Archive for the ‘Oregon’ Category

2012 West Coast Haunters Convention

Wednesday, April 11th, 2012

From the desk of Ed Roberts, founder of the West Coast Haunters Convention.

The 2012 West Coast Haunters Convention will be held June 1-3 in Portland Oregon at the Doubletree Hotel at Lloyd Center.

This years’ convention is being held in Portland Oregon, at the Doubletree Hotel and exhibition center.

The WCHC is thrilled to announce two keynote speakers; Mike Krausert from Cutting Edge Scenic Design and New England’s Spooky World and more recently The Fear at Fenway park and Ed and Marsha Edmunds owners of Distortions Unlimited and the stars of the Travel Channel show Making Monsters.

Convention highlights will include: A haunt tour and dinner Friday night, a costume ball on Saturday night; Sponsored by Dark Light precision Lighting Systems, a hearse car rally featuring cars from around the northwest and other events throughout the weekend.

Education at the West Coast Haunters Convention is paramount and this year will be no exception. Classes and workshops will take place daily, with over 50 hours of topics related to all areas of haunting and haunted houses!

This years tradeshow floor will feature some of the top vendors in the industry and the new home haunter’s headquarters. The move to the Doubletree allows the tradeshow to more than double the available space for vendors. All this and the opportunity to network with hundreds of haunted house owners and enthusiasts can be found at the 2012 WCHC.

The show was started by Ed Roberts, of The Nightmare Factory, a charity haunt for the Oregon School for the Deaf. They were featured on Extreme Makeover Home Edition.

The West Coast Haunters Convention was started because other conventions were too far away or too costly for Ed to bring his students from the school for the Deaf, So Ed decided if he could not take his students to a convention he would bring the convention to his students with the intention of creating a haunters convention on the west coast for all haunters and Halloween fans.

One of the unique things about this convention is that it is run as a nonprofit that contributes to a foundation that provides grants for special education. There will always be workshops and seminars about charity haunting, be because the convention got its start at the Oregon School for the Deaf. Seminars will be interpreted for any deaf or hard of hearing participants.

All proceeds from the convention will go to the West Coast Haunters Convention Foundation, established to help teachers of both deaf and autistic children.

For more details please visit the WCHC web site at www.westcoasthauntersconvention.com

Stalking The 2012 Haunt Conventions

Thursday, February 23rd, 2012

Here’s a list of this years’s Haunt Conventions across the country. Keep checking Scare Zone for further detailed updates and information. Only 6 months til Haunt Season!

TransWorld’s National Halloween & Haunted Attractions Show 

The haunted house industry’s own haunted house show will be held again in the America Center in St. Louis, Missouri on March 8-11.  Prepare for three jam packed days of over 100,000 square feet of haunted house products, amusement products, seminars, education, and haunt tours through one of America’s best haunted houses “The Darkness“. This is THE MAIN event of the year if you own or operate a haunted attraction, amusement park or any sort of amusement facilty. The show floor will showcase over 100 vendors from the Halloween and Haunted House industry!  Several entertain events are held, annual meetings for the Haunted House Association, tours through several haunted houses like The Darkness, The Lemp Brewery haunted house, and much more.

Canadian Haunters Convention

Held April 13-15 in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Haunts from around Canada will visit this show to trade ideas, teach seminars and much more.

Monsterpalooza

April 13-15 in Burbank, Ca. This event is geared toward the horror film industry and fans. The convention focuses on “the art of monsters,” such as horror makeup, sculpture, and artwork. The show itself is not that big, but the presentations are always great. It’s a must-attend for anyone interested in horror makeup, art, and special effects. And of course, the presentations from horror makeup artists can be very useful for haunt actors and haunt makeup artists.

International Makeup Artist Trade Show

This is held in New York this April 14-15. Make-up artists, vendors, manufacturers and enthusiasts convene for the make-up world’s biggest gathering to discuss, display, discover and collect the best the industry has to offer.

HauntCon

HauntCon travels each year to a different city so that attendees can visit haunted houses around the country. Hauntcon is held each year in the month of May 3- May 7. This years show will be held in Monroeville Convention Center in Monroeville, PA (Pittsburgh). The tradeshow floor is smaller but with some really cool haunt vendors with cool products on display.  These shows (MHC, HAUNTCON, etc) do not offer the sheer amount of vendors and massive tradeshow displays as the Transworld Haunt does however because of their cheaper booth prices it opens the doors to smaller up and coming vendors. This year’s haunt nightly haunt tours include Fright FarmHundred Acres Manor, and Haunted Hills Estate.

National Haunters Convention (Philadelphia, Pennslvania)

This years event will be held May 4-6 in Philadelphia and will feature a tradeshow floor, haunt tours, and seminars. The show leans more towards local enthusiasts and home haunters than professional haunted house owners.  Because there are so many haunts in the area the show planners are able to offer tours through some of the best haunts in the nation.

Steele City Paracon

May 11-13 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Join the members of Ghost HuntersParanormal State, and Monster Quest  for the “Steel City Paracon,” a conference on the paranormal. Tickets are now on sale for the very intimate event–only 200 tickets will be available. The cost is $199 and includes entrance to the seminars, lectures, and networking events. With such a limited number of tickets, we recommend purchasing soon!

West Coast Haunters Convention

June 1-3 in Salem, OR.  Haunters can gather to learn new tips and trade ideas. This year’s show is expanded and will located in Portland Oregon this year at the DoubleTree hotel and expo center. The show will also feature a local haunt tour and Scare Zone plans to be in attendance here.

Great Lakes Fright Fest

June 1-3 in Petersburg, MI. This is another small haunters gathering with a focus on Michigan haunts events include demos, door prizes and events for kids of all ages. This year will include a charity driven Haunted House put on by the convention itself.

Midwest Haunters Convention

MHC is held in Columbus, Ohio June 8-10. Learn from many other haunted house owners, actors and more. The show somewhat leans towards the home haunts and enthusiasts more so than just the professional haunt owners; however, the show features a ton of vendors and events for both home and professional haunters. They’re also  hosting two bus tours: An All Day Paranormal Bus Tour and An Evening Haunt Bus Tour.

Tides of Torture

The “Tides of Torture” cruise (not related in any way to the torturous Ghost Ship haunt), will set sail for the Caribbean on August 27-31. This will be the inaugural cruise for the convention focused on horror movies rather than haunts. Some of the celebrities joining in the mayhem include Doug Bradley from Hellraiser, convention regular Kane Hodder (Jason in Friday the 13th parts 7-10), Tony Todd aka Candyman, and others.

IAAPA Attractions Expo

November 12-16. The IAAPA (International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions) show is the biggest amusement show on the entire planet held every year in Orlando. The show is over 750,000 square feet and offer over 1000 vendors.  On average there are about 100 haunt related vendors to choose from. Additionally IAAPA has been producing haunted house seminars each year at their event.