Fire Fright (new photos)

From start to finish a solid line of ghosts and goblins flowed through the haunted house at Fire Station #1 Tuesday night and the blood curdling screams could be heard as far away as the YMCA on Chippewa Street.

“It’s the best one yet,” says Chris Curthbertson Organising committee member.

Hampered by the recent windstorm, worried about rotting pumpkins and other contributing factors, Cuthbertson wasn’t sure how the event would come together, but says in the end the community came to the rescue and the night was a huge success.

It took two truckloads of props for the visual art students from Widdifield Secondary School to turn the vehicle bays into a spooktacular house of horror.

Visual Arts Teacher Chris Walking told BayToday that his students all volunteered for the project and worked for three solid weeks after school to develop themes and build the sets.

“This is the 5th year that we have participated,” he says.

“We called a meeting shortly after school started in September and began brainstorming ideas then the kids started to work in teams on the four rooms.”

The evening was a true community event with everyone helping out from the Skyhawks shelling out candy to company’s like Help On Board and Benjamin James Marketing & Advertising hosting a pumpkin carving contest to raise funds hoping that they would encourage others to help out.

Cuthbertson says he is thrilled with the students and the response of the community and says that is why he continues to work hard to make the project a success.

“This was passed on to me … passed from one generation to the next,” he says.

“We started from zero this year and the community came together and that is why I do it … to keep the community tight.”