Fright Night '09

In early September, 3 creative forces combined and began to plan an event that would turn out to be a screaming success – FRIGHT NIGHT at The Shoppes of Rosehall in Montego Bay. Michelle Daswani (President of Rotary Club of Montego Bay) had the vision ; Natasha Parchment-Clarke (Rotarian and Director of Training Tree) rallied the troops of volunteers and attendees and Chwani Gourzong (of Football Academy fame) between organising the Wata triathlon and Kiddies triathlon that same weekend, brought her energy and enthusiasm to the project.

The night would turn out to be more fantastic than the trio could ever dream of with over 300 attendees enjoying a halloween event that is slated to be an annual hit for Western Jamaica.

At 6pm on halloween evening, patrons began entering the Shoppes of Rosehall and the 3 Stooges were on hand to meet you perched atop bails of hay – the perfect photo opportunity. Justin, a teen all the way from Kingston, maximised his hobby as a photographer as he prowled the event taking snaps that were displayed on a slide show near the entrance.

Cute costumed children scampered up and down the main prominade in total safety as they enjoyed a variety of carnival games from bounce-a-bout, ball toss, roll-the-ball, ring toss, face paints, to temporary tattoes. One parent exclaimed “This venue is absolutely perfect, I can let my child roam freely without having to worry about a thing. The side exits are all closed and you are among friends so my child was independent the whole evening and I was relaxed.” The Witches of the West led by Joan Lee and Jackie Bird gathered around their cauldron and whilst thsy should have been heckling passers-by, seemed to be enjoying their hor’s doeuvres and wine with friends more than the task at hand.

The thrill of the night was the Haunted House – an empty shop in the complex which was transformed into a house of horror manned by almost 20 volunteer teenagers from Cornwall College’s Interact Club (the young arm of Rotary in high schools) and a varitey of teenaged girls from in and around Montego Bay.

Ghoulish hosts Sydney, Riley and Daniella escorted visitors around each chanber of horror whilst a variety of tricks and treats were played out.

Daniella

The wall of hands greeted guests and as monster photographer Dwayne took a snap, the real hands (Janice, Deon, Anbessa and Karique) reached out a grabbed squeeling visitors.

Next was the mystery box where children were invited by Simaron to reach in for a trick or treat. As they felt around in the dark crevices of the box , they would be held by the hand inside (Carisse under the table) before being given a treat.

The next chamber produced screams the entire night long – the hosts toured the tomb of mummies which was illuminated by glowing black light and gave the history of wrapped corpses who sometimes came to life. As children and adults peered in the darkness at the glowing, wrapped figures hanging and standing in the tomb they realised they were safe, until one mummy in the corner came to LIFE! (Odaine, wrapped from head-to-toe in guaze never failed to frighten)

The penultimate experience was a slimy one with many refusing to feel for their treats as Hugh-Lloyd and Lakaan encouraged them to pick out a prize from any one of the buckets filed with horrifying contents – intestines and eyebals ; fingers and finger nails ; splattered brains and monster mucus. The spaghetti, grapes, cabbages, carrots and jello were the perfect substitutes for the real things.

As guests departed the haunted house, they were offered bags of candy from a monsterous manequin who sat with a bowl of bagged sweeties in her lap. Chidren and adults alike could tell she wasn’t real so reched for their sweeties with no fear until ‘SNAP’ the hand holding the bowl grabbed on to the sweeties or the person reaching for them – this sent children screaming out the door as a line of attendees awaited their turns to enter the haunted house.

Along the prominade of shops, drinks, food and snow-cones were being served, Creepy Clown (Norman) ; Monsterous monk (Romaine) and Scary Skeleton (Ivan) crept through the crowd.

Thriller and Ghost Busters were being pumped from the speakers and families were socialising happily , when contestants were called for the costume competition. The replica water wheel was crowded by eager parents and nearly 60 costumed children who took part in 2 parades with Spider Queen and Cleopatra winning gift bags of goodies.

By 9pm, the last candied apple was sold (courtesy of Ritz-Carlton’s pastry chef) , the final prizes were redeemed from Malike for the carnival games and toddlers were being taken home to be tucked in for the night. The teens were finally let loose from their duties and they gathered around giggling and reminiscing about a fun-filled evening sharing stories of the evening.

A super event enjoyed by all including the now-exhausted Michelle, Natasha and Chwani who agreed that next year’s Halloween event would be even better! The teens were collected by their dedicated parents, thrilled with their “thank-you” cards inviting them all to celebrate at Cornwall Beach the following Sunday, hosted by the event organising trio. By 10pm the Shoppes of Rosehall was desserted and visitors to the Thriller event at Rosehall Great House were beginning to converge in the parking lot awaiting their shuttle to that venue.

All Photos by Justin Walker (c)