I love when a local band releases an album, and even more when they proactively reach out to tell me about it. The production is solid on The Vox Ultima’s new album, Fathoms + Atoms, and takes me back to my own band days with a healthy influence of grunge, alternative and late 90s pop punk in there. But that’s hardly all this weekend with a speed puzzle tournament (yes, for real!), a pine jam band, a show at the new Westsider Lounge and more. All in Your Wausome Weekend Guide!
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Vox Ultima Album Release Masquerade Party
Coral Lanes Bowling Center
Saturday, Oct. 24: From the opening track to the last, Wausau band Vox Ultima’s new album, Fathoms + Atoms, brings hard-driving guitar and grunge to early 2000 punk pop sensibilities. And the band is ready to debut that album with a release party with a Halloween theme. This album release doubles as a masquerade, so bring a mask, or buy one when you get there. Sharing the bill is The space between breaths and Lunar Moth. Come for the new record and stay for the party. 7 pm. $5. See the event page for more.
2026 Wisconsin State Jigsaw Puzzle Championship
Holiday Inn & Suites Wausau-Rothschild
Friday, Oct. 23: Yes, speed puzzling is a competitive sport — who knew? — and the state championship is coming to Rothschild. The Wisconsin Jigsaw Puzzle Association is running solo, pairs, team and team relay divisions, where everyone gets the same puzzle and races to finish it first. The team relay kicks things off Friday night, with the solo, pairs and team rounds on Saturday. The solo division is full, but you don’t have to compete to join in: the puzzle swap and casual puzzling area is free and open to all, so bring a gently used puzzle and take home a new-to-you one. Team relay 7 pm Friday; Saturday rounds start at 10 am. Swap area 6–9 pm Friday and 9 am–6 pm Saturday. Entry fees run $25–$50. See the organizer’s page for the full schedule.
Boos & Booze
Rothschild Pavilion
Friday, Oct. 23: If you were hoping your Halloween plans involve a costume and a beer in hand, I’ve got some good news for you. Boos & Booze brings more than 12 breweries and more than 40 craft beverages to the Rothschild Pavilion, with unlimited samples, food, a spooky DJ and a costume contest. You also go home with a glow-in-the-dark mug. The lineup leans local, with Mosinee Brewing, Bull Falls, O’so, Hinterland and The Explorium among the pours. This one is 21 and older. 6–9 pm. $35 in advance, $40 at the door, $20 for designated drivers. See the event page for more and for tickets.
Wausau Ghost Tours
Wausau Elks Lodge
Fri-Sat, Oct. 23-24: We told you there’d be another round, and this is your last chance. The Wausau Paranormal Research Society is leading its guided walk through some of downtown’s reportedly haunted spots one more time this season, with stops tied to the people who may still be hanging around them. Dress for October, since it’s a walking tour. Start times of 6, 7 and 8 pm. And don’t miss the costumed ghost tours on Saturday. $15. See the event page for both (scroll down for the Saturday tour info).
Rugg
The Intermission Bar
Friday, Oct. 23: Rugg calls itself a “Wisconsin Pine Jam Band,” and the description fits. This Central Wisconsin group plays improvisational rock and funk with roots in the Grateful Dead, Pink Floyd, Dire Straits and America, mixing originals with covers. They’ve played everywhere from Waukesha to Sturgeon Bay this year, and the band is promising a night “full of psychedelic jams and riffs” at The Mish. If you like your songs long and wandering, this is your Friday. 9 pm. See the event page for more.
House Concert with pAt mAcdonald
Westsider Lounge
Saturday, Oct. 24: You know the song even if you don’t know the name. pAt mAcdonald was the singer and main songwriter of Timbuk 3, the duo behind “The Future’s So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades,” a Billboard top 20 hit that earned the band a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist in 1987. The Green Bay native has kept at it ever since with a long solo career, plus his cigar-box guitar alter ego, Purgatory Hill. A house concert at Westsider Lounge is about as close as you’ll get to him. 6:30 pm. See the event page for more.
Candlelight: Halloween Classics
Wausau Museum of Contemporary Art–Wausau Club
Saturday, Oct. 24: The Wausau Club’s ballroom gets lit with candles for two very different shows from the Listeso String Quartet. Halloween Classics covers “Thriller,” the themes from Halloween, Ghostbusters and Beetlejuice, the Psycho prelude and “Danse Macabre.” Each concert runs about an hour, doors open 45 minutes early and there’s no late entry, so don’t cut it close. Ages 8 and up. Tickets go through Fever and aren’t sold at the door. 6:30 pm and 8:45 pm shows. From $31. See the event pages for Halloween Classics for more and for tickets.
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In Brief
Pumpkin Carving (Wednesdays, Oct. 21 & 28), 6 pm Wednesday, Oct. 21 at Greenheck Turner Community Center
Wausau: Celebrate Wisconsin’s Bats, 6:30 pm Wednesday, Oct. 21 at Marathon County Public Library—Wausau Headquarters
Moonbadger Fall Series, 7 pm Wednesday, Oct. 21 at Faraway Place
Trivia, 7 pm Wednesday, Oct. 21 at The Glass Hat
Trivia Night, 7 pm Wednesday, Oct. 21 at Mosinee Brewing Company
Needles, Hooks, and Hops, 3 pm Thursday, Oct. 22 at Uncommon Pints
Ghosts in the Cellar Haunted Art Workshop (2nd night), 6 pm Thursday, Oct. 22 at The Story Cellar
Haunted Corn Maze (Thursday–Saturday, Oct. 22–24), 7 pm Thursday, Oct. 22 at Willow Springs Garden
Open Mic w/ Caleb Delaney, 8 pm Thursday, Oct. 22 at Faraway Place
Karaoke with Jim, 9 pm Thursday, Oct. 22 at The Glass Hat
Gardens at Twilight – Kid’s Night, 5 pm Friday, Oct. 23 at Monk Botanical Gardens
Hometown Broadway Fundraiser Gala, 6 pm Friday, Oct. 23 at Hilton Garden Inn
Local Heroes Live, 7 pm Friday, Oct. 23 at The Glass Hat
Line Dance Lessons, 7 pm Friday, Oct. 23 at Mosinee Brewing Company
Wausau: Bat Explorers, 11 am Saturday, Oct. 24 at Marathon County Public Library—Wausau Headquarters
Wausau: J.R.R. Tolkien Oral History Collection Interviews, 12:30 pm and 2:30 pm Saturday, Oct. 24 at Marathon County Public Library—Wausau Headquarters
Trunk or Treat, 3 pm Saturday, Oct. 24 at Christ Lutheran Church
The Alchemist’s Workshop: Tea Blends & Tinctures, 3:30 pm Saturday, Oct. 24 at Shelves of Aeaea
Witches and Warlocks Pub Crawl, 6 pm Saturday, Oct. 24 at Nevermore on Third and The Glass Hat
Annual Halloween Bash with Knock Point, 7 pm Saturday, Oct. 24 at Homestead on 52
Mattea Joy Live, 7 pm Saturday, Oct. 24 at J&P’s Tippling House
Mike McAbee Live, 7 pm Saturday, Oct. 24 at The Glass Hat
Barely Breath’n, 7:30 pm Saturday, Oct. 24 at Cheeks Bar and Grill
Get Loud! w/ Mia Brown and the Get Down (The Women’s Community), 8 pm Saturday, Oct. 24 at Faraway Place
Barefoot, 8 pm Saturday, Oct. 24 at The Intermission Bar
One Dan Man Band, 9 pm Saturday, Oct. 24 at Nevermore on Third
Polka & Da Pack, noon Sunday, Oct. 25 at Faraway Place
Children’s Trick-or-Treat Corn Maze & Halloween Party, 1 pm Sunday, Oct. 25 at Willow Springs Garden
Blossom of Lights at the Monk Gardens, 5 pm Monday, Oct. 26 at Monk Botanical Gardens
Fall Into Our Sensory Sensitive Night, 5–7 pm Tuesday, Oct. 27 at Children's Imaginarium
Wausau: Leaf Stamp Painting, 4 pm Tuesday, Oct. 27 at Marathon County Public Library—Wausau Headquarters
Trivia Night, 7 pm Tuesday, Oct. 27 at Uncommon Pints
Spooky Open Mic w/ Jake Ramsey, 9 pm Tuesday, Oct. 27 at Nevermore on Third
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