Vincent and his creepy crew are gearing up for October
TINA L. SCOTT
EDITOR
The Haunted Sawmill, 700 Hendricks St. in Merrill, is hosting a “Sawmill Spook-tacular” event on Friday, Sept. 24.
“It’s going to be a full-costume dress rehearsal night for our actors and crew,” said Jerry Hersil, President of The Friends of Vincent Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization that runs the haunt as a fundraiser to help promote its mission of helping children in the Merrill community.
“But we are also going to be inviting our sponsors and offering half-price tickets to the community.”
Gates will be open from 7:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m. and tickets for this event will be $7.50 each.
“The event will be open to everyone, but we are especially focusing on our sponsors and the Scare Crew’s family and friends,” he said. The leaders will be working with the actors to help them develop their acting and “scaring” techniques.
“This will be the test run for our troupe acting idea,” Hersil said. “The troupes are groups of actors that will latch onto some of our unsuspecting guests and follow them all the way through the haunt. The troupe concept allows our actors to not have to stay in one spot and to expand their acting range.”
“We are inviting Louisiana Pacific to join us starting at 6:30 p.m. for the naming of our community room after them,” Hersil said, “in recognition of all of their sponsorship over the years.”
One of their biggest sponsors since it started, their donations of sheets of plywood every year has enabled them to remodel the outside and to build rooms inside the haunt. “Their donations have also given our teen volunteers materials to paint artwork on, given them hands-on training with working with tools as they help with construction, and shown them essential building skills,” he said. “They are invaluable to us. You cannot look at the Haunted Sawmill without seeing their materials in every facet of the project.”