LAKE ISABELLA, Calif. (KERO) — The Haunted Barn features rooms inspired by movies and TV shows - with a majority of the props being created by the students in creative and thrifty ways.
- The Haunted Barn is a fundraiser put on by Kern Valley FFA and requires months of planning and construction all lead by the students themselves.
- It opened on Halloween night, and will also be open November 1st and 2nd with a less scary version going from 7-8 for little children, with tha scary version starting at 8.
- The event also features carnival games and concessions.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
As the day fades into night on Halloween, Kern Valley FFA Students are putting together the final touches on the haunted barn.
“Oooh too much!” exclaimed a student pouring out fake blood to decorate another student's face.
“There’s always something that needs to be fixed,” said Christine Levack.
Christine Levack is president of President of the Kern Valley FFA and says planning for the barn began months ago - the first step is to conceive the rooms.
“So we kind of like, skim through movies and TV shows and found a scene from each one, and put that scene into the barn,” said Megan Abbot.
Megan Abbot is an officer with FFA and also helped plan this year’s barn – once the ideas are made – the students then start on more physical work.
“As soon as we get back from the Kern County Fair, we take the animals out, we clean the pens, we put in fresh sand, and then we start building what we call the walls. They're all plastic and tarps,” said Maghan Miller.
Chair of Agricultural Sciences at Kern Valley High Maghan Miller has helped with the haunted barn for the past four years.
“Everything's held together with zip ties and twine and duct tape, pretty much,” Levack said.
It’s not easy - and takes coordination from the students - with the officers leading the way.
“We also have kids that are learning hands on trade skills that they can use in a future career when they are building things, they are learning to use power drills and things like that,” said Agriculture Science teacher Maddie Edwards.
It’s a fundraiser that helps send these students to leadership conferences - so they try to make everything themselves – using bottle and jugs to create body bags.
“Sometimes they get this really good idea, and they're like, We need this eight foot spider in a cool. How are we going to build it?” said Miller.
And they build a lot – Senior Allie Lumpkin also helped assemble the barn this year.
“It’s so much work you don’t even know,” Lumpkin said.
Art and shop classes contribute props to us in the barn – helping bring vivid scenes to life.
“I would say my absolute favorite room would have to be the Maze Runner room, because putting that maze together, we used pallets and cardboard, and had to string spider webs and also make a giant spider, which I hate spiders, but it looks amazing, and I love it,” Levack said.
“There's a clown in, like a circus tent looking thing, and that is exactly from the movie or from the show,” Abbott said, “So that, I think that room in the room right after that, where the stage is, is to be my favorite and my most proud moment.”
And though it is hard work -
“It's very rewarding, because we spend a lot of time stressing,” Abbott said.
“I love it. It's definitely the best one we've had so far, and I've helped all four of them,” Levack said.
“It's kind of heartwarming, but like, it's so much work put into it. And it's like, crazy how something so little can turn into something so scary,” Lumpkin said.
All made possible by the commitment of the students.
“I’m dedicated, because this stuff stains, and I did not know that putting it on, but I'm dedicated,” Levack said.
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