Over 400 lbs of food was collected for the Chestermere Food Bank during the annual Dr Giggles House of Pain Chestermere Halloween scene from Oct. 30 to Oct. 31.
“Halloween night went really well. We had almost 400 people out, and the first night we had over 100,” Mike Koroll said.
Adding, “This year, 450 lbs of food was collected, and $264 was raised. It’s better than nothing.”
Throughout the display nights, Koroll received an overwhelming amount of positive feedback from residents brave enough to check out the Halloween scene.
“Everybody really loved it. Of course, there wasn’t as much opportunity for jump scares, we did scare some people. Certainly, I was scary enough to terrify all the kids,” Koroll said.
“There was a lot of positive feedback, it was really well received, which I was happy about. I put a lot of work into it, it was important that people liked it, and saw the value in it,” he said.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Koroll was unable to build the regular haunted house, however, he focused on building a Halloween scene that residents could enjoy while socially distancing and following COVID-19 guidelines.
“There was one effect I wanted to get locked down. It would’ve looked like a giant hole in the floor, but it never happened. It would’ve been a really nice effect to add, but other than that I accomplished everything I wanted to,” Koroll said.
For Koroll seeing trick-or-treaters so excited to see the Halloween scene was a highlight throughout the night.
“Overall, even though it was a lesser display I could tell everybody was very pleased with it. This one open scene was well received,” Koroll said.
Without the support of Store and More, Mcintyre Cranes, neighbours that were able to help out, and Caligari’s Odditorium who dressed the skeletons on pikes, the Dr Giggles House of Pain Chestermere wouldn’t have been possible.
