The Haunted Hillside is a Halloween-themed fundraiser with a haunted trail. It had its opening weekend on Oct. 7-8. The event will be open Oct. 14-15, 21-22 and 28-29. 

It is open on Fridays from 6 to 9 p.m. and Saturdays from noon to 4 p.m. and 6 to 9 p.m. The Haunted Hillside is hosted by and located on the property of Kayla Waterhouse and she explained that the event was once just for friends and family. 

“We’ve opened it to the public for four years now. Other than that, I started it, probably, a total of fourteen years ago and it just took me a while to get stuff built up,” Waterhouse said. The event has grown and now she needs to start setting up for the event in August. 

She gets help from friends and family including Jamie Wagner, Waterhouse’s childhood friend. Wagner is the kennel manager at the Dunn County Humane Society where she has worked for more than sixteen years which the event is fundraising for. 

“When we decided to open it up to the public, we got to talking and thought this would be a great event that we could raise money for the homeless animals in Dunn county,” Wagner said. 

They raise money for the Humane society by drawing people into the event with the many activities they have, according to Waterhouse.

Waterhouse said they have mini golf, the egg and spoon race, gunny sack races, cornhole, checkers, tic tac toe, photo opportunities, free pumpkins and gourds, face paint, coloring pages, Halloween movies shown on a TV and a corn pit. 

The event is available for all ages. They also have vendors there from Scentsy, Usborne books, Paparazzi Jewelry, Colorstreet Nails and more. 

There are concessions as well, which raises money for Strong Arms Helping Families which operates out of Colfax. Donations are encouraged at the event since there is no charge to attend. Besides vendors and games, there is also the haunted trail. 

The trail has many sensory-activated animatronics located throughout. The trail also has a tunnel that leads to a corn maze that ends in a cemetery. The trail also has actors spread out all over.

However, they only have actors there during the evenings and not in the afternoons. Waterhouse said this is so kids can be less scared to go in the afternoons. She also said that the tunnel is a new addition this year. 

When asked about what the scariest part of the trail was, Waterhouses said, “Kind of depends what your fear is.”

Curtin can be reached at [email protected].