2012 Go Ask Mom Halloween, fall fun guide is here!

Fall doesn't officially start until Sept. 22. Halloween is about six weeks away. But the calendar is about the only thing that's waiting to declare it fall.

Pumpkin patches will begin opening their doors this weekend. Visitors will be darkening the doors of many local haunted houses in just a few weeks. And then there are all of the fall festivals and other seasonal events to look forward to in the next couple of months.

And a note on some changes:

Several pumpkin patches are opening a week and even a month later than past years. So be sure to check with your favorite patch before heading out this year.

Pumpkin patches, haunted trails, corn mazes: Your guide to fall fun

In Raleigh, Durant Nature Park will not hold its long-running Halloween Trail this year, which took families along a nature-based trail in the evening.

Finally, let's get to the big question that I'll starting getting emails about any day now: When do kids around here go trick-or-treating?

This is a confusing subject for some because when Halloween falls on a Sunday, as it did a few years ago, some towns and cities do actually set trick-or-treating hours for another evening.

This year, the answer to that common question for the vast majority of readers, perhaps even all of us, is Oct. 31, which is a Wednesday this year.

I'll have a separate post on trick-or-treating schedules as we get closer to the day. Some cities and towns do recommend hours, which are usually between around 6 p.m. and 8 p.m., give or take 30 minutes.

Happy fall!