The Gravenhurst Opera House will once again be transformed into a spooky haunted house for anyone brave enough to walk through its door.
The theme for Gravenhurst High School’s (GHS) “Spooktacular” is “Diners, Drive-ins, and Demons.” Earl Sacrey, teacher at GHS, says this has been a 30-year tradition, but hasn’t been held for the past two because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s free to get into the Opera House, Sacrey only asks anyone that stops by bring a non-perishable food item, which will be donated to the Salvation Army foodbank in Gravenhurst. “We usually get a few hundred items,” he says.
“It’s kind of like a baking show gone wrong,” explains Grace Montross, grade 11 student at GHS. “It’s going to start off as not super scary and then it will change and get crazy. It has a lot of different elements to it.”
She says they will be using 10 different rooms in the Opera House. Montross says there will be three different levels of scares. For the kids, she recommends the lowest level, but if you’re feeling bold, she says the highest level is a lot of fun. “The baking show is going to go wrong and then everything will go downhill,” she says.
Montross points out that everyone from those dressed in costumes to the make-up artists is from GHS.
“This is one of the most popular events we do,” Sacrey says. He estimates close to 40 students helped design this year’s Spooktacular, which he jokes is about 10 percent of GHS’ student population. “I supervise almost none of it,” he says, laughing. “I just let the chaos unfold.”
Being that the event is collecting donations for the food bank, Sacrey says students are able to collect community service hours. “They put a lot of time into making creatures and scares,” he adds.
Sam Isaac, grade 9 student at GHS, says this is his first time going to or being part of the Spooktacular. “I’m not a fan of horror movies and all that scary stuff, but I still think it’s really cool.” Despite not being a fan of being scared, Isaac says he loved being part of the behind-the-scenes process. “I think it’s cool just helping and knowing that the Spooktacular is making people happy,” he says.
Meanwhile, Montross has gone through the Spooktacular before. “I was really scared trying it,” she says, adding she took on the hardest difficulty. “I was really nervous.”
The Spooktacular runs from 6 to 8 PM on Oct. 25 at the Gravenhurst Opera House.