The thrill to spook is giving the Boys and Girls Clubs of Red Deer and District some positive copycat attention.
Airdrie city council recently gave the Boys and Girls Club of Airdrie support to expand its haunted house to a former RCMP building, and it will hold the event for a longer period.
It modelled this year’s event after what has been done in Red Deer, which expanded its event in 2011 and raised $80,000.
John Johnston, fund development manager for the Boys and Girls Club of Red Deer, said it’s flattering to have an affiliated agency look to what Red Deer has been doing.
The charity has run the haunted house in Red Deer for more than 20 years.
“The people in Airdrie had a little small haunted house that they had been running for a few years,” said Johnston. “They wanted to upscale, which I think is wonderful.”
Red Deer’s community committee that looks after the haunted house event for the Boys and Girls Club had been working with the Airdrie group for some time. The City of Leduc is also looking at modelling the Red Deer’s haunted house, said Johnston.
Johnston said Red Deer organizers hope to raise $80,000 this year for the Boys and Girls Club. The club runs programs for children aged 7 to 17.
Unlike many haunted attractions where patrons enter a scare house filled with mechanical devices to startle, the event combines animatronics with real actors.
This year’s event is at 7710 50th Ave. (Lions Plaza) on the north end of Red Deer beside Totem.
The Zed Haunted House will be open every evening from Oct. 19 to 31 from 6 to 10 p.m. The Friday, Oct. 26, Midnight Madness will run from midnight to 2 a.m. As well, Saturday and Sunday matinees run from 1 to 4 p.m.
For more information, go online at www.zedhauntedhouse.com.
ltester@www.reddeeradvocate.com