Haunted Drive Thru scares up fun
Halloween looked very different this year in the town of Woodstock, New Brunswick. Trick or Treating had been banned in the community to lessen the risk of COVID. To fill the void, the Town of Woodstock partnered with the Woodstock Rotary Club to create the Haunted Drive-Thru; it was a free event for all that would preserve the safety of people’s bubbles and instill some Halloween fright in families of all-ages.
It began at 3:30 with a sensory-friendly environment for little kids; it was followed by a spookier phase for young kids running from four to seven which culminated in a scary environment for older children filled with flashing lights, scary characters and a chilling atmosphere.
No matter what time you attended, the drive-thru followed the same basic structure; a car would drive a designated path through a queue. The first stop would be a truck full of treats, safely delivered through a car’s window via pizza peel. From then, the cars would queue up in line waiting their turn to go in groups of ten cars through the “scare zone”. The “scare zone” were two tunnels filled with all kinds of Halloween iconography. Depending on the time, it was either a daylight attraction or a moonlit tunnel filled with strobing lights, videos projected on the walls surrounding it, and masked characters wielding knives and chainsaws. Once a car made it through they would be guided out of the parking lot by volunteers and directly onto the road. For an extra fright, cars could tune into a special radio frequency to hear spooky music, and audio directly in their vehicles. Other costumed characters, made up of local volunteers and high school students, wandered around the cars outside the “scare zone” as well, only popping up to scare the passengers during the “scary” period.
The drive-thru was a true community effort; aside from the Rotary Club and the town itself, local businesses lent mangled-up cars, old clothes, Halloween decorations and other props to decorate the scene. The “scare zone” itself consisted of four large truck containers used to create the two tunnels. With concerns about trick or treating this year already being raised before the ban, many residents donated the Halloween candy they would normally hand out to be used for the special treat bags.
“I think the biggest comment we received as well as others is people in the community weren’t quite sure about people coming door to door especially their door”, said Corey Clark, a local business owner and a member of the Rotary Club who helped put the drive thru together. “So when they were dropping their treats off at the Ayr Motor Centre they actually commented that they were quite happy that this event was taking place.”
The early afternoon to late evening saw a steady flow of cars in and out of the event; it didn’t let up until near the very end. By 8 PM, they had gone through over 1500 bags of treats of the 2200 they had prepared.
“It’s been an amazing turnout”, said Scott Dunlop, President of the Rotary Club. “I really don’t know how many people for sure. A lot of vehicles had four or five or six people. It was just something to see.”
It took a lot of manpower and the support of an entire town behind it, but the Haunted Drive-Thru was a success and instilled the Halloween spirit in those who came. While kids in Woodstock weren’t able to Trick or Treat, they still had quite the scare.