WAWOTA - The Wawota Haunted Hotel continues to grow every year and this year seemed to be better than ever.
Originally starting as a Movember fundraiser in 2016, it turned out to be a success and is still running six years later.
Kayla Porter, Danni Dennis, Lynette Coffey, Michelle Klein, friends and numerous volunteers make the hotel possible.
It is now the biggest annual fundraiser for groups such as the town's curling rink, daycare and arena.
They have also been able to donate monetary awards to three students from the Wawota Parkland School.
To date, the haunted hotel has donated $16,000 back into the community.
According to Klein, it is not only the volunteers that help, but the entire community also gets involved.
“Wawota rocks,” said Klein.
What Lurks in the Dark haunted hotel was located beside Front Porch Interiors, which remained open late for people who were waiting for their turn and gave them something to do.
The Front Porch Interiors was having their closing-out sale during this time.
For the past six years the organizers have tried different techniques on how to apply the special FX makeup to make horrifying faces.
This hotel is not for the faint of heart, as the costumes and makeup are lifelike and the rooms are dark with only a little light shining in.
Oct. 20, 21 and 28 were evening shows and could be pre-booked. These evenings had all the gory details.
The first weekend had 434 people come to be entertained and scared.
The following weekend did not go as the volunteers had planned. Oct. 29 was to be the Monster Mash – an afternoon show set aside for a family event. The lights were to be kept brighter for the kids and the makeup was toned down to not scare the people too much.
A visual tour could also be booked to see what kind of work went into this massive Halloween display. But the kids' and virtual tour needed to be cancelled due to a family emergency for the Haunted Hotel.
The final numbers of those that attended was not immediately available.
