Boo-tiful
Halloween means ‘Fright Night’ in Grants

Alexandria Lopez moves a piece of her Halloween display in her Utah Circle front yard on Sunday afternoon. Lopez and her mother said they will spend the next couple of months putting up and taking down decorations as they holiday season approaches. [Photo by Brian Leddy/Independent]

By Jim Tiffin
Cibola County Bureau

GRANTS — Ghouls, goblins and witches ... oh my — all of these and more will congregate at the annual haunted house and Halloween celebration at the Future Foundations Family Center’s “Fright Night,” on Oct. 31.

The event this year runs from 6-9 p.m., and will cost everyone only $1 to gain entrance to the haunted house.
The theme of the haunted house this year is “Tobacco is a trick, not a treat.” Informing and education the public about the seriousness of tobacco use and the diseases it causes is one of the main goals of the Center’s Youth Council, said Laura Malaj, executive director of the center.

“All I can say about the haunted house is ‘look out for the clowns,’” she said.

Tickets for the house and for all the games and cakewalk during the night will be sold at a special ticket booth for 25 cents each.

There will be 700 treat bags made up by center staff to give to trick or treaters this year, including candy, pencils, book marks and a toothbrush, Malaj said.

Last year about 1,400 people attended the event, she said.

A costume contest will be held at 7:30 p.m., and is broken into categories by age: Birth to 4, 5-7, 8-12 and 13 an above. Winners will receive $25 gift certificates to Wal-Mart, Malaj said.

“We didn’t have anyone in the 13 and above category last year,” she said.

“Adults are welcome and we would like to see them in costume and participating in our costume contest,” she said.

There will be a cake walk ongoing throughout the three-hour event and a number of booths for nonprofit organizations to raise money by offering games, all in the center’s gymnasium. Most of the games will cost two tickets, Malaj said.

One of the booths already in line for Fright Night is a snack bar run by parents of students in Tracy Camplain’s sixth-grade class at Mesa View Elementary School.

Funds raised will assist the class in going to Washington in May. There will also be a bean bag toss, a ring toss, and a jumping castle.

As of Monday, additional organizations have signed up to sponsor booths including Go Fish; and a tattoo booth, with nonpermanent sticker tattoos, said Jolene Gonzales, the county’s recreation outreach coordinator.

Some organizations that usually offer a booth have not yet signed up this year, Malaj said.

Any organization that would like to have a booth as a fund-raiser needs to contact Malaj at the center at (505) 285-3542.

To contact reporter Jim Tiffin call (505) 287-2197 or e-mail: jtiffin.independent@yahoo.com.