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There are so many fun events in Humboldt to which you can't take your best friend. He always says it's cool — no, go ahead, have fun — but the guilt lingers. Does he even believe you that dogs aren't allowed? It's called the All Species Parade.

Not a problem on Sunday, Oct. 12 at 10 a.m. in Sequoia Park. Grab a leash and bring your buddy to Bark in the Park for a 5k walk and run ($20). Registration starts at 8 a.m., and the proceeds from the event and raffle go to the Companion Animal Foundation. Your beastie bestie can totally get behind that. Music from the M Notes should get your blood flowing — well, that and all the firefighters. What? Dogs love fire trucks. Back me up, Fido. The Humboldt Bay Firefighters host the canine fun, so keep an eye out for Cali the Fire Dog. She's kind of a big deal, but when you see her, try to be cool.

Once the walk/run starts, enjoy the scenery, socialize with other pooches and humans and don't feel weird at all for talking about your dog.

— Jennifer Fumiko Cahill

As Raymond Chandler wrote, "She was worth a stare. She was trouble." Sure, Audrey and Marilyn were swell, but Lauren Bacall was one helluva broad. The Humboldt County Library is all over her films like a cheap suit with October's Based on the Book Film Series, "Just Whistle" (free).

Maybe you've got Tuesday nights free at 6:30 p.m., or maybe you don't. Maybe you get free, see? Because on Oct. 7, Charity Grella walks in like she owns the place and introduces The Big Sleep, the Howard Hawks adaptation of Raymond Chandler's hardboiled detective novel about family so rotten their secrets have secrets. Feel the burn and chase it with another. On Oct. 14, Jan Ostrom gives you the skinny on Bacall as Slim in To Have and Have Not, another picture with Bogie directed by Hawks. This one's based on Earnest Hemingway's novel about a nightclub canary and a smuggler with a heart of gold.

Head back to the tropics for another noir classic — Key Largo, hosted by Bob Doran on Oct. 21. Bacall is a war widow whose hotel is beset by gangsters, hurricanes and Bogart's hangdog charm. Wrap it up like a box from Harry Winston's with How to Marry a Millionaire on Oct. 28. Yours truly hosts this proto-Sex in the City comedy with a Machiavellian Bacall, Marilyn Monroe and Betty Grable testing the theory that it's just as easy to fall in love with a rich man as a poor one.

Give the lady a round of applause, or maybe just whistle. You know how to whistle, don't you? You just put your lips together and blow.

— Jennifer Fumiko Cahill

It was a real scorcher in Arcata today — mid 70's — making for a sweaty Pastels on the Plaza as dozens of local artists plied the plaza pavement with chalk. It's a colorful affair. If you didn't make it today, the sidewalk art should linger for some time.

(h/t Because Coffee)

If an apple a day keeps the doctor away, you may not see yours for some time after the Apple Harvest Festival in downtown Fortuna. The fruity fun starts early on Friday at 6 p.m. when the McLean Foundation hosts Taste of the Harvest, a night of cider sampling with music by Cliff Dallas and the Death Valley Troubadours ($25, $10 sober drivers). Proceeds go to the Wild Souls Ranch and its mission to help at-risk kids by teaching them to work with horses, so cheers to that.

The old-fashioned street fair runs on Saturday, Oct. 4 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Main Street. Just follow the smell of apple pie, apple fritters, apple jelly and Texas barbecue. What, you thought it was just going to be fruit?

Hop a hay wagon over to the volunteer fire department for an engine ride, then to Rohner Park to hear Doug Fir and the 2x4s rock out at noon. Don't forget you've got pressing business at Clendenen's Cider Works and Apple Orchard, where you can see the cider made before you sample. A speeder car will zip you back to Eighth Street.

Come back with your shopping bags for the Apple Harvest Market on Sunday, Oct. 5 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. (free). You'll want to load up on all the apple goodies, crafts and, of course, apples.

— Jennifer Fumiko Cahill