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IN PHOTOS: Grand Forks’ haunted maze thrills boys and girls, adults

This weekend’s Haunted Cedar Maze also raised money for a minor hockey team
Laurie Tritschler

A rural Grand Forks family raised $1,000 for their grandson’s minor hockey team over the Halloween weekend.

The money came from ticket sales at Marty and Marlene Thomas’s annual haunted cedar maze, a Halloween favourite at 460 Starchuk Rd for the past six years, with the notable exception of 2020.

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A steady stream of costumed kids and their parents came to enjoy dance performances by Grand Forks’ Can Can troupe, Les Folles Jambettes, and Dazzle Dance Studio on Friday and Saturday evenings, Oct. 29-30. Adults enjoyed a fireside beverage or two, while intrepid kids made their way through the maze itself.

The girls of Dazzle Dance Studio gave an awesome performance at the Haunted Cedar Maze Saturday, Oct. 30. Pictured in front (L-R) are Izabell M., Kalimaya R. and Zoey Z. Pictured in back are (L-R) Carys M. and Mara S. Photo courtesy of Dazzle Dance Studio
The girls of Dazzle Dance Studio gave an awesome performance at the Haunted Cedar Maze Saturday, Oct. 30. Pictured in front (L-R) are Izabell M., Kalimaya R. and Zoey Z. Pictured in back are (L-R) Carys M. and Mara S. Photo courtesy of Dazzle Dance Studio

Screams could be overheard over a roaring chainsaw, expertly wielded by a plaid rendition of Friday the 13th’s Jason Voorhees.

“Some of the kids broke down crying after struggling in there for a while,” Marlene said, promising in her next breath that the evergreen labyrinth will be recast as a much tamer candy cane maze over Christmas.

“I want them to know there’s still some good in there — it’s not just scary,” she joked.

If getting hopelessly lost in a forest of fear was too much for some children, plenty more went for the winding thrills like they were going out of style.

Speaking to The Gazette Friday night, 11-year-old Leif Morris said his favourite part of Halloween is “scaring people.” The cedar maze had easily been the scariest part of the show, but Morris and his friend Ethan Morin, 10, made it out on their own.

(L-R) Leif Morris, 11, and Ethan Morin, 10, said the Thomas’s haunted maze was scary, but not too scary. Photo: Laurie Tritschler
(L-R) Leif Morris, 11, and Ethan Morin, 10, said the Thomas’s haunted maze was scary, but not too scary. Photo: Laurie Tritschler

Sipping hot chocolate on a picnic bench nearby, Walter and Bobby Lewis, six and eight, said they always look forward to the “the scary parts” of trick-or-treating. Both readily agreed “the guy with the chainsaw” had been the freakiest part of their evening.

The Thomas’s grandson, eight-year-old Knox Koftinow, said he plays hockey for the Grizzlies, Grand Forks Minor Hockey Association’s novice team for under-nines.

 

@ltritsch1
laurie.tritschler@grandforksgazette.ca
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laurie.tritschler@boundarycreektimes.com
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