Every Halloween, the folks at the Summerland Museum decorate the place and invite the local kids for a quick trick or treat. It’s always a good time, and it raises bucks for the organization.
But 2024 isn't just any old year. This Halloween, the museum has left the ordinary far behind and instead veered wildly toward the macabre.
It’s summoned all things sinister, stuffed the little building in uptown Summerland with all the nightmarish ghouls and goblins it can muster, and concocted enough demonic nastiness to satiate even the most jaded veterans of Halloweens past.
And it all goes down in two distinct time slots this Saturday, Oct. 26.
Granted, the first, from 1 to 3 PM and called "Monsters at the Museum," is comparatively tame. Essentially a scaled-back, kid-friendly version of the horrific main course that comes later that evening, it caters to children, young families and anyone easily terrorized.
But just a few hours later, from 7 to 9 PM, the museum pulls out all the stops in a two-hour festival of fear hauntingly dubbed "Nightmare at the Museum: After Dark."
According to Summerland Museum administrator Hannah Irvine, visitors can expect to feel real fear.
If the darkened atmospheres don’t get you, she maintins, the live actors or the animatronics will. Not to mention that the place will be jammed with assorted creepy crawlies and ghoulish apparitions.
Much of the credit for the substantially upgraded 2024 celebration goes to Trout Creek resident Heather Pescada – also know regionally as the Queen of Halloween.
This year, the museum brought Pescada on board to ramp up its annual event. And why not?
In 2019, Pescada captained a superbly hideous doll house in the Summerland Youth Centre. In 2022, she converted the Kettle Valley Steam Railway into a haunted Harry Potter-inspired ghost train.
Each event was hugely impressive and each sold right out. And the both raised thousands of dollars for the Summerland Dry Grad program.
In between, she spearheaded year after year of Halloween brilliance in her Trout Creek neighbourhood and concocted and humanized a skeleton family (called The Peskellys) who live in her front yard every October and post regularly to social media.
Yes, Pescada is an admitted Halloween addict. And that's a great thing for all those who partake in her creativity.
We asked Irvine why they waited so long to bring Pescada on board.
"Because this year we managed to get her," she laughed.
"But Heather and I have worked together before on other community events, and it's so great to have her here this year."
Irvine cautioned that the 2024 Halloween blow-up is a one-year deal only. Next year they return to the traditional celebration.
"The proceeds will go to running the museum, programming, and putting on other events like this," she said, "And this year they'll also help with our big renovation and addition coming up that'll allow us to double the size of our exhibit."
As for Pescada, she spent several hours Friday merely transporting her props and gear to the museum. She expects to work throughout Friday and most of Saturday too, along with a crew of museum employees and assistants, just to get to the finish line.
For more information on the Summerland Museum's dual Halloween walkthroughs, head to its website here and click on the appropriate link.
Or just get yourself to the museum, at 9521 Wharton St. in uptown Summerland, this Saturday.
The tame stuff goes from 1 to 3 PM. Admission is free, though donations are sincerely appreciated. The far more frightening "Nightmare" begins at 7 and ends at 9 and costs a mere $5 per person.
Sleep well.
