
October 30, 2018 · 0 Comments
By Mike Baker
As the days countdown to Halloween, one local family is excited to once again embrace their spooky side and transform their home into one of the region’s most impressive haunted houses.
In what will be the eighth-annual event in town, Glenn Holmes and his family will welcome hundreds of guests to their Biscayne Crescent home on Saturday (Oct. 27) from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. and again on Oct. 31 from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. to revel in one of the town’s most terrifying Halloween destinations.
“It’s that time of the year once again – Halloween is right around the corner and we’re so excited to host yet another haunted house event,” Mr. Holmes told the Citizen. “These are, by far, some of our favourite nights of the year. All the kids running by, the smiles of faces, the fright in some of their eyes, it’s completely awesome. We’re so excited.”
The Holmes, along with a team of five or six neighbours, have been slowly working on the transformation for the past couple of weeks. The theme for this year’s event is ‘Less is More’, with Glenn noting it will be scarier than in years gone by.
The house will once again boast four distinctly different rooms, and although they won’t be as elaborately decorated as they have been in recent years, Mr. Holmes promised a visit through would be just as memorable.
“The costumes and the things we have going on in the house won’t be as spectacular as they perhaps have been recently, but we’ve amped things up a bit on the scare-o-metre,” Glenn said. “We are warning everyone that it has the potential to be very scary in certain instances. It’s certainly not for the faint of heart, so we leave it open to the discretion of parents. Still, it’s very much a child-friendly, kid-centric event.”
As has been the case for the past two years, the Holmes will once again be accepting food donations, which they will later donate to the Orangeville Food Bank. Last year, the family raised more than 600 pounds of food and they’re hoping to go one step more this time around.
“It’s always our goal to go that one step further than last time. Last year was absolutely our best year by far – we had 600 pounds of food donated and more than 600 guests, it was phenomenal,” Glenn said. “If we can get more people out, that would be great. As many people we can please and entertain, the happier we are.”
As a police officer, Mr. Holmes admits he regularly has to see people at their very worst. As such,by putting on a fun event for the community, he looks forward to shedding that steely policeman persona to have some fun and see people in a different light.
“This gives me the opportunity to see people at their best, in a very light-hearted and fun fashion. I’m looking forward to it, I enjoy seeing all the smiles and the costumes – kids get more and more creative every year,” Mr. Holmes said.
And, of course, there will be candy on hand for one and all! The haunt will take place at 93 Biscayne Crescent in Orangeville and will run from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturday (Oct. 27) and Wednesday (Oct. 31).