Weekend Spotlight is a round-up of the five best events to check out in Delaware over the coming weekend, curated by Arts + Culture Editor Cannon Taylor. This edition covers Oct. 16-18, 2026. What should be on our radar for future editions? Let us know!
Ancient Aliens
Embrace delusion at conspiracy theory convention
Sunday, Oct. 18. Siegel JCC. 101 Garden of Eden Road, Wilmington. 10 a.m.-7 p.m. General Admission: $10.
The team behind Delaware-filmed flick “The Conspiracists” are bringing the wild-haired, frenetic fun of the History Channel with ConCon, a conspiracy theory convention ripped straight from the film.
More in the vein of “Avril Lavigne is a clone” than “9/11 was an inside job,” the event promises an escape from concerning conspiracy theories permeating politics and online echo chambers.
Practice your Bigfoot roar ahead of the contest, become a model in a tin foil hat fashion show, hear about the escapades of Delaware’s paranormal researchers and see if you can suss out which conspiracies are real or fake in a game show competition. The event culminates in a screening of “The Conspiracists” and a Q&A with the cast.
Happy CAMPers
LGBTQ+ nonprofit brings party to Rehoboth
Sunday, Oct. 18. Second Block of Baltimore Ave., Rehoboth Beach. 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Free.
CAMP Rehoboth’s mission to “Create A More Positive Rehoboth” must be paying off, because more than 4,000 people flocked to the coastal town last year for the LGBTQ+ nonprofit’s annual block party.
This year, the free event will feature local artisans selling goods ranging from sea glass art to body care products. Drag performers Roxy Overbrooke and Amethyst Diamond will emcee the stage. Between their antics will be musical performances from local bands and actors from Clear Space Theatre Company.
Children are welcome at the block party, which will feature activities like chalk art, carnival games and button-making.
Undead Disco
Dance until you drop at Milton Zombie Fest
Saturday, Oct. 17. Hudson Fields. 29763 Eagle Crest Road, Milton. 2-7 p.m. Tickets: $5 online, $10 at gate. Kids 12 and under free.
Do your limbs keep falling off when you’re taking a nap in your coffin? Do you express yourself best through ghoulish shrieks? Do you have an insatiable craving for brains? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you are the perfect participant for The Milton Theatre’s annual Zombie Fest.
The theme this year is “Undead Disco,” so dust off your bell bottoms and dancing shoes and get ready to party to live bands and DJs. If you don’t have the makeup to zombify yourself at home, artists from The Salon Professional Academy of Delaware can hook you up.
Beyond dancing, the day will feature a costume contest, circus acts like fire breathing and stilt walking and a “Pyrocalypse” fireworks show at 7 p.m.
Folking Around
Become a folk hero at music festival
Friday, Oct. 16 and Saturday, Oct. 17. 352 Downs Chapel Road, Clayton. Friday 7-11 p.m., Saturday 11 a.m.-11 p.m. General Admission: $10 Friday, $35 Saturday.
Delaware Friends of Folk, the organization behind the 35th annual Delmarva Folk Festival, sure knows how to advertise its acts.
“This band has given the blues a fresh kick in the a**,” the organization writes about Delaware band Lower Case Blues, which will be closing out the festival this year.
The weekend will feature many more regional folk acts, a collaborative poem written over the course of the festival and a contest on Friday to determine Delaware Friends of Folk’s 20th “Folk Hero,” an ambassador of the genre. The title is currently held by Milford singer-songwriter Jean Bayou, who will host the contest.
Don’s Just Deserts
Come to The Grand to see ‘a bad man get dragged to hell’
Friday, Oct. 16 and Sunday, Oct. 18. The Grand Opera House. 818 N. Market St., Wilmington. Friday 7:30 p.m., Sunday 2 p.m. Tickets: $29-109.
There’s nothing more satisfying than watching a villain get his comeuppance. That’s never been more true than in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s opera “Don Giovanni,” which Opera Delaware will perform this weekend.
The opera follows the titular womanizer, whose body count numbers over 2,000 partners across Europe, as he repeatedly skirts the consequences of his lechery — that is, until a fateful swordfight. Afterwards, Giovanni is haunted by the statue of the man he slayed.
If you’ve never been to the opera before, there’s no better place to start than with “Don Giovanni.” As Opera Delaware puts it in one of its advertisements, it’s “kinda chic to watch a bad man get dragged to hell.”