Just Do It

Dracula Festival

by John Vettese

Oct. 22-Oct. 29, events free with admission ($5-$10), Rosenbach Museum and Library, 2008-2010 Delancey Place, 215-732-1600, rosenbach.org

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Whether vampires are your seasonal affectation or year-round lifestyle, the Rosenbach's annual Drac Fest gives plenty of reasons to raise hell. Now in its sixth year, the weeklong series of events celebrates the Count and his kin with history lessons as well as chaos and carnage — Spiral Q style, of course.

For scholars of the undead, the week kicks off at 6 p.m. Wednesday with a reading and book signing by Leslie Klinger, author of The New Annotated Dracula (W.W. Norton). Having examined the original manuscript and compared it against scientific and encyclopedic evidence from the time period, Klinger takes on Bram Stoker's oft-dismissed claim that his tale of English aristocrats held captive by a Transylvanian recluse is based on historical fact. To complement this, Stoker's research notes and drafts for the novel will be on display, offering vamp-nerds the chance to fact-check for themselves. For the literal children of the night — or maybe those who are just nostalgic over Where the Wild Things Are — a collection of monster artwork from Maurice Sendak's storybooks is on display in the Rosenbach; for the festival, Sendak exhibit curator Patrick Rodgers leads a gallery talk about Sendak's "bogeymen" on Oct. 29.

If haunting the library just isn't your scene, find action among the living when Spiral Q's Dracula Parade rolls through on Oct. 25. Beginning at the Rosenbach and marching north into officeland, the procession resembles a demented Macy's Thanksgiving Parade. Watch for bundled-up kids with bat wings, giant Max Schreck heads, wolf men and wary onlookers. As long as the walking garlic cloves make an appearance this year, we'll avoid blood in the streets.