“And high up above or down below
When you’re too in love to let it go
But if you never try, you’ll never know
Just what you’re worth
Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you”
Martin / Berryman / Champion / Buckland
“It’s all very simple really. All you need to do is show a few Halloween films out in the Park.”
That’s how it started, several weeks ago. Last year we hosted our annual ‘The Haunting of Rossmore Park” over two nights and then moved a lot of the props into Monaghan town centre to have a third day of child friendly Halloween related fun and games, storytelling, and general shenanigans. This had all seemed like a brilliant idea at the time. But we hadn’t properly reckoned on the possible impact of , what we lovingly refer to in Monaghan as, the weather. Irish people in general, and Monaghan folk in particular have recurring amnesia whenever an outdoor event is planned. This amnesia largely accounts for the staggeringly high level of annual sales of outdoor garden furniture and barbeques despite the last set having blown away in a storm, or happily rusting , unused.
The Irish expression ‘soft day’ encompasses everything from sun showers up to, but not including, a full blown gale.
Last year , our scary festival in town was delayed for two hours due to a deluge of rain that fell like nails from the sky. It was actually a shock to see anyone turn up to it at all. Those that did venture out thoroughly enjoyed it, but our rain sodden, exhausted volunteers , later that night as they gathered together waterlogged straw bales, rain bloated scarecrows, and general soaking detritus said , weakly, ‘Never again’.
There was a general feeling that maybe we should take a break this year…and then some idiot said “We could just do a one day free event instead. It’s all very simple really. All you need to do is show a few Halloween films out in the Park.”
This sounded feasible, and when our band of volunteers were reassured that they would be dry, and wouldn’t really have to do anything except watch the movies, we all agreed.
The first wee change was the ‘Free Event’. Past experience has proven that it can be quite difficult to stage a free event, as everyone immediately says that they will go, even going so far as to booking free tickets online, and then just not showing up. This leads us to telling other people that it’s booked out, us planning for a crowd and then half of them don’t show up. So we settled on a nominal fee of €5 for our movies , as this wouldn’t put anyone off, but implies a commitment that they will show up. Then we felt guilty about charging, so we decided to give everyone a free hot chocolate or a bag of popcorn.
Simple.
Then we decided that we’d put a stretch canopy over the area in front of the CoffeeDoc. And a few lights.
Then Bren said “You know , the playground is right there beside the CoffeeDoc, and we have all of these props already, so why don’t we do a very simple, very straightforward, scary Playground.”
So we started prepping for that.
And then Laura said “You know some of those natural nooks and corners of the playground would be great places to have a few scarers, and we already have the costumes…”
And then volunteers from years before got in touch asking if they could help, and act on the night…and then on and off over the last four weeks, groups of between 5 and 25 would end up in the old Fire Station making headstones, costumes, pumpkin headed scarecrows and giant spiders. So we needed to hire a blow heater to keep them all warm ….and a generator to power the lights we’d now decided we needed in the playground, and portable floodlights to light up the carpark. And a skip to tidy everything up. And extra picnic benches. And a van to take everything out, and another van, and a jeep with a trailer…
And , you know what ?
“What ?”
That little path around the back of the playground would make a great scary trail for older kids and “kidults” for later in the evening. We could run three movies from 4pm, have the scary playground until 7 and then place all the scarers out around the trail and have a scarier haunting there until 9pm …
“Oh , and I know someone who has a hearse !”
So yeah, we did that too.
We sold 800 tickets.
We gave away another 100 tickets to Teach na Daoine and Foroige.
We had a crew of 18 makers, movers, and groovers.
We had an amazing, and sometimes terrifying , gaggle of 24 scarers.
And we had 12 hi-viz clad shouty people who made it work on the night by telling people “Don’t do that.”, “Park there, not there.”, and “Isn’t that your 4th hot chocolate.”
And guess what ?
That Friday morning as we put the finishing touches to everything, we couldn’t see further than our own hands, as they rain fell like nails….
But then it stopped.
The sun came out.
Everybody that booked a ticket arrived.
And everyone who said they’d help , helped.
Kids squealed with delight as the mayhem erupted in the playground. Most of their parents stayed under the canopy , watching Ghostbusters.
The scary path was indeed very scary.
I had to retrieve a lady who was almost levitating with fear , after walking 200m into the trail. Her husband and I tried to calm her down as she shrieked at every branch that moved as we sought the sanctuary of the car park.
It’s amazing what the sound of a chainsaw does in a pitch dark forest at 9pm on Halloween.
Everyone that arrived with children went home happy, with most of them.
We went home happy, and tired, but deeply content.
A healthy dozen of us went back out the next morning and tidied up almost everything over the day. And we removed the last of the large items on Tuesday.
Everything is back in the Fire Station. I messaged into our group the Bagpuss inspired thought :
“Bren gave a big yawn, and settled down to sleep.
And of course when Bren goes to sleep, all her friends go to sleep too,
The scary body parts were mannequins,
Martina, Mary, and Margaret were just dolls,
And Sean, Dean, Gordon, Benny, and Barry were carved wooden bookends in the shape of woodpeckers,
Even Bren herself, once she was asleep was just an old saggy cloth cat,
Baggy, and a bit loose at the seams,
But Paul and Laura loved her…
Until next year, sweet dreams,
Paul
P.S. This is an amazing collaboration between Jacob Collier, Chris Martin and a crowd in Wembly, it’s for everyone who helped, and helps.
P.P.S And this is a very tired person reading an old blog…
