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Orangeville’s scariest houses recognized in annual Halloween contest

November 3, 2022   ·   0 Comments

By Sam Odrowski

Orangeville loves Halloween and to help residents enjoy the most spookily decorated houses in their town, the 3rd Annual Orangeville Halloween Haunt Patrol (OHHP) shortlisted 11 of the scariest local properties.

Hundreds of residents on Saturday (Oct. 29) night toured the town, visiting OHHP’s list of houses. Twenty community judges determined the first-place winner to be 170-172 Lisa Marie Dr., followed by 4-6 Henderson St. for second place, and a tie between 2 Brighton Place and 203 Elizabeth St. for third.

The judges, who consisted of community members, councillors, and mayor-elect Lisa Post, had an honourable mention for 40 Cameron Court.

In addition to winning second place, 4-6 Henderson was also voted to receive the 2022 OHHP People’s Choice Award.

The winners received Halloween-themed trophies and bragging rights that they had the scariest homes in Orangeville.

In addition to setting up decorations, many of the participating homeowners dressed up in costumes and acted out scary scenes, adding to the fright for the brave souls who toured the list of OHHP houses, published on the OHHP Facebook page. 

“One house was giving out candy, others were dressed up and going to people’s cars,” said Michelle Hartley OHHP contest organizer. “The feedback I got from all the judges was that they loved the interaction. Probably 50 per cent of the homes had either the homeowners out to greet and meet people or dressed in character.”

Hartley said the first and second-place winners are already planning for next year and were shopping clearance sales the days after Halloween to find new spooky decorations.

While all 11 houses on the OHHP shortlist had great setups, she noted that lighting set apart the winners, as the judges could fully see what was going on.

Each year the houses get scarier and Hartley said she’s not sure how the participants are going to be able to continue raising the stakes.

“The competition is getting quite fierce,” she noted. 

Hartley said she’s looking forward to putting on the OHHP contest again next year and would like to thank all the homeowners who participated.

She said she welcomes any feedback the public may have going forward to make the annual event even better.  

“I’m just the one promoting all these homes on Facebook. This isn’t my thing, it’s a community thing, so if anybody has ideas, suggestions or advice, send me a message on the Orangeville Halloween Haunt Patrol page,” Hartley noted. “Definitely, we’ll make some changes next year and keep growing.”

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