The Heward Haunted House will once again be providing thrills and frights to those willing to brave its displays, as it will be held over three days the weekend before Halloween, on Friday to Sunday, Oct. 24-26, at the Heward rink.
This will be the eighth year the fundraiser event is being held in the rink, said Chantelle Duxbury, vice-president of the Heward Parks and Rec Board, the non-profit organization that is staging the event to raise funds for making improvements to the Heward rink building.
“It’s approximately 10,000 square feet in area, and we have 15 rooms this year in the layout,” said Duxbury, who is responsible for making the layout of the haunted house. “This year is a little different, as we had quite a lot of flooding. We’re putting down plastic lining on the floor, which has added a neat effect while walking through the displays, but we’ll have to caution people to watch their steps, as it will be uneven.”
She noted that with the flooding they had in the rink, the haunted house almost didn’t happen this year, but they were able to get the water pumped out to enable the setup of the haunted house to take place.
“We do have some real props, like real heads and hides, but they will be up out of the way so people can’t touch them,” said Duxbury.
As for who can come to the event, Duxbury noted the Friday and Saturday events, which run from 7 to 11 p.m., is rated “R” — but families are allowed to bring their children, if the parents deem that the children are able to handle the scarier aspects of the displays.
“They do have to be accompanied by an adult, as it is going to be scary; if their parents feel they can handle it, then they can go through it,” said Duxbury.
The Sunday opening, from 1 to 5 p.m., has a “PG” rating that is suitable for all ages, and will be toned down from the level of scariness of the previous two days.
“Every person is different, and some kids don’t get scared while others would be very sensitive. On the Friday and Saturday, it really is scary, as we’ll have 10 to 15 scarers who will be in costumes scaring people as they go through the rooms,” explained Duxbury.
Also, the haunted house event will be licensed on Friday and Saturday, so all minors are required to be accompanied by an adult to be admitted, said Duxbury; they do not need to be accompanied by an adult for the Sunday staging of the haunted house.
“As we do it on the ice surface, we have to take it down, so it’s different. This year we’ll have a brand new floor plan where we will have them exit through the same door they came in, and they can stay in the building,” said Duxbury.
She notes it takes the volunteers between eight and 10 weeks to set it up, with different attractions or wrinkles put into the displays each year. The corn maze and pallet maze, both features of last year’s haunted house, will be back, with an expanded display.
“I’ve been to all the haunted houses that are set up in the area, and I hope they come out to see ours. It’s a fun family outing, as long as you’re not faint-of-heart. If you are, then come out on the Sunday,” chuckled Duxbury.
“We’re not there to terrorize people, but to give them a good scaring. This year hopefully we’ll have more people than ever.”
Last year there were between 300 and 350 who came out to see the haunted house displays. She noted they will have the kitchen open this year, serving hamburgers and hot dogs, with a bar available on the Friday and Saturday evenings.
The goal is to help the Parks and Rec Board keep the Heward rink going, and repairs are needed for the facility to keep operating each year.
