Grafton creates Haunted House to spark tourism for town

BY BREANNA COLLINS, VISTA LEADER, THE HUB

Members of All Aboard Grafton’s Haunted House Committee have been hard at work all year long – they have spent many hours determining this year’s Haunted House theme, design, characters, costumes, decorations, and attending details to bring this fun and scary Halloween activity back this year for Taylor and surround county children and families.

This years event, D. Lyrium Asylum, will run for the last three weekends in October beginning Friday the 13th. It will run each Friday and Saturday evening around dark (7 pm) to 10-10:30 pm, depending on participation.

John Tokarz and Julie Vogel created the original design for this years haunt with plans of holding it inside of a Main Street business basement. While things didn’t work out as originally planned, the group buckled down to make sure this event still took place in its 2016 location at the Grafton City Parking Garage. Melissa Garvin worked her magic to revamp the design layout so that it suited its new location with some slight changes to the theme that arose in a group conversation.

On Monday, September 25 a group of local men and women gathered together to build panel walls that would create the haunted house and will be used for haunts in years to come. In a mere 7 hour period, the 10 volunteers had successfully erected the walls of the haunted house. Volunteers went on to spent many hours decorating to make this a successful and scary event for the community – and a fundraiser for All Aboard Grafton.

All proceeds from the event will benefit All Aboard Grafton and their efforts to reinvigorate the Grafton and Taylor County communities.

The Grafton group has been presented with many obstacles that could have discouraged their efforts and caused them to call it quits on this fundraising event months ago, but the group chose to push forward and persevere. The group did not allow their misfortunes and unfortunate circumstances to bring them down. They chose determination, dedication, and hard work to bring this event back for a second year.

The group learns new lessons through their efforts that help each year become better than the last. There is wisdom in the face of adversity if you’re simply willing to power through the hard times to find out what they are.

• Event: D. Lyrium Asylum
• When: Fridays and Saturdays in October (10/13, 10/14, 10/20, 10/21, 10/27, 10/28)
• Time: Around 7 pm (dark) to 10-10:30 pm
• Location: Grafton City Parking Deck (Middle Level) at 1. W Main Street, Grafton, WV 26354
• Prices: Children 10 and Under – $3; General Admission – $5