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Well, we had another night of rain, but it didn't stop our setup and it sure didn't stop the 245 trick-or-treaters that came through the yard haunt, so I'm going to say that Halloween 2014 was a success. A cold, wet and fun success!
T-shirts and posters go out to the following Cemetery members, who without their help, Highbury Cemetery wouldn't exist: Sharon, Karen, Jenn, Scrapes, Andrew, Stacey, Vince, Neighbor Joe, Laurie, and new friend to the Cemetery Mike, who just showed up to check things out but stayed all night and helped with the tear down (I have one extra shirt coming your way, my friend!!).
Without further ado, I present Highbury Cemetery, 2014:
Another Halloween has come and gone, and every inch of my body aches as I sit here and type this. Definitely a sign of a good night of haunting!!
Everything went up in the yard haunt in record time and the makeup went on smoothly...
...and then the rain started. Less than an hour before trick-or-treat. Damn. Cursed again. Luckily, it wasn't a torrential downpour like last year, but it continued throughout the rest of the night to put a damper on the evening's events.
We still had a great turnout of kids, parents and curious onlookers and we still got all props and lighting set up in the yard, so overall I would call it a success.
All the props are now in the garage, slowly drying out, and so far it looks like only my talking skull greeter was affected by the rain. By the end of the night, he wasn't so much talking as just blurting out a random sound every few seconds. Hopefully after a few days of drying out, everything will be okay.
I have quite a few photos to go through and will post them as quickly as I can. The rain actually helped with the cemetery fogger and I think I got a couple of really great fog photos. And because everyone and everything was pretty soaked by the end of the night, I opted out of shooting any video, as I think everyone, myself included, was ready for tearing down and getting into the house for some dry clothes and warm food.
But for now, I'm going to plant myself on the couch for a while and decide on whether I want to make the trip to the annual Dia de Muertos parade in Cleveland this afternoon.
Less than 24 hours to go! It's the night before Halloween, and I'm working in circles to get things done for tomorrow's big show. I'm bleary eyed, but the adrenaline shooting through my veins is keeping me going...
All of the big props are done and ready to go, all of the little pieces parts are in their proper staging areas and the makeup reference photos are all laid out. Tomorrow's checklist is written so that I can knock out each step in order to be ready to face the onslaught of trick-or-treaters.
I had time for my annual "Night Before Halloween" movie:
And I even had a chance to get a nice teaser pic for tomorrow night's display. Weather aside, I'm hoping to pull off our best yard haunt yet.
After months of planning and building, the big night is finally upon us. Halloween is here. Are you ready?
As some of you might have noticed, I was including the forecast for Halloween night in some of my earlier blog posts but have since stopped. That's because as Halloween got closer, the forecast got worse.
I can barely even bring myself to look at the updated forecast, as it looks like for the third year running, we are once again going to have to deal with rain on Halloween night. It's like I can't catch a break. It's like I'm cursed...
I won't lie. Looking at this now gives me a rancid knot in the depths of my stomach, especially after the disaster from last year due to this very same forecast. A year's worth of work and planning, only to have to deal with foul weather again. FUUUUUUUUUU...
Okay, so after talking myself down from the ledge, I have decided to be optimistic. The few props that I did put out in last year's downpour made it through with flying colors (after a few days of drying out in my garage), so I've decided to go full Darwin with my haunt this year - that is, everything is going out on display. Props, lights, foggers, animatronics and everything else. And it's survival of the fittest. Anything that doesn't make it through this year's display will either get fixed or it will go in the trash, to be replaced with something bigger and better for next year.
Mother Nature, you screwed me last year. But this time it's my turn. Rain all you want. Because next year I'll be back with even more in the yard haunt. And it will continue to be upgraded for the elements. It may have taken eleven years, but I'm finally getting smart about things.
And here's to a dry forecast wherever you may be haunting. Turn it up to eleven and crank it out. This is the day that we have all been waiting for. And some rain drops won't get us down. We've worked too hard for this.
Back before the interwebs, ordering your favorite horror movie shirts, tanks and sweatshirts was incredibly difficult! Here's a crazy Return of the Living Dead II shirt commercial from 1987...
The seasonal pumpkin beers are flowing fast and furiously around the Cemetery as we count down the final week until Halloween. It's the rocket fuel that propels me through the remaining builds for this year's yard haunt. Today, I'm sipping on some New Belgium Pumpkick. And like all pumpkin beers this season, it must face the dreaded Drunken Jackos rating scale!
When I first heard about New Belgium's seasonal beer, I made sure to keep an eye out, as I really wanted to try it. New Belgium's beers have only been available in this area since February, and Pumpkick, like all of the New Belgium beers, have been flying off the shelves.
Upon pouring the Pumpkick, I noticed a subtle, sweet, spicy aroma as the medium copper-brown beer filled the glass. With the first taste, I noticed the spicy, pumpkin flavor, but was pleasantly surprised by an aftertaste of this beer's special ingredient: cranberry. What a nice surprise! It had a tart, sweet aftertaste that really sets it apart from any of the other pumpkin beers that I have reviewed this year. Honestly, while drinking this beer, the flavors reminded me of Thanksgiving dinner! The balance of the spicy pumpkin followed by the sweet cranberry make this one of the favorite beers of everyone in the Cemetery, and I hope to score a few more bottles before the season ends.
The only downside is that after two beers, the cranberry became a bit overpowering. But honestly, that is a very minor ding. The subtle aroma coupled with the spicy pumpkin flavor and that wonderful finish of cranberry earns New Belgium Pumpkick 4.5 out of 5 Drunken Jackos. This really is a nice change of pace to all of the other pumpkin beers on the market right now. This one will definitely be in the Cemetery cooler on Halloween night!!
