FFA's 5th Annual Halloween Maze

When we think of a community event, our first reaction is to roll our eyes in fatigue. The entire endeavour of participating in these events can feel simply like an obligation, and really the only inherent desire we have is to feel a part of the community as a whole and integrate yourself with the entire neighborhood. It's a collaborative effort, and usually that makes up for the rigorous task of preparing and advertising a community event--an event that everyone collectively seemed to approach with good intentions. Fortunately for us, Future Farmers of America (FFA in short) delivered an event that rejected this everlasting sentiment, giving more in return for participating to help their agrarian focused group; a good likeable experience.

Primarily, the high school portion sought to set up their haunted house as a fundraising project. It’s an annual event that celebrates its successes as a creative and frightening joint project by Drama and FFA of Frazier Mountain High School. I for one, wanted to attend the event this year to see what all the fuss was about, as before I had less than reluctantly skipped out on their previous renditions of the FFA haunted house. However, I thought this action on my part to be a kind of biased and premature stance, and ergo needed a more critical and experienced perspective. So, I invited a close friend to come along with me who had previously gone to past FFA held haunted houses--our goal to compare our separate takes on it.

We decided to go on Friday evening of the event, and arrived at the more “mature” period, around 8:00PM, where the attendees and volunteers were allowed to act more vividly in their own individual spooky caricatures, increasing the shock value for teens and adults.

When we got there, we were greeted by Maria Calderon, the President of the FFA. She was amiable and efficient, and later assigned us a tour guide to escort us for the thrill.

Upon entering, we noticed a huge improvement in the decorations and general atmosphere. With ominous music in the background to set up the illusion of discomfort, we headed down the first hallway formed by black tarps -- a staple for community events executed by the school. When walking down the pathway, we entered the “Dungeon Room” where kids would lean on the tarps to form an indent of their body figure, like they were trapped and screaming to escape the clutches of the haunted house. It was all very believable, especially since students would actively move along the pathway, with our guide allowing them to coordinate and plan for expected visitors. Sometimes when turning a corner we’d meet face to face with malevolent clowns with sadistic clown face paint, notably played by Rachel Carnival, Donald Bowen, and others, with only their paralyzing stare to make us feel utterly uncomfortable.

Unlike other organized events, members of the FFA and Drama groups simply didn’t check off a checklist of a pre-planned and mundane agenda. Every student, teenager, or volunteer had something unique that they personally brought to the table. After the frightening clowns, we turned around to suddenly meet a live-action exorcism, with the possessed Carlin Collins flailing around a satanic circle, utilizing her flexibility and dancing aptitude. Other students would exercise some of their acting ability into the show, with an emphasis on ghoulish verbal influxes and discomforting tones to their voices. We’d find ourselves running into undead Victorian Age zombies, glaring out of the corner, or other times we’d enter a room full of body bags dangling from the ceiling; everything was incredibly animated. The climax of the event came with a gruesome live performance of a mentally insane person slaughtering another individual in a man made asylum, the actors and actresses being the titular Alexis Steere and Henry Zimmerman.

When I left the entire “extravaganza,” I felt a sense of admiration, and a true sense of appreciation for the effort that Maria and both the bodies of FFA and Drama had given to the event. Even when walking out to the parking lot, a couple of performers chased us out to the exit, like a last ditch effort to scare us. Unfortunately for them, it didn’t work out. My friend even commented on the overall quality of the haunted house, noting the improvements and how believable it got at times.

I’m going to stress again the amount of work put into the whole effort: FFA had managed to not only round up its own members, but also had the opportunity to reach out to willing students and friends who already looked forward on setting up the spooky haunted house. Not to mention how well advertised it was by volunteers, with Collins personally taking up the responsibility of putting up handmade posters around Frazier Park, attracting a larger crowd than last year. The entire event was revamped, with massive improvements, for 2017’s October and it showed for sure. They held the haunted house for two nights, and due to their pre-planning and creative execution it came out more successful than their previous year. All in all it was a pretty spooky success.

#ffa #clubs #offcampus