For the last 15 years, my family and friends and I have been operating small haunted house projects on Trowbridge Lane in Lexington Hills. If you're from around there, you've probably seen or heard us scaring the daylights out of hundreds of kids every October 31st (and playing nicely with the really little ones) with our "zombie survival shelter," Shelter Zero. It was a project I began when I was thirteen and considered myself "too cool" for trick-or-treating, but still wanted to be involved in my favorite holiday. At first we had to practically bribe people to trek up the hill with the promise of handfuls of candy or the direction of a friend literally juggling fire on the corner to draw attention, but our traffic in the last few years has gotten heavy enough that we can barely keep up!
But we're older now. Most of us are in our late 20s and early 30s now, and we're busy starting families of our own or pursuing job opportunities in the Bay or elsewhere. Those of us living in the area are still going to try to put on a show this year, but frankly we may not have the manpower necessary to live up to our standards.
We've come to the conclusion that we'd like to start bringing what we've learned about haunts to a new generation of Halloween-lovers: creative, enthusiastic kids like we once were who love the holiday and want to do something special for it. We're looking for three to five young volunteers who'd like to learn how to design, build, and operate a neighborhood-scale haunted house, and / or join our crew of costumed actors who (safely!) terrify our guests as they try to reach "Shelter Zero."
Our projects are suitable for kids aged ten and up, in the late elementary- and middle-school range. We've had some impromptu volunteers in the past (with an especially great group of middle-schoolers who showed up out of the blue last year) and we find that age range has just the right combination of infectious enthusiasm needed to get involved, plus the sense of responsibility needed to work carefully and safely with the rest of the crew and our guests. We certainly won't turn away older kids who are interested and would work well with our team though, or younger ones who are particularly mature and conscientious for their age.
We'd especially like to work with families who live in the Lexington Hills area, since we feel like this is passing on a local tradition, but we're happy to have anyone who can make it out to that area.
If you'd like to know more or if you know kids who would be interested in a creative, teamwork-driven project in a family-friendly environment that will meet periodically during October, we'd love to hear from you. I'm happy to field questions here, by e-mail at shelterzeroproject AT gmail.com, or send a private message or e-mail to arrange a phone conversation or an in-person meeting.
Thanks, and have a great Halloween!