Anna Lenters has always loved Halloween, and she equally adores live theatre.
Put those two together and you have created a magical potion of pure fun and fantasy.
Lenters, a board member of the Innisfail & District Historical Society, has created a uniquely special annual spectacle at the historical village.
On Oct. 24 and 25, the historical village hosted its second annual Halloween Festival, and the event she created with other committed volunteers is not your typical autumn event where kids are simply asked to come and grab a few candies.
No, there is so much more. Lenters has created an interactive street theatre-type of event that provides good old-fashioned, scary fun that is creative, and guaranteed to trigger the imaginations of both children and adults.
Lenters has plenty of experience to make Halloween especially magical. She and her husband John spearheaded the spooky interactive creativity at Calgary's Heritage Park After Dark for seven years.
With the Innisfail Historical Village offering several venues of its own, there were plenty of new opportunities for Lenters to set the stage for Innisfail's own unique Halloween Festival.
“It is safe and family orientated,” said Lenters, noting each venue is a door to fantasy. “We do not touch our guests, and no one's pain is our gain. You won't see a hanging. You won't see anyone stretched out. We guarantee that to our guests.”
There is a setting for witches, including Oz's Wicked Witch of the West, Nora of the North and of course Toto.
In the Poplar Grove cabin there is Dead Man's Poker, where two cheating gentlemen players are fighting it out to survive. “It is kind of a static display, kind of tongue in cheek,” said Lenters. “It is a photo op. We are hoping to encourage families to sit together, get their picture taken and mum can fill their scrapbooks.”
Inside the Bowden train station, there is the autopsy room run by Dr. Night and Day.
“The doctor has done an autopsy. We are inviting the children in to see the end results,” said Lenters. “There is also a small laboratory where the doctor is trying to extend usable tissue. You are going to see something interactive.
“The doctor requires fresh parts from graves to do this work,” she added, pointing to an outside venue where grave robbers are about to do some nasty work. “These young fellows are digging them up and then they are being transported over to him.”
And more fun horror waits at the train station. There has been a murder, noted Lenters.
“The body has been removed and we see the (chalk) outline. It is like the game of Clue. We see a bloodstained knife. We see a gun. We see a noose. We see a snake and there is a vat of poison,” she said. “We have a detective and he wants the children to help him to resolve the case. If he suspects that they might be directly involved in the murder, he then gets his assistant to escort them to jail – with parents' permission.”
There were of course other more traditional offerings at the festival, including dancing on the bandstand, outdoor classic movies, pumpkin carving, face painting and Halloween crafts. But it was Lenters' inspired outside-the-box creativity that produced the most smiles, laughter, and best of all, memories.
“Halloween is not a religious holiday. It is a low-pressure holiday. You know how Christmas can be so stressful for people? I don't want this to be stressful, “ said Lenters. “I want everybody to have fun and take all kinds of pictures and have memories.”
