Dare you enter the Granton Haunted Forest?
About two years ago, the Granton agriculture department began making plans to build an animal lab at the school, a project that would require both fundraising and support from the school, students and community. To start, the agriculture department held a Haunted Forest event to raise funds for the project. After a year’s absence, they are bringing back the event for two weeks of Friday-Saturday night fun and scares.
The Haunted Forest will be held at the Granton School Forest at the Granton School District from 7-10 p.m. on Oct. 15-16, and Oct. 22-23. Anyone ages 12 and older will be allowed entry to the Haunted Forest for $10 each, with the money raised going towards the animal lab project. Parents who want to have their younger children go through the forest will have the opportunity to let them participate in a special Forest Education Night on Oct. 23 from 2-5 p.m.
Katie Reider, the agriculture teacher and FFA advisor at Granton, said the Haunted Forest was a huge success the first time it was held two years ago. Unable to hold the same event last year due to all the uncertainty and restrictions in place due to COVID-19, she said they felt it was a good time to bring the event back and restart their fundraising work for their animal lab.
“We’re still getting our feet under us,” she said on the progress on fundraising for the lab. “We started this two years ago then COVID hit. It really slowed things down for us. We were not able to do any of the fundraising that we had planned. The next step for us is to get a blueprint down so we can start planning the other things that we will need.”
While they are still working on making further headway into their fundraising efforts, Reider said they have been able to make some amazing strides in operating their Haunted Forest since last holding the event. After being shown the ropes on how to run such an event safely and effectively by the Pettit family, which used to run a Haunted Forest in Chili, she said the school was able to go on their own this year to bring the event to life.
“We were totally on our own,” she said. “We picked up a lot of things from the Pettits. From a safety
“The students put this together and put a lot of effffort into it. They take pride in their work ... It has been their way to get excited and involved.” -Granton agriculture instructor and FFA advisor Katie Reider
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO standpoint, we have learned how to create a scene that is still safe, but scary. We were fortunate to get a lot of donations from people for this. Sav-Rite donated plywood for us to use for signs and structures. Everything in the forest has been done by the kids and their families.”
The ability of the students to create this year’s Haunted Forest is something Reider said she is very proud of. From veterans of the first Haunted Forest to new volunteers, she said every one of them spent time outside of the school day working hard to come up with ideas for the Forest, make props and find volunteers to serve as the event’s scarers.
“This is 100 percent volunteer- run,” she said. “The students put this together and put a lot of effort into it. They take pride in their work. There were some kids, who were just getting involved in FFA taking part. For example, there was one kid who hadn’t done a lot of things yet, come up and ask if he could build a surgical table (for the Haunted Forest), I said we could think about it and he comes in a few days later with a surgical table he had made with his dad. It is incredible. It has been their way to get excited and involved.”
Without giving too much away before the event, Reider said this year’s Haunted Forest will follow the theme of a summer camp, an idea the students came up with from the movie “Friday the 13th.” Many of the scenes, she said, will feature some aspect of a camp such as a nurse’s station that will be twisted in such a way that will make them scary for attendees of the event. There will also be some other elements that were successful during the first year of the Haunted Forest that will be brought back as surprises.
“The kids really wanted to go with this idea of Camp Granton,” she said. “They based it off a camp in “Friday the 13th.” We took typical things that you will see in a camp and tried to find ways to make it scary. They came up with the way to make things like the nurse’s office into something like a crazy nurse/ surgeon place. We decided to play up a little of the blood and gore, bring back typical favorites like zombies and some unique things.”
In addition to the Haunted Forest event, Reider said there will be a Forest Education Night on Oct. 23 for children to come down and participate in before the forest is opened for the night. The children will be allowed to go through the forest to participate in different activity stations ranging from creating campfires to making trail mix, crafts and knot tying. This event is free, she said, but the agriculture department is also accepting free-will donations to their animal lab at this event.
Parking for both the Haunted Forest and the Forest Education Night will be in the high school and elementary parking lots at the Granton School District. Visitors can get in line to go into the Haunted Forest at the playground behind the school and will be taken in groups by a student guide. Those wishing to enter the Haunted Forest will have to sign a waiver to enter, and strobe lights will be used at the event.
