Alderney Landing’s annual Haunted House is back up and running for its 18th year in Dartmouth, N.S. “It’s fun. And it speaks to Helen Creighton’s Bluenose Ghosts, which is part of the inspiration for it,” said Bea MacGregor, CEO of Alderney Landing. “We develop something new all the time. Everything is brand new. It’s never a repeat, so everyone needs to come back every year.” East Coast Scares are responsible for created the haunted house at Alderney Landing’s Bluenose Ghost Festival. “I’m not right into Christmas. To me, Halloween is my Christmas,” said Mike MacGillivary of East Coast Scares. “And it’s just the fun of it. There’s absolutely nothing better than Halloween.” This year’s event kicks off at 6:30 p.m. on Sunday. It runs every Thursday to Sunday 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., until the week before Halloween, then runs from Oct. 21 to 31. “It’s an amazing fundraiser that supports all of the free activities that we do all year, which we have 700 events that we deliver,” said MacGregor. “A lot of them are free, like Fire and Water coming up as well. So, it’s super important. Plus, we love this festival, and people have fun at it. “Alderney Landing gives so much back to the community. All these free events and it just feels like we’re doing something to help them out. And the inspiration of doing it is watching people come out of the haunt either screaming or laughing, either or is good.” MacGillivary and his business partner Randy started haunted houses in the backyard but decided they wanted to expand. “Randy has a lot of the inspiration, to be honest. But you know, you’re on the Internet and you’re looking at other places and see something,” said MacGillivary. “This year we started working on this the first weekend in March. It’s a lot of work but it’s so rewarding. When you see people through and enjoying themselves, it’s great.” MacGregor said there will be spiritual readings, an escape and a selfie park. The haunted house is $15. “This would be nothing without the help of our volunteers every year,” said MacGillivary. “They’re absolutely the best and we wouldn’t be able to do any of it without them.” Island movie This year, Ambassatours Gray Line has turned George’s Island in the Halifax Harbour into a movie park. “I think this is the first time there has ever been a movie screened on George’s Island,” said Peter McLaughlin from Ambassatours. “We’re working with our partners at Park Video on this one, and Parks Canada as well. “We’re showing The Lighthouse and the demand has been really high. We’ve got over 300 bookings for it and almost 400 on the waitlist, so the demand in the community is very high to get over to the island and see a great movie.” The Lighthouse was shown on Saturday night, but because demand was so high, they’ve added a screening. “There’s going to be a second night on Friday the 16th. So just too many people wanted to go. We didn’t want to disappoint people,” said McLaughlin. “We did try to make sure we’re showing some films that are a little bit spookier on the island. It just kind of adds to the ambiance and a unique and unique place to see, to see a film, and it just kind of sets the tone a little bit for people when they go over there. “It was Park Video came to us on this one. We’re always looking for partners to work with to kind of create great entertainment for our guests. We try to find local partners who are interested in doing it. And they’ve had some success with some free showings in front of Queens Marquee just around the corner here through the summer. “They just knew there was a lot of demand for this kind of thing. We seem to be growing in popularity again of late. We’re just trying to make sure we give people some unique venues to see that.” For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page
