‘Cedar Hollow’ offers scares for a good cause

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This article was published 21/10/2024 (508 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The shambling members of the living dead hunger … for donations.

This Friday, the Cedar Hollow haunted house is bringing back its Scare Away Hunger food drive for Samaritan House Ministries.

Operated by Carla and Mike Mitchell and their daughters Emma, Claire and Hannah, the front lawn, driveway and garage of the family’s home on Cedar Bay has been converted into a display of spooky props, animatronics and inflatables.

New for this year is what the family calls the tunnel of terror, a combination of an inflatable archway in the form of a skeletal grim reaper and a tent that looks like ground zero for the outbreak of a zombie virus.

Though the fundraiser is only entering its second year, the Halloween objects the family uses come from a decade of running haunted houses dating back to when they used to live in Regina.

Throughout the year, they keep an eye on stores and garage sales to find good deals on items they can add to their macabre collection.

“We love Halloween,” Carla said. “It’s always been a big part of our life, so we like to do the decorating.”

After moving to Brandon in 2020, the family ran standard haunted houses in 2020, 2021 and 2022. They usually start setting things up around Oct. 1 each year.

“We had lot of people come,” Mike said. “At a certain point, we realized we had lots of people coming to our house and we wanted just to do something extra.”

In 2023, they counted roughly 400 visitors and collected more than 500 donations for Samaritan House.

For those visiting with donations this year, the Mitchells recommend non-perishable goods like cereal and pasta, and children’s items like baby foods, diapers and other hygiene products like toothpaste and shampoo. They don’t accept cash donations but encourage people to e-transfer money to Samaritan House if that’s what they’d like to do to help.

“We see a big need in Brandon, especially with the food bank where the need is getting much higher all the time,” Carla said. “It’s a good way to pair up our love of Halloween with doing something good for the community.”

On Oct. 25 and 26 from 5 to 9 p.m., Cedar Hollow will have “full scare hours” where all of the animatronics, lights and sound will be turned on and scare actors will be waiting to startle unsuspecting visitors.

The next day, on Oct. 27, they’re having “no scare hours” from 2 to 6 p.m. That time is meant more for little kids and those with lower tolerances for being scared.

During that time, Carla said the family will take the opportunity to talk to visitors about the importance of having food and food security. The big animatronics will be shut off and kid-friendly music will be played.

Then, on Halloween itself, the haunted house is open one final time from 5 to 9 p.m. for full-scare trick-or-treating.

Some of the scare actors helping out with the haunted house will be the Mitchells’ daughters.

When the Sun visited Cedar Hollow on Sunday, Emma and Claire dressed and acted like the creepy twins from “The Shining” while Emma convincingly portrayed a shambling zombie with a knife.

“They’re helping every day when we’re doing setup and they’re always looking for new ideas for how they can be part of the display,” Mike said. “Every couple of days, one will come with another idea of where they could hide and where they could jump out. I think they love it as much as we do.”

Asked what her favourite part of the haunted house is, Hannah was blunt: “Scaring people.”

“It’s the best Halloween house ever,” said Claire, adding that she thinks she’s the best at scaring visitors.

For more information about the haunted house, visit Cedar Hollow Scare Away Hunger on Facebook.

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