town harvest fest in Tewksbury; a family campfire in Tenafly; Superheroes in Florham Park; Fairies in Camden; a Fungus Fest in Morristown; cider-making; an open-air musical; a monster garage-sale and more.  Dig those jackets out of the closet, dust off the boots, and hit the road–the fun has just begun.

This weekend we've listed loads of fun things to do with the kids here in CT. The weather looks iffy so check the forecast before you head out. If some activities get rained out there's still plenty of indoor options for you such as Free Museum Day, Kent Library story time, an open skate session, “What To Do When a Bully Bothers You” performance,  as well as the SkippyJon Jones musical. Stepping Stones Museum will debut its new CyberChase Math exhibit on Saturday. You can also refer to our indoor playspace guide. But dear readers, we really hope the sun shines through because we have quite the roster of incredible fairs, shows, festivals and celebrations. The CT Renaissance Fair opens it's doors this Saturday, as does the Norwalk Boat Show, Durham Ag Fair and the CT Antique & Machinery Festival (just to name a few)!

This week we listed 13 Fun Things to Do this Fall with Kids in Litchfield County. We also posted about After School Activities and Classes for Tweens and Teens in Fairfield County. Fairfield Library has a great FREE tutoring program it is offering to students of all ages so we did a post of Free tutoring resources. Hope it helps!

Have you heard? Parents magazine has nominated Mommy Poppins for Best Local Blog! Please take a minute to vote for us. We'd REALLY appreciate it. Now, back to this upcoming weekend. Read more to see the extensive listing we've corralled for you. You can find even more events on our events calendar. Share the love and friend us on facebook and twitter to get daily insider scoops. Have a great weekend!

Are you ready to do the anti-rain dance with me? There are so many wonderful outdoor activities this weekend—like the Dumbo Arts Festival, Battery Park's Harmony on the Hudson Family Music Festival, the Apple Festival at the Wyckoff Farmhouse Museum and the last few days of the Feast of San Gennaro—we will be really bummed out if it continues to pour.

Luckily, even if Mother Nature doesn't cooperate, there's plenty of fun to be had indoors, too. Visit one of our city's wonderful cultural institutions at no cost courtesy of Smithsonian Magazine's Museum Day, groove to a free concert by Trout Fishing in America at Symphony Space or celebrate Jim Henson's birthday at the Museum of the Moving Image.

As we say hello to fall we bid goodbye to many summer favorites, including Governors Island and the Children's Museum of Manhattan's Curious George exhibit, which both close this weekend, and the Bronx Zoo's Great Summer Zoofari: A Lego Wildlife Expedition, which comes down on September 30.

And that's just a sampling of the great things going on this weekend. Read on for all of our picks and remember, you can find additional options in our Event Calendar and our Fall Fun Guide.

When we rounded up the best children's concerts this fall, we neglected to include anything on Symphony Space's Just Kidding lineup. That's because we wanted to write an entire post about our favorite offerings in this awesome family performance series, like this Sunday's kickoff event: a free concert by Trout Fishing in America in honor of the kids' band's forthcoming CD-picture book Chicken Joe Forgets Something Important.

Symphony Space's Just Kidding series runs most weekend through the end of April. Although most of the offerings are concerts, there are also a few children's shows and dance performances. Admittedly, tickets aren't cheap: The average price is $20 for adults and $13 for kids, but the talent is stellar, and you get a break if you buy tickets to four or more events in advance. As a dad and avid kids' music lover, I don't think there is a finer collection of youth-focused events at any single location anywhere else in the city.

Here are the details on this Sunday's no-cost Trout Fishing in America concert, and our picks for Symphony Space's best Just Kidding offerings throughout the season.

Many families are searching for ways to cut back on expenditures in order to stay within the family budget. Tutoring is one of those things that some children absolutely need yet it can be quite expensive. Parents should check into their local library to see if they offer services of some kind. For example, The New Milford Library has a homework help page that includes coverage of most topics including math, science, history and music. They even have a long list of homework help links. At the New Haven Free Public Library they provide reference assistance, homework help and readers advisory at the Young Adult desk weekdays after school. Call Sunnie at (203) 946-8130 ext. 234 for assistance.

The Fairfield Public Library launched a new program this Fall for students of all ages: live, one-to-one help from certified tutors online 24/7. Any patron with a valid Fairfield Public Library card can access the online services from the library or right from home.  A resume writing service is also available. The service is completely free for the Fairfield community.