Upper Main Line Y to hold haunted fundraiser Oct. 24 and 25
The Upper Main Line YMCA will be bringing residents close to cardiac arrest in its mansion — for a good cause.
The Y will hold a haunted mansion at — where else? — its mansion Oct. 24 and 25 to benefit the Changing Lives Annual Support Campaign, and YCares, which provides summer camp to disadvantaged children. Senior program director Brian Raicich said the haunted mansion dates back to about the 1970s, but was killed off in 1994 because there wasn’t enough manpower to support it. Running the program was particularly difficult because the Y uses the four-story mansion on its property for programming, and a quick setup and teardown is necessary.
“It just became too much to set it up, and also run a YMCA,” Raicich said. “We knew [that] with our own staff we could not count on running the place as a YMCA with all of our programs and activities, and also change our four-floor mansion into a haunted house for the evening hours.”
However, the program reemerged, and the mansion has been “hauntified” since 1997 with the help of students — particularly students in fraternities and sororities at West Chester University and students from Conestoga and Great Valley high schools. Last year’s haunt brought in about 70 volunteers.
“That has allowed us to have the success that we’ve had,” Raicich said. “When they discontinued it in 1994, they did not have the labor resources.”
Held in the Y’s main building, the 102-year-old mansion lends itself easily to haunted applications. The basement will be given the haunted goldmine/torture chamber treatment; the first floor is your typical Victorian haunted house fare, featuring a haunted wait staff; and other parts of the mansion will take cues from children’s stories like “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland,” and “Little Red Riding Hood,” but with a scarier angle, Raicich said. The tour concludes with the “cemetery/pumpkin patch/courtyard” outside the front door.
And though everyone has likely been to a less-than-frightful haunted house, senior program director Mary Ann Quindlen said the Y’s mansion is far from bush league. Quindlen said she, Raicich and membership director Molly Alberts attended a National Haunters Convention in Valley Forge earlier in the year.
It’s exactly what it sounds like.
Quindlen said the trio learned about makeup techniques, set construction, how to cue the lines, and haunted costuming, and Raicich said he got a glimpse into how a professional haunted house works.
“We’re lucky that in southeastern Pennsylvania, there are a number of professionally run haunted attractions,” he said.
Last year the Changing Lives Annual Support Campaign brought in $300,000; and last summer the program helped 55 children attend summer camp.
“It’s a safe place for them to be and a fun summer for them that they wouldn’t necessarily have otherwise,” Quindlen said.
The haunted mansion is expected to bring in about $3,000, and two extra times have been added for this year. The haunted mansion will run Oct. 24 from 6 to 10 p.m.; and Oct. 25 from 6 to 9 p.m. There is also a “lights-on” tour Oct. 25 from noon to 3 p.m. geared toward children under 10 years old.
The cost is $10 per person for full members and $13 per person for program members for the evening tours; or $5 and $7 per person for the “lights-on” tour.
The YMCA of the Upper Main Line is located at 1416 Berwyn-Paoli Road, Berwyn. For more information call 610-249-9622; or visit www.uymly.org.
The Y will hold a haunted mansion at — where else? — its mansion Oct. 24 and 25 to benefit the Changing Lives Annual Support Campaign, and YCares, which provides summer camp to disadvantaged children. Senior program director Brian Raicich said the haunted mansion dates back to about the 1970s, but was killed off in 1994 because there wasn’t enough manpower to support it. Running the program was particularly difficult because the Y uses the four-story mansion on its property for programming, and a quick setup and teardown is necessary.
“It just became too much to set it up, and also run a YMCA,” Raicich said. “We knew [that] with our own staff we could not count on running the place as a YMCA with all of our programs and activities, and also change our four-floor mansion into a haunted house for the evening hours.”
However, the program reemerged, and the mansion has been “hauntified” since 1997 with the help of students — particularly students in fraternities and sororities at West Chester University and students from Conestoga and Great Valley high schools. Last year’s haunt brought in about 70 volunteers.
“That has allowed us to have the success that we’ve had,” Raicich said. “When they discontinued it in 1994, they did not have the labor resources.”
Held in the Y’s main building, the 102-year-old mansion lends itself easily to haunted applications. The basement will be given the haunted goldmine/torture chamber treatment; the first floor is your typical Victorian haunted house fare, featuring a haunted wait staff; and other parts of the mansion will take cues from children’s stories like “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland,” and “Little Red Riding Hood,” but with a scarier angle, Raicich said. The tour concludes with the “cemetery/pumpkin patch/courtyard” outside the front door.
And though everyone has likely been to a less-than-frightful haunted house, senior program director Mary Ann Quindlen said the Y’s mansion is far from bush league. Quindlen said she, Raicich and membership director Molly Alberts attended a National Haunters Convention in Valley Forge earlier in the year.
It’s exactly what it sounds like.
Quindlen said the trio learned about makeup techniques, set construction, how to cue the lines, and haunted costuming, and Raicich said he got a glimpse into how a professional haunted house works.
“We’re lucky that in southeastern Pennsylvania, there are a number of professionally run haunted attractions,” he said.
Last year the Changing Lives Annual Support Campaign brought in $300,000; and last summer the program helped 55 children attend summer camp.
“It’s a safe place for them to be and a fun summer for them that they wouldn’t necessarily have otherwise,” Quindlen said.
The haunted mansion is expected to bring in about $3,000, and two extra times have been added for this year. The haunted mansion will run Oct. 24 from 6 to 10 p.m.; and Oct. 25 from 6 to 9 p.m. There is also a “lights-on” tour Oct. 25 from noon to 3 p.m. geared toward children under 10 years old.
The cost is $10 per person for full members and $13 per person for program members for the evening tours; or $5 and $7 per person for the “lights-on” tour.
The YMCA of the Upper Main Line is located at 1416 Berwyn-Paoli Road, Berwyn. For more information call 610-249-9622; or visit www.uymly.org.
