At this time of year eerie amusements with the sole purpose of scaring your proverbial pants off pop up all around town. These haunted house attractions have activities for the little ones all the way up to frightening fun for adults.
Surrey
What: Potter’s House of Horrors
Where: 12530 72nd Ave, Surrey
When: Saturday, October 1st – Monday, October 31st from 4:00pm to 10:00pm
About: Bundle up your little terrors this Halloween season and give them a thrilling experience at Potter’s House of Horrors, now in its 14th year and complete with a Li’l Haunters attraction geared towards kids 12 and under. This kids-only attraction with two mini haunted houses that aren’t too dark or scary and contain no animatronics or actors. For adults, House #1 Monstrosity and House #2 The Swampin’ Slaughterhouse will be full of truly terrifying surprises (and fun). 4:00pm to 7:00pm is for Li’l Haunters, 4:00pm to 6:30pm is Family Hour, then the ultra scary show is 7:00pm to 10:00pm. Tickets are available online.
Vancouver
What: Haunted Circus
Where: Beaumont Studios (316 West 5th Ave, Vancouver)
When: Sun – Wed 3:00pm to 10:00pm; Thurs – Sat 3:00pm to 2:00am
About: The Circus is coming to Vancouver with all the terrifying clowns and circus performers to give you nightmares. The circus will be open to families and young children during the day but as the sun goes down the clowns come out. Live actors and special effects will bring the circus to life. Proceeds benefit BC Women’s Hospital. Tickets are available online and at the door.
North Vancouver
What: The Valley Haunt
Where: 1311 Appin Road, North Vancouver
When: October 15th to October 31st
Mon-Fri 7:00pm to 10:00pm; Saturday 4:00pm to 10:00pm
About: It started off as a basic graveyard with an occasional ghost and ghoul lurking around, but it did NOT stop there. Every year, it grew….and it grew….and it grew into what we now know as The Valley Haunt. For the 2016 Halloween season, they are putting a unique twist on the haunt, as it will be enclosed in walk-through shipping containers. Closed Sundays. All proceeds go to the BC Firefighters’ Burn Fund.
What: Barclay Manor Haunted House
Where: 1447 Barclay St, Vancouver
When: Sunday, October 30th 7:00pm to 9:00pm;
Monday, October 31st 4:30pm to 6:00pm
About: Historic Barclay Manor is one of the West End’s oldest houses and being a Vancouver heritage home has its own natural creepiness. For bigger, braver souls. Barclay Manor has been converted into a spooky scary house. It takes approximately 5 min to make your way through the house. Tickets are available online and at the door.
Burnaby
What: Haunted Village
Where: Burnaby Village Museum, 6501 Deer Lake Ave, Burnaby
When: Thursday, October 27th to Sunday, October 30th 6:00pm to 9:00pm
About: Come waning moon or silver wet cloud, wear your costumes to explore the Village in the dark of the night. Witches, ghosts and all sorts of storybook and fairy tale characters come to life at this year’s Haunted Village. It’ll be a spooktacular time! Entrance includes trick-or-treating for the children, entertainment and carousel rides for all. Tickets available at the door; members free. The Ice Cream Parlour will be open for ghoulish snacks and light meals.
What: PirateHouse Fundraiser
Where: 5970 Portland St, Burnaby
When: Public night is Monday, October 31, 2016 from 5:00pm to 8:00pm
About: Consisting of an annual Halloween pirate-themed yard display and an online auction, PirateHouse began in 2013 as the brainchild of Dr. Julie Desroches to raise funds for St. Stephen Children’s Centre in Uganda.
Langley
What: Haunted Swamp House
Where: 4120 228 Street, Langley
When: October 28th to October 30th, 6:00pm to 9:30pm;
October 31st 7:00pm to 9:00pm
About: Entrance is by donation all proceeds go to The Ronald McDonald House.
Richmond
What: Jordan’s Haunted Adventure
Where: 4120 228 Street, Langley
When: October 23rd to October 30th 6:00pm to 9:00pm
About: 34 years of family Halloween fun! Guided Tours for fearful small children and families will be conducted each night (6:00pm to 7:00pm) and will be conducted by our the “Butler-of-the-manor” junior tour guide, Mathew (10 years old). He will conduct individual and personal tours of the entire display giving an informative narration and highlights with points of interest as well as answering questions about the display. Tours will be on a first-come, first-serve basis. Admission is free.
* Please review recommended ages and age admission restrictions for each of these attractions.
Related: Halloween activities at these local National Historic Sites: Britannia Mine Museum, Fort Langley, and the Gulf of Georgia Cannery »
Fall is the perfect time to refresh your home decor, as temperatures dip and we cozy up for the season. The Vancouver Home and Design Show has handpicked the industry’s top experts to offer up useful, real-world advice for every home, from top celebrity guests and homegrown Vancouver talent alike. Join the fun and get tons of inspiration at this year’s event, happening October 27-30 at the Vancouver Convention Centre.
Vancouver Home and Design Show
HGTV’s Mia Parres & Rob Evans of The Expandables will be on the Urban Barn Main Stage presented by Vancouver Sun, where they will make their Vancouver home show debut and offer up their signature advice for creating extra space in impossible places. Look for Colin & Justin, stars of W Network’s Game of Homes and Cottage Life’s Cabin Pressure and local real estate expert Todd Talbot of W Network’s Love It Or List It Vancouver. Vancouver’s very own top designers will also be on hand, including Jamie Banfield and Kristina Hibbs.
Catch award-winning Vancouver culinary legends as they take to the state-of-the-art Samsung Cooking Stage for live cooking demos. Watch, learn and ask the Chefs your burning questions during a post-demo Q&A. Don’t miss your chance to take notes from the greats and bring home their culinary expertise.
With the brand-new WORKSHOP presented by Z95.3, you can bring your DIY visions to life by learning from the pros in this hands-on workshop series curated by some of Vancouver’s finest local artisans. From learning the lost art of calligraphy with Fox and Flourish to creating your very own floral wreath with Celsia Floral, to a sewing and design tutorial from Spool of Thread or hand-looming with Lucy Poskitt, there’s plenty of room to get creative.
Shop and consult more than 350 trusted brands and local companies, all under one roof. Don’t miss the always-popular Ask a Designer booth presented by the BCIT Interior Design Program in support of Kids Help Phone and Homes for the Holidays tour, where you’ll have the chance to snag a free, one-on-one consultation with BCIT’s design students, each paired with a local, well-established alumnus.
Vancouver Home and Design Show
- Where: Vancouver Convention Centre West (1055 Canada Place, Vancouver)
- When: Thursday, October 27, 2016 from 4:00pm to 9:00pm
Friday, October 28, 2016 12:00pm to 9:00pm
Saturday, October, 2016 10:00am to 9:00pm
Sunday, October 30, 2016 10:00am to 6:00pm
- Tickets: Adults (13+): $16; Seniors (60+): $13; Seniors Friday before 6:00pm only $6 (box office & online); Children 12 and under: Free. Save $3 when you purchase online in advance. You can help support affordable housing in the Lower Mainland by donating $1 to Habitat for Humanity Society of Greater Vancouver when you purchase your ticket.
Enter to Win
Along with 4 tickets to the Vancouver Home + Design Show, I have an Urban Barn gift package to give away that includes a Mongolian throw & pillow.
Here’s how you can enter to win:
- Leave a comment on this post (1 entry)
- Post the following on Twitter (1 entry)
I will draw one winner at 12:00pm on Wednesday, October 19, 2016. Follow the Vancouver Home + Design Show on Facebook and Twitter for more information about the event.
Update The winner is Kam!
Today is the publication date of About Sixty, a new Sherlock Holmes book that someone very near and dear to me had a hand in creating.
My mother, President of Vancouver’s Sherlock Holmes Society (est. 1987), was asked to contribute one of the essays in a book about Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s sixty original Sherlock Holmes stories.
About Sixty
“Their arguments range from the playful to the academic, and are as varied as the authors themselves.”
It mustn’t have been an easy task for the contributors, who are all Sherlockian scholars, experts, and enthusiasts, or editor Christopher Redmond. Each had to come up with a compelling essay about why their favourite story, out of sixty, was the best.
Editor Christopher Redmond says: “What they have written is compelling evidence that any one of the Sherlock Holmes stories can be the best; it’s all a matter of what the reader is looking for.”
I came across a blog post from one of the proof readers who says: “I have to declare that I admire the contributors. From my perspective, some of them are attempting the impossible (i.e. I’m sorry but there’s no way that story is the best) and some make compelling cases.”
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s tales range from Victorian horror, to jewel heists, to society scandals. As these authors show, there’s a Sherlock Holmes adventure for every taste.
About Sixty is available now through Wildside Press.
There is a new haunted house fundraiser this season, taking over the Beaumont Studios gallery space with a Haunted Circus theme, from October 14th to October 31st.
Haunted Circus
Where: Beaumont Studios (316 West 5th Ave, Vancouver)
When: Sun – Wed 3:00pm to 10:00pm; Thurs – Sat 3:00pm to 2:00am
Admission Adults (over 12) $10, Youth (under 12) $5. Available online in advance or at the door at no extra cost. Guardians must accompany children under 12 years old after 6:00pm for their own safety.
The Circus is coming to Vancouver with all the terrifying clowns and circus performers to give you nightmares. The circus will be open to families and young children during the day but as the sun goes down the clowns come out. Live actors and special effects will bring the circus to life.
The event organizers have a powerful personal story of the support they received from BC Women’s Hospital and the BC Women’s Pregnancy Loss Clinic. As such, 100% of proceeds from the event will benefit the BC Women’s Hospital.
Follow the event on Facebook and Twitter for more information.
On a blazing hot day in early October, I got to fly over to Nanaimo with Helijet so I could hang out with Santa Claus and learn about the Kris Kringle Craft Market.
I was on assignment for FestivalSeekers, to get the whole story about the Kris Kringle Craft Market, the brainchild of Veronica von Conruhds which has been a seasonal staple on Vancouver Island for over 20 years.
Kris and I met with a hug at the Nanaimo Museum, where one of this year’s exhibitors gave us a demo with her amazing handmade, artisan soap. The amazingly talented Valerie Krug-Lamirande of Raven Song Soap explained her process, cut some soap, and told us about her craft.
“I’m always Kringle-ing in my mind,” event organizer Veronica von Conruhds told me over a bowl of borscht. She’s put on the Kris Kringle market for the last 23 years on Vancouver Island, the last three years in Nanaimo. I dare you to find someone who lives and breathes Christmas spirit year-round like she does.
I ordered the combo platter #2, that came with perogies, half a sausage, and a cabbage roll. Frank Pluta, the market’s other principal, ordered the same, then show me photos of Kris on his iPhone.
“Here’s our day out on the water with the peddle boats; look at Kris!”
There he was, sporting a life jacket over his velvet robes, trading in his jingle-bell bedazzled staff for a paddle, to promote the market in the heat of summer.
The team spends months each year promoting the craft market, which attracts about 12,000 people, and Kris is such a great sport. Their enthusiasm is contagious, and brings out the best in everyone wherever they go. Veronica said they always have to plan an extra half hour into their travel time, because people just want to stop and talk to Kris. He’ll never rush past anyone. I can imagine a few requests for Santa Selfies might hold up his daily activities as well… Read more »
I got to ride around in the Kringle-mobile all day, and we even stopped in to see another exhibitor, Megan Elena Lott of Elena Designs where I purchase a gorgeous etched leather bracelet cuff.
Check out my article for FestivalSeekers for full details about my fun day with the Kris Kringle team, as well as the FestivalSeekers event listing for the market.
Kris Kringle Craft Market in Nanaimo
Where: Beban Park Centre (2300 Bowen Rd., Nanaimo)
When: November 17, 2016 to November 20, 2016
Tickets: Adults $10/day or $15 and a donation to Salvation Army for a full event pass. Seniors and students $8/per day, children 12 and under free.
Follow FestivalSeekers on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube for more information.
