Top 5 Arts Events for October 24-30: Enchanted Pumpkin Garden, Arizona State Fair Concerts, “Dining Among the Dead” & More

#2: Southwest Shakespeare Company’s “The Merchant of Venice” at Mesa Arts Center, through October 29
William Shakespeare’s tangled web of love, race, religion and prejudice has been cast over Southwest Shakespeare Company, and the organization does an outstanding job with its rendition, setting it in New York during the 1920s and adding a jaw-dropping tear-jerker of an end scene. Visit website for dates and show times. Through October 29 in the Nesbitt/Elliott Playhouse at Mesa Arts Center. $15-$37. swshakespeare.org

#3: Arizona State Fair Concerts: Slayer, Garbage, Gavin DeGraw & Andy Grammer, and Old School Jam, October 26-29
Tired as the old advertising spiel “something for everyone” may be, it’s totally true of the concert series at the Arizona State Fair. Metal fans can bang their heads at the Slayer show on October 26; alternative rock adherents get Garbage on October 27; there’s a Gavin DeGraw & Andy Grammer concert on October 28 for country music lovers; and a soul/R&B/hip-hop bonanza called Old School Jam raises the roof on October 29 with SOS Band, One Way, Evelyn Champagne King, Grandmaster’s Furious Five featuring Melle Mel and Scorpio, and Rob Base. General admission to concerts is free with Arizona State Fair admission ($10, adults; $5, kids ages 5 through 13 and seniors 55 and older). $20 reserved tickets also available at azstatefair.com.

#4: “Dining Among the Dead” at Pioneer and Military Memorial Park, October 29
“Hip Historian” Marshall Shore hosts this celebration of Dia de Los Muertos at historical Pioneer and Military Memorial Park. Guests can take tours of the 1897 Smurthwaite House (reportedly haunted) and the cemetery; enjoy a buffet dinner from Macayo’s; and be entertained by Arizona’s Official State Balladeer, Dolan Ellis, and dance troupe Ballet Folklorico de Tolleson. $40. 5 p.m. October 29 at Pioneer and Military Memorial Park. marshallshore.blogspot.com

#5: Ennis Book Festival at ASU Downtown, October 29
If a taste of Irish literature sounds nice, how about a smorgasbord? This event, presented by Phoenix Sister Cities, is a bounty of book signings, author readings, vendors, and music. Featured speakers are Irish crime writer Louise Phillips, poet Gibbons Ruark, Professor Brian Caraher from Queens University College Belfast, and ASU professors Gregory Castle and Michael Stanford. $15, students; $20, general admission. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. in the A.E. England Building at ASU Downtown. phoenixsistercities.org