Rex B. Hamilton reports on the Great Lakes Fright Fest

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RexBHamilton
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Joined: Mon Mar 27, 2006 11:19 pm

Rex B. Hamilton reports on the Great Lakes Fright Fest

Post by RexBHamilton » Mon Jun 19, 2006 10:51 pm

Rex B. Hamilton reports on the Great Lakes Fright Fest



June 19, 2006



Greetings, Fellow Haunters:



If haunted camping is in your blood, then the Great Lakes Fright Fest is one to mark on your calendar in years to come. For the past six summers, this regional festival of haunted hoopla has taken place at Totem Pole Park in Petersburg, Michigan. It is about nine miles north of the Ohio border near Toledo.

The Fright Fest is an event designed for campers. There were late-night campfire yakkety-yak sessions for night-owl haunters. Horseshoe, volleyball, basketball, and football games took place around us that weekend. The really big meal was a covered dish affair on Saturday evening. Kids had their own activity tent throughout the weekend where they were tended to by volunteer adults.

Producer Kkrazy Kkaren Taylor and her efficient staff answered all questions and kept the crowd of 165 people in the loop on the weekend of the 2nd through 4th. To her credit, Karen arranged things so that it was a free weekend for all attendees. For example, I pitched my two-man tent on a site designed for an RV at zero charge. Zeke the Wonder Dog, my camping buddy, had fresh running water, and I had 110- and 220-volt outlets into which to plug my cellphone charger.

Those interested were presented with one-and-a-half days of haunted seminars. Those who wanted to build a working haunted house did so at a feverish pitch both Friday and Saturday. And there were those who simply wanted to sit under a large umbrella and chat the time away with friends

Right after a Saturday lunch of grilled burgers and dogs, I presented my newest haunted session - “Energizing your actors: what producers must preach to their actors night after night.” I received a big round of applause at the conclusion of my talk which made me a happy GLFF camper.

During the Saturday-morning seminars, Zeke flaked out on the grass next to me and quietly snoozed the hours away. But when I got going on my afternoon seminar, he started barking like crazy. (It’s a wonder I didn’t wring his scrawny neck for the interruption.) Unbeknownst to me, during my talk, a couple of attendees grabbed up my dog, led him away and kept him quiet for the rest of my class. I regret that I cannot remember the names of these kind haunters who did me a big favor that day.

Passing out the door-prize and raffle-winner items consumed about an hour-and-a-half after the Saturday evening covered dish dinner. The next event was the grand fog-off where a dozen or so fog machines/chillers poured out their collective mist so that the young children could romp and cavort through it.

The big event on Saturday night was the actual haunted house, open to the public. The show was built, room by room, by Fright Fest attendees. From what I could tell, the show ran from 9:30 until 11:30. I did my Dr. Giggles character that evening and had a lot of fun. It was the 58th haunted attraction that I’ve worked in. I got made up in the men’s shower building with a handful of guys from some other haunt that I can’t remember. These spookers were less than half my age, but they were nice enough to chat with me as we all made ourselves look goshdarn awful.

A couple of the scenes in that 2500-square-foot haunt were ones that any professional haunt producer would have been proud to call his own. Being that this was a haunt designed by home haunters, the scenes were heavily loaded up with props and decorations. The design left little room for us few actors to strut our stuff. But I did manage to find a handful of scenes that had an attack pathway that I could use to spook the customers.

It rained on and off that Saturday evening, but it never rained hard enough to dampen the enthusiasm of the haunt’s creators and creepers. Troops of Boy Scouts and groups of other campers at Totem Pole Park braved their way through, giving us performers enough chances for serious scares to call it a challenging night.

Sunday was the sunniest day at GLFF. After a big pancake breakfast in the late morning, some attendees sat down to a half-day of haunted seminars. Others pitched in to tear down the haunted attraction. Still others didn’t give a darn - they plopped themselves under large umbrellas and continued yakking as if their lives depended on it.

When I left the show early Sunday afternoon, things were in fine shape. Seminars were in progress and the remaining attendees were nibbling at the leftovers from the previous night’s dinner. The most important aspect was this: haunters were enjoying the company of fellow haunters. Karen and her cohorts rightfully deserve my thanks.


Very truly yours,


Rex B. Hamilton


13939 Clifton Boulevard
Lakewood, Ohio 44107-1462
216.226.7764 (home)
216.973.0050 (cell)
EvilLordZargon@msn.com

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