If You Go> What: Lake WinnepeSpookah Halloween party.> When: 6-11 p.m. Friday, Oct. 31; 9 p.m. street dance.> Where: Lake Winnepesaukah, 1720 Lakeview Drive, Rossville.> Admission: $24 per person ages 3-54, $10 per person ages 1 and 2 or 55 and older.> Phone: 706-866-5681.> Website: www.lakewinnie.com.
Get your costume on Oct. 31 and join goblins haunting Lake Winnepesaukah during its first Halloween night party. Friday night's spook-tacle offers all the fun of the amusement park's WinnepeSpookah, which has been held weekends in October, plus special events just for Halloween night, says Lake Winnie spokeswoman Talley Green.
The fun begins with a pumpkin drop counting down to the 6 p.m. opening of the park gates.
"There is a four- to five-minute show outside the gates before the pumpkin starts to drop, just like the New Year's Eve ball in New York City, then everyone counts down with the pumpkin to the opening," says Green. Every child will be handed a Halloween bag when entering the park, which can be used to hold loot collected at more than 40 trick-or-treat stations set up around the park.
Green encourages groups of friends partying together to scare up a clever idea and enter the group costume contest. The grand prize is a 2015 season park pass to each person in the winning group.
All the park's rides, with the exception of water rides, will be running until the 11 p.m. witching hour. Cecil B. Demented will welcome brave visitors to Sinister Cinema, located in what used to be a happy little picnic pavilion - now home to scary movies.
Ghosts, goblins, vampires and all sorts of haunts will line up and party down park walkways during the Thriller Parade, which starts at the top of each hour.
"The Thriller Parade goes through the park with costumed characters and dancers throwing candy and trinkets out along the parade route," says Allan Ledford, Lake WinnepeSpookah assistant. "For each parade, dancers will select children from the crowd to join them, and the kids can either walk with a character or ride in the witch's cauldron - which seems to be a lot of fun for them to pretend they are being cooked."
On the half-hour, Ledford says, there are zombie dances around the park and visitors brave enough to join in will leave with a pin that declares, "I danced in the dark at WinnepeSpookah." Also on the half-hour, magician Mitch Gravitte will astound partiers with his mysterious moves during shows at 7:30, 8:30, 9:30 and 10:30 p.m. on the Lakeside Stage.
"Starting at 8 p.m., the Lake Winnie train becomes transportation to the Fear Grounds, which is the Jukebox Junction Stage that has been turned into a haunted graveyard. It's the scariest of events," Ledford warns.
The Halloween party culminates with a street dance that will begin at 9 o'clock in the back part of the park near the Cannonball roller coaster.
"It's an all-ages party at the amusement park," says Green, "with special guests like a stilt walker and music by Glow Band from Atlanta."
Contact Susan Pierce at spierce@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6284.