Go ahead. Ring the doorbell. What\u2019s the worst that can happen at Hawkesbury\u2019s Haunted House?<\/p>\n
Patrick Labre is looking forward to Halloween this year. He is hard at work turning his front yard into the biggest and best \u201chaunted house\u201d to give every child in Hawkesbury, and quite a few adults too, the best Halloween fright night fun possible.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s all good fun for the kids, and no one gets hurt,\u201d Labre said during an afternoon break from work Saturday on Haunted House Spectacle project.<\/p>\n
Every year for the past few years, with help from family and friends, Labre has set up a guide-yourself haunted house tour outside his home at 525 boulebard Cecile.<\/p>\n
Part of the inspiration for his project comes from Labre\u2019s own profession as a tattoo artist. For more than 30 years his clients\u2019 arms, legs, backs and other parts of their bodies have served as canvases for his exotic ink sketches. Skull motifs and monstrous fantasy figures have always been popular tattoo subjects and one day Labre decided to devote the same passion behind his tattoo artistry into creating a larger-than-life fun-filled Halloween haunted house treat for the children in his neighbourhood.<\/p>\n
\u201cI liked the idea of seeing that kids have a good time on Halloween,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re losing Halloween now. It\u2019s like it used to be when I was a child.”<\/p>\n
The first year Labre set up his Haunted House, it occupied a 20-foot-by-25-foot on his driveway and part of the front yard. He estimated maybe a hundred children and their parents visited. Last year he had a crowd of 432 pass through the exhibition and this year he hopes to break the 500 mark for visits. He\u2019s also added another 10-foot-by-25-foot addition to the premises, providing room for more frightful fun for everyone.<\/p>\n
Who screams the loudest during the tour? It depends.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes it\u2019s guys, sometimes it\u2019s girls,\u201d said Labre, with a chuckle. \u201cYou never know.\u201d<\/p>\n
To avoid giving away any secrets about the self-guided tour, all that we can say is that visitors need to follow the little strings of LED lights through the misty maze-like corridors. Also, while shrieks and screams are welcome, Labre asks that visitors avoid resist the temptation to touch any of the exhibits.<\/p>\n
Helping Labre with setting up the show are his wife, Marie, sons Maxime and Matheo Labre and Aquene Portealance, friend and neighbour, Ozzy Campbell, and a few other volunteers.<\/p>\n
At the end of their tour through the haunted house, children can expect some Halloween treats.<\/p>\n
For previews of past \u201cresidents\u201d of Labre\u2019s Haunted House in past years, see some of the videos on his Bloody Art Studio page on Tiktok.<\/p>\n
The Haunted House welcomes all visitors brave enough to enter on October 31, from 3 to 11 p.m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Go ahead. Ring the doorbell. What\u2019s the worst that can happen at Hawkesbury\u2019s Haunted House? Patrick Labre is looking forward to Halloween this year. He is hard at work turning his front yard into the biggest and best \u201chaunted house\u201d to give every child in Hawkesbury, and quite a few adults too, the best Halloween […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":103629,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-103628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture"],"acf":[],"featured_media_global":[],"yoast_head":"\n