Photo Courtesy: Chelsea Sollows
Halloween is coming up in just a couple of days, and we've already seen plenty of spooky decorations around the community as houses prepare for Trick or Treaters. But one house went above and beyond in getting into the Halloween Spirit.
Chelsea Sollows and her husband Roshan Deen built a haunted maze out of their own backyard and driveway! Sollows explained Halloween is Deen's favorite day of the year, and his love of the day and infectious personality spread to the entire family. After a trip to Spirit Halloween, the family knew they wanted to do something special this year.
"We went to Spirit Halloween and we were just so inspired by their animatronics and everything just coming to life. Then we thought, 'well we can't put it outside because it's Strathmore, we get wind.' So we decided to build a maze inside of our garage and there's animatronics in there, there is tons of farm stuff because we live in farm country and we have fog machines, strobe lights... it's just scary, it's fun," she said.
The haunted house is a castle that is a monster lab, so Sollows said you can expect all types of different monsters as you navigate the maze. You can also expect all types of different scares, as they went all out in setting up an unforgettable experience!
Photo Courtesy: Chelsea Sollows
A project of this scale takes an unbelievable amount of work, especially when you consider that the family and friends are also inside the maze to jumpscare you! Sollows said she is really grateful to her neighbours and the community for all the support they've shown in getting the house set up and making it a success.
"We've had some great laughs with some of the people that have shown up so far and it's been wonderful. We've also had our neighbors who are amazing. When we first got everything set up we weren't sure if it was working great or if it's scary enough. Our neighbours came over and they walked through it and they gave us ideas and helped tell us what was good, and what wasn't great, and our other next door neighbour actually helped us store the castle in their garage and has been over every day helping. They've even dressed up, and they're also a scary member of our team, so we've just been floored with all the support in our neighborhood that we've had."
While the spirit of Halloween is driving the motivation to do the house, Sollows added they're doing it for a good cause. The maze is free to attend, but if you're able to bring food to donate to a food bank that would be greatly appreciated.
"We've gotten 2 full boxes for our food bank donations so far and we're hoping to fill more boxes and just help the food bank for when the inevitable Christmas comes and people are needing the support."
She added donations aren't mandatory, since she understands times are tough for some families and they may not be able to afford it. At the end of the day, she just wants families and friends to enjoy time together and have fun in the haunted maze!
"We're huge on community and families, and we found with covid being the last couple of years we haven't had as much time to be together and enjoy being together. What we thought was: 'we love Halloween, why not do something that we love, that we can share with others to help them also enjoy being with their families as well, like we go out and we are doing the haunted maze and families are laughing together and having fun."
So far, the response to the maze has been everything she's hoped for.
"The families and groups that have come so far, they go in and they're screaming, and they're jumping and they're having fun and they're giggling and they're talking about how this jump scare scared them and how that was a cool effect over there, and they're laughing and they're enjoying that quality time of togetherness that we've been longing for the last few years."
With all the passion and effort behind this project, this is one haunted house you definitely don't want to miss. You can find them at 216 Cambridge Crescent, and their hours are:
- 8:00-10:00 PM Thursday and Sunday
- 6:00-10:00 PM Friday and Saturday
- 4:00-10:00 PM Monday (Halloween!)
If you can, please make sure to remember a donation for the foodbank as well!
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