Organizers and would-be attendees are busy scaring up their costumes as the Haunted Ball is back for an evening of frightening fun.
Replete with intricate decor, art installations and coffin rides, the elaborate blowout has returned after a brief hiatus last year. According to Vale Society organizers, the Haunted Ball celebrates all that is wild, wacky and whimsical about Halloween.
“Growing up, I never managed to find the Halloween party of my dreams,” said co-organizer Blake Drezet. “I’d dress up and literally have no place to go.”
Since moving to Powell River in 2011 and subsequently joining the arts-focused community of the Vale, Drezet said he has found the means to make his Halloween dreams come true.
“I was inspired to make a Halloween party that would bring the whole community together,” said Drezet. “I think I’ve even gone beyond my original dream of what a good Halloween party would be.”
Set in Dwight Hall, the Haunted Ball is about getting ball-goers into Halloween’s fun, silly and playful vibe, said Drezet.
“The aim is to create an immersive experience,” he said. “A lot of effort has gone into transforming the hall into a unique space.”
New this year is a full-size coffin, intended to offer partygoers the experience of being entombed, said Drezet.
“We are calling the experience a coffin ride,” said Drezet, “although the coffin doesn’t go anywhere, you just sit in it and close the lid so you can see what it feels like.”
According to fellow Vale Society volunteer Skye Morrison, Dwight Hall will be transformed into a space calculated to delight and amaze partygoers. But beyond the silly, the Haunted Ball also celebrates the sacredness of the season, said Morrison.
“Halloween is a potent time for release,” said Morrison. “It is when the veil between the spirit world is thinnest.”
There are options at the ball if people want to leave notes for their ancestors, for example.
“We want to offer all sorts of ways of celebrating Halloween,” said Morrison.
Doors to the Haunted Ball at Dwight Hall open at 8 pm, Saturday, October 31. For more information, readers can go to facebook.com/events/503476246481332.
