The Trail of Terror has quickly become a popular way for Estevan area residents to celebrate Halloween.
The Southern Plains Co-op organized the second annual event on Saturday night at Woodlawn Regional Park. Carol McKay, the human resources manager for the co-op, said an estimated 700 people attended the event, although she admits they didn’t take an actual attendance tally.
“It went very well,” said McKay. “Some of the things that we discovered in our first event, we fixed. The people really enjoyed it. Lots of kids were in costumes, and adults were in costumes.”
She believes the attendance was similar to last year.
McKay noted they made some changes to the front end area of the event, so it didn’t appear it was as congested last year. It gave people more space to roam.
People ventured out onto the Preddy Trail inside the park, and encountered a variety of props that were hanging around, as well as creepers who were waiting to scare people.
“I’m not one to go through the trail, because I don’t really like the scare factor, but I did have a couple of guides that came right beside me,” said McKay. “I did walk through it just to have a look.”
Pumpkins that were carved by local school students dotted the trail, and McKay thought the props, with the lights shining on them, looked spooky, because it was pitch black on parts of the trail.
The creepers are people who were dressed in costume, and they pop out along the trail, McKay said. They are lurking in the background, or they are standing still so they look like a prop.
“The creepers, when they move, it startles you. So there is a scare factor, and it’s really, really cool,” said McKay.
She heard a lot of screams coming from people who were scared on the trail.
People who attended also enjoyed hot dogs and other snacks, and games during the evening.
McKay pointed out that the co-op set up the Trail of Terror in the rain on Saturday morning, and they were concerned about the weather that night. But the skies cleared up and it proved to be a beautiful late October evening for a little haunting.
About 25 people were involved in the setup for the Trail of Terror. Twenty-eight served as creepers, and others helped with other aspects of the event. About 20 people were involved with the cleanup.
“It’s a lot of people that it takes to make it work,” said McKay.
She expects the Trail of Terror is going to be a fixture in the community moving forward. It’s a fun night, and the kids love to be there.
“When you see their little faces light up, they see these creepy scary critters, but then they realize they don’t need to be scared,” said McKay.
