2007 in Review

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Category: In Review

Written by Guy Wolford

2007, the year of the wind.

2007 was another big roll-out year for us here at boo.

Construction started early as usual, at least in concept form. We laid out our plans when the weather was still warm, taking on a LOT of wood for this season. We had 3 big props to build this year and we FINALLY got started with the actual build in October.

Lighting and power consumption were big topics for 07's Halloween haunt. The previous years we had run into problems with too much juice drain on one circuit causing us to rethink quickly right before we opened. Our lights alone, we figured, were consuming over 1000 watts of power and still not effectively lighting the haunt.  We got to work measuring, then building a scale model of the haunt out of clay which we then threw light around in. It helped us decided more effective placement of lighting for the upcoming year.

This year was marked by the addition of our largest prop to date The Gorilla Cage which stands about 8ft tall and 4ft wide and houses a very unpredictable gorilla (played by Zach in his 2nd year with us).  We also finally received our Electric Chair Twitcher pneumatic prop just in time for the haunt while our barbecued blucky skeleton found a home upon a spinning rotisserie for our version of the Boneyard BBQ. A centerpiece of the year was the Carnival Ticket Booth which occupied the very center of the yard.

The prevalent problem with 2007 (there is always one) was the intense wind we experienced. Our gorilla cage, The Nono Ghost , bleeding tombstone and other larger props (the gorilla cage itself is well over 100 pounds fully assembled) had to be weighted down with sandbags (thanks to Toni) due to the extreme velocity of the wind. The Fountain of blood was spraying bloody water over a 3 foot radius when a big gust would start up.

We had a relatively positive cast consisting of some veterans of previous years and a few new people. We had lots of visitors and great compliments. After the haunt was closed for the evening, we spent nearly 30 minutes talking to guests and neighbors and taking photos. Tear down took longer due to the construction of newer props but, thankfully, nothing was destroyed by the winds.

2007 marked a most successful year to date and allowed us some other ideas that would segue into 2008s haunt.