ESTEVAN - The Estevan Public Library turned into a centre of attraction on Saturday.
Children program co-ordinator Tracy Mathieson said close to 300 people went through their haunted house that day. Many kids would go through the adventure several times and then would stop to play, visit or view others' costumes.
The level of spookiness at the haunted house was adjustable, thanks to the volunteer with a chainsaw who was there to scare guests.
"If there were really, really little kids, our volunteer would make sure he does not scare them as much or just make the noise of the chainsaw," Mathieson said. "Kids really seemed to have a blast. And we scared some of the parents, scared some of the grandmas. It was good."
Upon the exit, kids received candy bags, which they could enjoy right there at the library's play zone or take home.
The library started setting up the haunted house at the beginning of the week for the family pumpkin carving. The city provided a lot of decorations, and the library added some fine tuning so that by Saturday the attraction indeed looked scary and entertaining.
"We just bought some of the things to put in the glass jars and the glow sticks. And then made the treat bags for the kids. But most of the stuff was from the city. So, I think if we're going to do it next year, we might have to buy some other pieces just to make it a little bit bigger," Mathieson said.
While it took quite a bit of time to prepare, Mathieson said for the library it was important to do something fun for the community and invite people over so they also could get to know what the library has to offer.
"We wanted to get the families out and see what stuff we do offer at the library," Mathieson said. "And some guests actually stayed [after going through the haunted house]. Some would stay in the kids' area. Some people that never had a library card got some library cards today. So it was nice."
They also had a group of new Ukrainian families stop by. They just recently came to Saskatchewan and were travelling through the southeast, exploring different communities.
Mathieson said the feedback they received was good, and the library was also happy about how the event turned out.
"Kids had fun, parents had fun and it was a good turnout. That was the main thing."
To wrap up Halloween activities, the library also invited teens for a scary movie on Sunday.
For more information about the Estevan Public Library's programming and offers, visit their website at estevanlibrary.weebly.com or follow them on Facebook.
