Submitted by: Beverley Polon | We hope you had a chance to visit the Swan Valley Communities That Care (SVCTC) Spooktober- Fest Haunted House!

It was a smashing event which offered a Halloween experience for all ages. There were over 1640 visitors, who attended Spooktober-Fest at the SV Historical Museum over the three days of October 27, 28 and 30, 2017. All visitors were invited to engage in our fun family friendly Halloween theme.

The Haunted House event offered a parent and tot friendly entry area with Halloween décor, games, and activities hosted by Headstart. This was a great area for the very young to enjoy games and the company of other young children. Lots of fun and adventure was enjoyed in this area.

From there, visitors were invited in to the Halloween tactile area created by Mrs. Zaretsky-Denischuk’s SVRSS Art Class. There were 14 stations offering the hands on discovery of what witches fingers and tongue, monster teeth and ears, and brains might feel like. Lots of squeals and screams came out of this area. Michif Child & Family Services created a scary entrance into the tactile area. In this area as well, there were Halloween games of chance, giving all an opportunity to win a pumpkin or other Halloween treats. The games were provided by the SVRSS Safe Grad Committee.

Lineups for the ever popular Face painting were constant every evening. Artistry and Halloween themes were painted by Unicorn Face Painting (Dana Paull), Maclyn Bourghart & Lisa Lintick. There was also a jungle themed Jeep donated by ACL and a room for the children to color while waiting for their opportunity to have their faces painted.

If you were brave enough to choose the 5 Cat Scary Level you travelled into the back of the building. There visitors entered a haunted area hosted by the SVRSS Rugby Group, The Average Joe’s group and the Big Woody Group, who went all out to create a truly frightening experience.

To take in the level 5 scary sections this year, guests ventured outside to the Tony Gulash blue hall The themes of the entire area this year was Steven Kings IT, House of Horrors, and a mixture of different scary rooms found in the circular house.

Visitors first entered the Gulash building into the Average Joe’s section which was set up to mimic multiple re-enactments from the old and new Steven King’s IT movie. From there participants entered into the SVRSS Rugby section which lead them down multiple dark and mysterious hallways and into different scenes of frights from horror movies to truly create a house of horrors.

From there people made their way to the famous Big Woody Group who took over the white octagon house on the Museum grounds. This section encompassed multiple different rooms each decorated and incorporated a different type of scare. They totally represented and highlighted the history of this building and incorporated startle and screams around every corner. With a combination of all three scary sections visitors truly got a full scale eventing of Halloween fun!

Lastly all visitors were treated to free hot chocolate, cookies and ice cream cones generously provided by the SV Coop, Service to Seniors, and Extra Foods. Of course, a Halloween treat was offered to all children and youth as well as an opportunity to enter a door prize for the adults. Throughout all of these areas we also had the Stampeder Hockey Team player’s & the SUCCEED Program students participation in helping to set-up and take down of the panels, and hay bales. We also had the Swan Valley Air Cadets help with Security and act as extra hands during the Monday night. This 2017 Spooktober-Fest Haunted House event was a smashing success.

Community Businesses and Organizations as well as community members were very generous with their support and donations. We look forward to hosting this activity again next year. We would like to thank everyone for coming out and helping to make our Spooktober-Fest such a wonderful success. Priceless hours were spent towards the organization and performing at the Haunted house event. A big Thank you to the countless volunteers that worked to make this event possible.