Scares aplenty at Fright Night’s fun

There’ll be ghosties and ghoulies and long-leggedy beasties and all sorts of things that go bump in the night at Pioneer Village at the next Youth Council event.

Fans of scares and the paranormal now have the opportunity to join in at the Youth Council Fright Night (A Scary Night: The Stories You Never Knew) event being held at Pioneer Village this month.

“For years the Youth Council has been interested in drawing on history and stories from Pioneer Village, while also giving an idea of what other stories could exist.” Peter Boyd, Community Development Officer at Stratford District Council says work is currently underway creating the backstories for the night and auditioning actors to play the characters.

“The opportunity to collaborate with Pioneer Village will hopefully get everyone involved and also gain more interest in the village itself. We’re maximising the use of what we have at Pioneer Village,” Peter says.

As many New Zealanders have a fascination about the paranormal, this event should be popular, he says.

The backstories are inspired by the individual buildings which feature on the night.

Connor Giblin, chairperson of the Youth Council says this might include a book which turns its owns pages in the library or the ghost of someone who had a messy accident in a butcher shop.

Connor says the team hope the event will be popular.

“It’s a brilliant idea that is not only going to generate more interest in Youth Council and Pioneer Village activities, but will also build the skills of all youth involved in pulling this production together. The event has been a dream we’ve had for a long time. Thanks to the partnership of the Pioneer Village, we can make this dream a reality. We are using many rooms at Pioneer Village to set up frights and scares for the events. The amount of hard work that has been put into this event by the Pioneer Village staff, cast, crew and Youth Council has been great to see. This event is shaping to be one of our best.”

Marketed as live entertainment, the show begins at the War Memorial carpark, where the tour starts. From there, it is a bus trip to the village ready to be scared. Each tour takes around 75 minutes, and each time slot only has 20 places so early bookings are advised.

■ A Scary Night: The Stories You Never Knew: Taranaki Pioneer Village, October 27. Event is R16, ID required for booking and attending. Tickets from the Stratford iSite or online: www.eventbrite.co.nz/e/ascary-night-tickets