INNISFAIL – Costumes, treats, haunted houses and even royalty were all part of the Halloween Party at the Village.
The annual two-day event took place at the Innisfail and District Historical Village on Oct. 19 and 20.
“It has been absolutely fantastic,” said Kayla Godkin, manager at the historical village. ”We’ve had more people tonight on night one (Saturday) than we did on both nights last year.”
More than 180 visitors came out for night one of the Halloween party.
“Last year I believe they had 140 (visitors) in total for both nights,” she added. “It’s one of our more popular events.”
Godkin noted several possible factors for the increase in attendance.
“Probably the nice weather. I was told that last year was a little cold and a little rainy so that definitely affects things.”
Every year, the historical village presents a Halloween themed event in October. It includes a variety of activities, treats and plenty of family fun.
In addition, families also enjoyed arts, crafts and hot chocolate.
“Each of the different buildings is a mini-themed haunted house so there’s something for everybody,” said Godkin. “We do have that safe space for the little ones inside the tea room as well.”
There was plenty of positive feedback about the event on Saturday night, she noted.
“People have made comments that they really want to get involved with this and help with (the event) next year. That’s really exciting for us,” explained Godkin. “We have about 30 people here helping tonight and only two of us are staff members, the rest are volunteers.”
All money raised from the fundraising event goes back into the village, noted Godkin.
“It helps us to update stuff and keeps the village open and running,” she added.
“We tend to get more teenagers and young couples on the first night and on the second night it tends to be more families but there’s a lot of families here tonight too,” said Godkin, adding the event ran from 6 to 8 p.m. both nights.
One of those families was Lisa Marchant and her two sons from Olds. They were attending the Halloween Party at the Village for the first time, but have visited the historical village previously throughout the year.
“This is our first year here. We like it, it’s good,” said Marchant. “My son Charlie is liking the sword fight so far.”
