Chamber putting together some Spooktacular Nights - volunteers needed for haunted house

There’s nothing like new ideas to bring people together, and there’s nothing like a haunted house for fun and thrills in the fall. These were some of the thoughts behind the Clarion Chamber’s planned Spooktacular Nights haunted house, set to run October 20-22. Members of the Chamber board and several volunteers are putting a lot of work into making this fun seasonal event a reality, but now they need some help from the community to make it happen.

Jaqueline Rief, executive chamber director, pushed the idea for a haunted house as a tourist attraction and met with the city to find a location. The old red barn at Lions Park, which has for years been used only as a storage building, was chosen. “There were other places discussed, but they were for sale or already sold,” she said. The barn was an ideal location as far as lighting, parking, and space—and “old barn” is a pretty good starting place for a Halloween-themed event.

Rief said a project like this should be started much earlier, April at least. However, the directors for the project feel good about the plans they have and the quality of the work they’ve seen so far. “The right people are at the table,” Rief said. “We’ve got the concepts,” added Dawn Hunt, co-creative director.

However, a lot of work still needs to be done before the Spooktacular Nights opening. The plan calls for at least 35 people to play characters, and a lot of construction, decoration, and costuming work needs to be done within the next month in a half. The deadline, though tight, “is not in any way, shape, or form affecting the scariness,” said Teresa Lancaster, also co-creative director. “What we need now are people for characters, and we need some supplies.”

For the full story, see the September 8 edition of the Monitor.