Haunted Forest A Big Success!

Well the 2008 Haunted Forest is over and our bodies are healing after back-breaking hours of taking down decorations and scenes, putting away leftover concession stand supplies, and organizing the storage sheds and closets to make things easier to find next year.

A big sincere “thank you”, goes to everyone on the Camp Fire staff that made this event a huge success – there’s no doubt it was way better than last year! And, thanks to the club leaders who had Carnival Booths, and the Klown Train Ride. They added a lot to the atmosphere of family fun.

As a staff, we are especially thankful for this year’s outstanding group of volunteers. Many people do not realize that it takes an army of volunteers to put on an event like this. Raymond and Jessica’s family and friends built and staffed the Moonlight Trail and served as trailer monitors on the hayride for safety. Cheryl and her three daughters created the Mummy scene and performed in it. Staff member’s families were everywhere, staffing scenes, selling tickets, showing people where to park, passing out treats and in the background making sure everything went smoothly. Board members pitched in as bridge monitors, and volunteered in the S’Mores booth, plus Scott was the scariest grim reaper in the cemetery. Board members, like Scott, even talked their friends into participating. That’s how we were able to enjoy watching Matt carve some beautiful and elaborate jack-o-lanterns.

Another amazing group of volunteers were the DaKaNi alums. Miss Gwen, Miss Vi and Miss Nancy rounded up a crew of former campers (who are now parents), and former counselors (who are now grandparents), to staff the Concession Stand and S’Mores Booth. Not only did they do a first rate job of serving Haunted Forest customers; it was fun for everyone to reunite with friends from their younger days.

I would also like to personally thank Rachel, one of our own WoHeLo Award alums, who rounded up a dynamite bunch of friends from her service fraternity at OU. These 14 young men and women were a lot of fun to work with. One young man told me he had been looking forward to helping in the same way a child can’t wait to go trick or treating. Half-way through he told the aliens in the next scene, “this is more fun than a barrel of monkeys!”

Another group of friends that helped all three nights was from the Society for Creative Anachronisms, or SCA. These men and women re-create the Middle Ages most weekends for fun – but they donated their time and talent to Camp Fire for the Haunted Forest, and did a scary, realistic job at scenes like the executioner and asylum all for a hug and a S’More.

Last, but certainly not least, I would like to thank the Teens In Action who staffed the Children’s Spooky House. By counting tickets we found out that even though it was designed for younger children, almost everyone who attended the Haunted Forest went through the Spooky House. There were no complaints this year, and everyone seemed to enjoy the experience.

To sum it up, Carolyn, our Board President, got to visit with people as they were leaving on Thursday night. She said she wished she had been able to write down the comments, but one of her favorites was a little boy who told her, “oh please, please have this again next year!”