Valley alive with Halloween, harvest fun

WASILLA — Never let it be said that the Valley doesn’t go all out for Halloween.

Scads of businesses, nonprofits, government agencies and private residents have thrown in to create haunted houses from Palmer to Meadow Lakes and points in between.

At the Museum of Alaska Transportation and Industry, for instance, Executive Director Sherry Jackson has been busy decorating the walk-through train car and Whitney section house on the museum grounds for the season.

Wasilla High School students are lending a hand, performing a Halloween-themed skit for visitors then directing them to the Whitney house to trick-or-treat from more teenagers in costumes.

“We have our 1898 schoolmarm dressed up at the door, we have President Harding, we have a fisherman, we have a pilot, a snowmachiner — just things that are indicative of what the museum is all about,” she said. “We have a little surprise here and there. I’m not going to give it all away.”

Down in Wasilla, Mellissa Allex is in her third and final year turning her garage into a haunted house for young visitors.

“I describe it as it’s intermediate-level. If I was out at Disneyland I definitely wouldn’t feel like I was riding on ‘It’s a Small World,’” she said. “There’s no cheese here, but it’s definitely not ‘Gateway to Darkness.’”

Gateway to Darkness is the infamous and terrifying haunted house in the Quonset huts on Melanie Avenue that has been scaring the dickens out of youngsters for years and is back again this year.

Allex said last year she divided the garage into four sections with different themes. This year she decided to save her sanity and thinks she’s come up with an even better product with a single theme: Alice in Horrorland.

“We have a simulated rabbit hole and then you go onto the tea party and you’re looking for Mr. Rabbit,” she said. “Just between me and you, they don’t want to find Mr. Rabbit.”

Also in Wasilla off Blue Lupine Drive is the Super Hero Spook House. This one is geared more for the 12 and under crowd, said Patrick McIlvain and his wife Rachel.

“We will have super heroes on hand to escort the patrons through from the start to finish.”

For the McIlvain family it was about fun and giving back. “We wanted a way to help our community,” McIlvain said. “I was laying in bed one night and had this overwhelming feeling to give back, and we had all this Halloween stuff around our house. So I contacted a lot of the companies I work with and started getting donations. Even the space we are using was donated.”

The cost to enter the Super Hero Spook House is one unwrapped toy or some canned food. All donations will go to Blood and Fire Ministry, Toys for Tots and Special Santa.

Closer to Palmer, the Mat-Su Borough Animal Care and Regulation Center is getting into the Halloween game for the first time this year.

“I had a bunch of volunteers back in our barn and it was kind of spooky, so I thought huh, that might work out for a haunted house,” said volunteer coordinator Sue Fujimoto. “One of our staff members (Dawn Isbill) is really really, really into Halloween, so she was really the brains behind the whole artistic end of things.”

The Frontiersman has been fielding reports of other events all over town and soliciting more for weeks now. Here’s a rundown of the Halloween fun:

• Spooktacular Carnival: Fronteras Spanish Immersion Charter School is hosting a Spooktacular Carnival from 5 to 8 p.m., Saturday at 7010 E Bogard Road. This is a family friendly event complete with a haunted house, photos, games, food and prizes. For more information, contact 745-2223.

• Midnight Sun carnival: Midnight Sun Family learning Center is holding a carnival for children ages 3 to 19. It runs noon to 4 p.m., Saturday at the center, 7275 W. Midnight Sun Circle, off Pittman Road. There will be trick-or-treat alley, fingernail painting, bean bag toss, cake walk, fortune teller, fish pond, hamburgers, hot dogs and more. Entry fee is $5, which includes 12 tickets. Additional tickets cost $5 for 12 or 50 cents each.

• Kids Party: The Palmer Elks Lodge 1842 is hosting a Kids Halloween Party from 2-4 p.m., Sunday. The Costume Contest includes prizes for age groups: 1 to 3 years, 4 to 7 years, and 8 to 10 years.

• Strip mall Trick-or-Treat: Children are invited to trick-or-treat at Creekside Plaza in Wasilla from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Monday.

• Family Festival: Family Fall Festival is 6 to 8:30 p.m., Oct. 31 at Faith Bible Fellowship Church, 14225 W Kluane Dr., in Big Lake.

• Gateway to Darkness: A Valley Halloween stalwart if ever there was one. Doors open at 7 p.m., Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays through Halloween night at 1241 W. Melanie Ave., Unit 4 — Parks Highway to Wasilla, right turn onto Lucus Road, left onto Melanie Avenue. A kid-friendly version of the haunt is offered for half-price from 4 to 6 p.m., Sunday for kids 12 and younger. Tickets are $15 at the gate, or buy advance tickets online at hauntak.com.

• Fall Family Farm Fun: The Reindeer Farm is inviting everyone over from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Oct. 29. Cost is $10 per person ages 3 and up. Admission includes reindeer tour, wagon ride, pony rides and a hay maze. The Haunted Maze will open from 6 to 10 p.m., Oct. 28-31. Tickets to the Haunted Maze are $10 per person. For more information, contact 745-4000 or visit reindeerfarm.com.

• Sportsmen’s Warehouse: The store in Wasilla is hosting its last haunted house this weekend both days from noon to 5 p.m. The event includes a petting zoo, hay rides, face painting, raffles, haystack treasure hunts, Alaska crafts, food, wildlife organizations, National Guard climbing walls, bungee bounce, wax hands and pony rides.

• Museum fall fest: The Dorothy G. Page Museum, 323 N. Main St., Wasilla, invites the community to its free Old Town Autumn Fest from 2 to 4 p.m., Oct. 29.

Trick-or-treating in the Wasilla Historic Town Site begins at 2 p.m. and there will be crafts and games for children, hayrides around the town site, hot cider and cookies, and a ghost show in the museum. For more information, contact the museum at 373-9071 or visit cityofwasilla.com/museum.

• Trick or Treat Town: It’s not the Valley, but Anchorage’s annual event is a big deal. It runs from 5:30 or 7 p.m., Friday, and noon, 2 p.m., 4 p.m. or 6 p.m., Saturday in the Alaska Communications Garage, 600 Telephone Ave. Tickets are $7 in advance and $10 at the door. Tickets are available online at bgcalaska.org or at the Woodland Park Clubhouse, 2300 W. 36th Ave., in Anchorage. For more information, visit TrickorTreatTown.org or call (907) 279-0700.

• A howling good time: The Mat-Su Borough Animal Shelter is having a haunted house and children’s activities Friday and Saturday from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. Admission to the haunted house is $5.

• Alice in Horrorland: The third and final installment of the aforementioned haunted garage is open 7 to 11 p.m., Saturday at 1041 E. Susitna Dr. (access it off of Peck Street from Wasilla-Fishhook or Bogard roads). Donation is $1 at the door. Although the haunted house is a family friendly event, children age 5 and younger must be accompanied by an adult or teen. For more information, contact 232-9852.

• Night at the Museum: The Museum of Alaska Transportation and Industry’s third annual Night at the Museum is from 4 to 8 p.m., Saturday Cost is $5 and includes a spooky train tour and other fun. For more information, contact Sherry Jackson at 376-1211, mati@mtaonline.net or visit museumofalaska.org.

• Super Hero Spook House: PNM Enterprise Inc. of Wasilla is hosting Super Hero Spook House from 4 to 8 p.m., Saturday and Sunday on Blue Lupine Road between the Harley-Davidson shop and Seward Meridian Parkway. Admission is a new toy to donate to Special Santa/Toys for Tots or food to donate to Blood and Fire Ministries.

• Autumn Harvest open house: Palmer Fire Association is hosting its 20th annual Autumn Harvest (Halloween) Open House from 6 to 8 p.m., Monday at the Palmer downtown Fire Station. Bring the kids and meet Sparky the Fire Dog, play games, have pictures taken and enjoy treats and pumpkin juice.

• Halloween seniors fundraiser: Mat-Su Senior Services Adult Day Services is sponsoring a fundraiser from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., Monday at 1132 S. Chugach St. in Palmer. Chili will be served in hand-decorated bowls created by the Adult Day Services staff and clients. Cost is $8 a bowl, which includes chili and a uniquely decorated bowl to keep. Proceeds go the Mat-Su Senior Services Adult Day Services Activities Program. For more information, contact Mat-Su Senior Services at 745-5454.

• Halloween Hollow: Yet another Valley Halloween stalwart, the hollow is entering its 10th year as a fundraiser benefitting the Mat-Su Special Santa Program, working with Toys for Tots. It’s an indoor trick-or-treat family fun event from 3 to 8 p.m., Monday at Raven Hall on the Alaska State Fairgrounds. Organizers have added a few new games this year to the 35-plus games children play for candy. The concession stand has pizza, hot dogs, nachos and drinks. Cost is $5 or a new, unwrapped toy per person. No stuffed animals, please. For more information, visit specialsanta.org.

• Trick or treat at Primrose: Ghosts and goblins in the Mat-Su Valley are invited to Primrose Retirement Community from 3 to 5 p.m., Monday for a fun and free Halloween celebration. For more information, contact Kristen or Marcie at 373-5500.

Contact Andrew Wellner at 352-2270 or andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com