Once again, into the whirlwind of volunteerism that is the Martins Pond
Childrens' Haunted Playground event. This year was supposed to have a
Christmas theme, possibly driven by the observation that the local
stores were *already* full of Christmas stuff even well before
Halloween -- it appears more and more ridiculously early every year.
I think only the graveyard had a few hints of Christmas-y stuff, and everything else was pretty much status quo. We were fortunate to have gotten done with a brief but heavy nor'easter the day *before* the event, leaving a gorgeous albeit almost too warm Saturday in its wake that segued into a lovely Indian-summer evening. Possibly due to that, the event was pretty well-attended.
I got relatively few pictures worth presenting this time around, but prior
years amply document how the event
[Click any image for a larger copy.] |
The usual food setup in the pavilion. Chili, chowder, pulled pork, hot dogs, pizza, baked goods, !!coffee!! and other refreshments ... |
Features in the daylight
Set of the "Roadkill Cafe" skit. This is evidently a recurring theme that comes around every few years, but the first instance of it I'd seen. |
Pumpkin patch being constructed. Peter had a brilliant inspiration with the "floating" candles suspended on string; they added real eerie depth to the whole picture when viewed at night. |
The graveyard had yet another impressively creepy entrace portal. |
Lower half of graveyard path, relative to water's edge and slope of the beach |
Upper half of graveyard path |
Main "surprise corner" of graveyard, where visitors turn the 180 bend and have no idea what they'll run into. |
Some of our staff, after swapping into costumes. |
Roadkill Cafe cast and crew |
Dancing School prom queens on their set |
One of the skits involved something about Sponge Bob and trick-or-treating; I didn't really understand it but then again I don't watch Spongebob. |
EEP! Monsters!
This makes it clear that Spongebob is just a front for the Great Old Ones. |
Nightfall
As evening arrived and the park filled with patrons, the kids formed a traffic backup at the big playground slide the likes of which we rarely see. |
... which was lit up very vividly blue from the 5000+K LED mirror-ball lights and the Philips ersatz UV light I brought back in. |
The pumpkin patch looked awesome, and this year's story involved a living, moving scarecrow that lit up and walked toward the onlookers at the right moment. Rather impressive. |