Hi Guys!
Just an update on the Maximum Terror haunt that was held at the Stamford Museum & Nature Center. The haunt was closed down after Halloween 2007. They said they would find a new location, but I guess they never did.
Here is an article in the Stamford Advocate regarding Maximum Terror in October 2008:
R.I.P., FOR NOW: HAUNTED HOUSE SHOW CANCELED
Stamford Advocate
By Magdalene Perez
Staff Writer
Posted: 10/13/2008 02:33:30 AM EDT
STAMFORD - The organizers of Stamford's only haunted house show have a frightful message for ghost and goblin enthusiasts - the event will not take place this year.
But organizers are plotting to make sure that, next year, the popular attraction rises from the dead.
"It's a very depressing year," said Peter Chichester, who with family members and friends runs the haunted house company Maximum Terror. "My phones are ringing off the hook. My e-mail is flooded with basically irate people who are upset that we're not doing it."
Maximum Terror announced during the summer it was seeking a new site for the event after the Stamford Museum & Nature Center in North Stamford decided it no longer wanted to participate. For three years, the museum hosted the monthlong haunt of zombies, ax-wielding ghosts and bloody mazes.
The search turned up one potential host - the Stamford Historical Society on High Ridge Road. But by the time the society's board of directors contacted Maximum Terror in August, there wasn't time to get the ghoul fest off the ground, Chichester said.
"Seeing the scope of the project and all of the details, it would have created a really stressful environment," Chichester said. "And I didn't want that. I'd rather do it right than just do it."
Chichester said he nixed another option - returning the event to where it began, his parents' home on Janice Road. The family held the haunt there for 12 years before it grew too big. "There was talk amongst my family," Chichester said. "But I hate to go backwards."
One of the biggest limitations of hosting it at home was that it lasted one night, Chichester said, and bad weather could foul the whole event. Besides, his father, Dan Chichester, long ago grew tired of nailing dragons to the roof.
Peter Chichester is getting his Halloween fix this year by helping friends with their haunted house in Wallingford.
The historical society or the Downtown Special Services District may be options for next year, Chichester said.
Pamela Coleman, chairman of the historical society's board of directors, said the board is considering it.
"We thought that kids really enjoy it, and we're trying to do more activities that reach out to families," Coleman said.
After discovering how much work goes into the event, Coleman agreed it was best to wait until next year. The historical society was busy this summer and fall working on the Sept. 25 launch of "Urban Renewal," an exhibit about Stamford development over the past 50 years.
Coleman envisions a haunted house that would be slightly smaller than the one hosted by the museum. Last year, three 30-foot by 30-foot tents were run by a small army of mostly teenaged volunteers and a few paid employees. Chichester estimates the haunt, which was open about 12 nights during October, occupied 5,000 to 6,000 square feet. The historical society can offer a lawn large enough to fit about 80 cars, Coleman said.
Before agreeing to host the haunted house, Coleman said she will have to find out whether the historical society has enough volunteers.
"We'd want to give them the support that they need," Coleman said.
Stamford residents said they will miss the ghoulish ritual. Zach Perkins, who worked as a volunteer and later as a paid employee for the show, was surprised this summer when he heard the haunted house lost its site. Though Perkins, 21, now attends college in New Hampshire, he planned to return to take part in the show.
"It's too bad," Perkins said. "I found it to be absolutely just an incredible experience."
- Staff Writer Magdalene Perez can be reached at
magdalene.perez@scni.com or 964-2240.
Source:
http://www.topix.net/forum/city/stamfor ... H5FIH6829H
