Fairplex transmogrifies into
The site of the L.A. County Fair gets into the Halloween spirit with mazes, a creepy carnival and more
The Pomona Fairplex's 1930s-era grandstand building has been rumored to be haunted, with guests reporting they heard noises and saw things moving around late at night.
Whatever ghosts may be living there will soon be joined by hordes of made-up monsters as the Fairplex morphs into the Fearplex with its new Lights Out haunted experience. It kicks off tonight and runs various evenings through Oct. 31.
“People will never want to have the lights out anywhere they go. That's how scary it's going to be,” warned Dirk Hagen, production designer for Lights Out.
The new haunt will take place inside the building, which was constructed in 1932 and is often used during the L.A. County Fair. And while Hagen has yet to experience anything supernatural there himself, he said there have long been whispers that it's haunted.
“It's this old concrete building that just lends itself perfectly for the kind of ideas we had for the mazes and attractions,” he said.
This dark and immersive haunt will include three mazes, and the surrounding fairgrounds will offer seasonal activities, including photo ops in a wax museum where fans can take pictures with a variety of monsters. There's also a spooky vendor village, a horror-themed video game area with a virtual reality experience, live entertainment, food, beverages and more.
“We're trying to create something that is on par, if not exceeding, what's already out there in other haunted houses. We're feeding off the fact that all of our attractions are inside of this old building,” Hagen said.
Here's a rundown of what's waiting inside the mazes at Lights Out.
Zombies are pretty much essential at any proper haunt, and Lights Out has recruited some hard-core creepers for this one. In an old military lab, things went really wrong. The zombies have taken over and are trying to find others to join them. To escape, guests will have to get through a furnace, a cold storage center and a research lab, and if they make it, things will end in a decontamination area where they'll hopefully be wiped clean of any viruses.
Creepy clowns and various sideshow acts will be a part of a scare zone and a maze as the dark circus comes to town. Expect to see possessed clowns chasing unsuspecting souls, and even the oncesweet treats at this carnival have gone sour. How bad is the food here? Well, eating the county fair's deep-fried Twinkies will seem like a much healthier option than the bloodred cotton candy inside this haunted market.
Though clowns and zombies are pretty good at inducing nightmares on their own, there's more fear here to be explored. The Nightmares maze exploits common phobias in a tight, dark space. Scared of spiders? There's a room for that. Freaked out by dentists? There's an evil one here. Does listening to too many murder podcasts have you worried about serial killers? The rock star
FEARPLEX PRESENTS LIGHTS OUT
When: 6-11 p.m. tonight through Sunday and Oct. 13-15, 20-21 and 27-31
Where: Fairplex, 1101 W. McKinley Ave., Pomona
Tickets:
$27-$33admission and $17-$22for parking at fairplex.com/lightsout
of them all, the notorious Jack the Ripper, is lurking in here. Plus there's a demon chapel and an alien abduction area, too.
“People are either going to come out less traumatized because they faced their fears or, well, they'll come out very, very traumatized,” Hagen said with a laugh.