Preparing to Scare
Haunted tours, trails and houses on city’s Halloween menu
By Bobbi Mlynar
Saturday, October 21, 2006
Haunted houses and a ghostly tour are among the events and activities scheduled in this area to celebrate Halloween.
Emporia’s friendliest ghosts may show up for the Flashlight Tour of Haunted Emporia.
Participants will need to bring flashlights to the event, which is sponsored by the William Allen White Community Partnership and Emporia State University Theatre’s Educational Theatre Company.
The tour will include an interactive “Phantom Theatre,” featuring theater company members and the storytelling of S.C. Dixon, a news release said.
Performances will begin Friday at 6, 7, 8, and 9 p.m. and participants may begin at any of the “haunted” sites listed below:
William Allen White House State Historic Site, 927 Exchange St.: Learn about Mrs. Gillette and of Teddy, the dog spirit. Refreshments and an opportunity to enter for a prize drawing will be available in the Visitor Center.
E.S.U. Memorial Union, enter from Kellogg Drive at 12th Avenue and Commercial Street: Learn about “Martha and Her High Jinks.”
Emporia Granada Theatre Alliance, 807 Commercial St.: Hear the story of the spirit of the Granada Studio.
Plumb Place, Inc. 224 East Sixth Ave.: Hear of the sightings of Senator Preston B. Plumb, a founder of Emporia.
The cost of the tour tickets will be $8 for adults, $6 for college students, $4 for children aged 5 and older and senior citizens, and $20 for a group or family of five.
Proceeds will benefit E.S.U. Theatre scholarships, the Emporia Granada Theatre Alliance, Plumb Place Inc., and the William Allen White House State Historic Site.
Haunted trail
A Haunted Trail has been set up at Camp Alexander east of Emporia on Old Highway 50. Executive director Sara Shaw said that accommodations have been made for the youngest or most easily frightened participants, who will be given white glow sticks to identify them along the trail. The white sticks are a signal to staff and volunteers that they will need to tone down their ghoulish activities as those people pass by. Hikers who do not carry the sticks will be given the full haunting treatment.
“About any age will have some enjoyment in it,” Shaw said.
The trail takes about 15 minutes or more to complete.
The cost is $5 and one can of food per person or $6 per person without the can of food. Children under two years of age will be admitted free of charge. The trail is open
The canned goods collected at the Haunted Trail will be donated to the Salvation Army on behalf of Emporia State University, which is in a spirited competition with Washburn University to collect food for the Salvation Army.
‘Trunk or Treat’
The annual “Trunk or Treat” sponsored by Grace United Methodist Church will be held in the church parking lot, South Avenue and State Street, on Halloween night.
Trick-or-treaters may stop by for treats that will be distributed from the trunks of volunteers’ vehicles. Rhonda and Tony Tollette are in charge of the event.
Creepy Cross House
Debbi and Bob Rodak have resurrected and expanded the haunted tour that begins at the old Cross House at the southeast corner of Sixth Avenue and Union Street. Approximately 30 young people from the Emporia High School theater department and instructor Amanda Vannocker have helped the Rodaks in build props and decorate for the tour. The young actors also will dress in costume and help operate the outdoor tour, which begins on the verandah of the house, runs out the back, across a suspension bridge, and ends at the driveway of the house next door.
“The theater department has been so awesome,” Debbi Rodak said. “We’ve got kids that have put in 20 hours a week working here” after school and on weekends.
The set includes tombstones in the yard, witches, “his and her” caskets complete with occupants, life-sized costumed characters and other Halloween accouterments, including the Rodaks’ two live black cats.
“We will do our best not to frighten the little ones,” Debbi Rodak said.
The tour will be open on Oct. 28, and on Halloween. Admission will be one non-perishable food item per person or $1 per person without the food item.
Proceeds will benefit “Trick of Treat So Kids Can Eat.”
Neosho Rapids
The Neosho Rapids Lions Club, in cooperation with Fire District No. 5 and the city of Neosho Rapids Project Committee volunteers, have assembled the ingredients for a spooky weekend at the Neosho Rapids Haunted House.
Activities, which all begin at the Neosho Rapids Community Center, will include hay rack rides, with concessions served by the Rinker 4-H Club. Children’s games and a pumpkin patch also will be available. “Spooking” begins at 6 p.m. and ends at 1 a.m.
Recreation commission
The Peter Pan baseball diamonds will be the scene of a “Freaky Fun Fest” sponsored by the Emporia Recreation Commission. The event, which is free of charge, will be from 4 to 5 p.m. on Halloween and will include a candy scramble and costume contest.
Eagles carnival
The Eagles Aerie 2587 at 1130 East Ninth Ave. will host its 18th annual carnival from noon to 6 p.m. Oct. 29. The carnival formerly benefited the DARE program in the Emporia school district. Because the DARE program no longer operates within the district, the event has been re-named the Drug Awareness Carnival, with benefits going to the Emporians for Drug Awareness.
Children and adults are invited to come in costume and a judging is planned with prizes in five categories from 0 months to adult.
A group of local students from the Students Against Destructive Decisions organization, headed by Angela Morey, will operate a haunted house at the carnival and a variety of games and activities are planned, with more challenging games for older children.
Ella Duncan of the Eagles said that decorated cakes will be awarded as prizes in a cake walk. Food also will be sold. Game participants may buy tickets at four for a dollar, Duncan said. Most games will require two tickets.
Duncan said that the club’s social room will be closed during the carnival and no drinks will be served on the premises.
For more information, call Duncan at 342-1553.
‘Boo in the Zoo’
Kids in costume are expected to flock to “Boo in the Zoo” from 4 to 5:30 p.m. on Halloween at the David Traylor Zoo.
The annual event is sponsored by the Emporia Friends of the Zoo.
Candy and Halloween mementos will be distributed to the youngsters and a maze for smaller children has been set up behind the Education Building on the zoo grounds.
Zoo office manager Lori Andrews said that the event draws between 400 and 500 children each year.
Andrews, who plans to dress as a bottle of mustard, said that many of the docents, EFOZ board members and volunteers will be in costume for the event.
“This is just a fun time,” Andrews said.
“Boo in the Zoo” is open to the public at no charge.