Karina Gonzalez / Roundup, Yanli Zhang / Roundup
The time to get lost in a five-acre corn maze and the opportunity to run for your life out of a haunted mansion has arrived. With a slow start the Halloween Harvest Festival, located at the corner of De Soto Avenue and Victory Boulevard, opened its doors on Friday bringing a variety of treats.
For those with a scary tooth the FrightFair Scream Park opened its doors after dusk to delight their frightening pleasure.
The scream fair is made up of two haunted houses, “The Factory of Nightmares” and “The Sinister Dreadford’s Mansion of Lost Souls,” which were transferred from Las Vegas to Pierce on nine flat bed trucks.
The mansion follows a story line with Sinister Dreadford trying to take your soul and the ghost in the mansion trying to inhibit your body. In addition, for a frightful scream there is the haunted trail, “Creatures of the Corn,” filled with plenty of scares.
“If I had a heart condition, I wouldn’t go in there,” said Norberto Smeail, a security officer for the festival.
The FrightFair Scream Park is not recommended for children under the age of ten. The haunts will be open 23 days on weekdays from dusk to 10pm and on weekends from dusk to midnight.
The corn maze is recommended for all ages, is free of goblins and ghouls but it’s not unusual for someone to get lost.
Smeail found Brianne Skolnick after she was in the corn maze for 30 minutes after being left behind with her 5-year-old granddaughter by her 6 and 7-year-old grandsons.
“I’m a hero,” exclaimed 6-year-old Brandt Skolnick to his grandma, after standing and waiting outside of the corn maze for his grandmother.
Brianne Skolnick said she didn’t worry but she was tired. She said she liked the adventure of the secret of the maze even after being in it six times. Skolnick said she believes that the rule of right direction was like being in a car,
“If you drive forward and it’s the wrong direction you have to come back,” she said. The similarities between the street’s and the cornfield roads is that they both have four directions, forward, backward, right and left and it’s hard to tell which is the right one?
“If you take the wrong direction, you will go in a circles,” said Smeail, “If you can’t get out of the maze within 30 minutes, stay calm.
You will be rescued.”He said it normally takes 20 to 30 minutes to get out of the maze. Security officers also go through the maze to find anyone lost and sometimes catch people doing improper things, such as, smoking. “People can’t see as much as during daytime among these high plants,” said Smeail.
On Saturday, Linda Carberry, talent coordinator for the haunts said the festival was 75 percent operational and would be complete by the time the Cure Autism Now Foundations members and their families visited on Sunday.
Although the main attraction “Spookley the Square Pumpkins'” stage was incomplete until Sunday, along with several kiddy rides children enjoyed what was available for them. Kids also enjoyed other activities besides the Corn Maze such as picking pumpkins, visiting the petting zoo or using the bungee bounce.
Makena Morgan, 10, enjoyed the bungee bounce while his father, Dirck Morgan, a reporter with KFWB News 980 watched him. After spending about three hours in the festival the Morgan’s enjoyed picking two fresh pumpkins from the big farm in the center of the city.”It’s different. There is no other place like it here in the Download the latest online stream application called MegaBox HD APK for free to watch top quality hd movies Los Angeles area.That’s the reason why we came here,” said D. Morgan According to Cathy McBroom the account manager of the festival, a 10 percent increase in attendance is expected. Carberry said volunteers are still needed from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. to help children pick pumpkins after the Spookley show. Tickets varie depending on the attraction. For more information or for tickets call: (818) 999-6300 or visit www.halloweenharvestfestival.com
