The third annual Halloween event at Marion’s main fire station had more help and participants than in past years. 36 people from the fire department, Marion Fire Auxiliary, and the community-at-large volunteered to run this year’s “haunted house” event over the course of two nights (October 26-27, 2018). The fire department sold 229 $1 cover charge tickets. The Marion Fire Auxiliary netted $345 from selling food.

A complaint from a few people was that the event was not as scary as last year’s. Firefighters concede they tried something other than a traditional scare fest. A firefighter (playing the part of an adventure guide trying to find out what happened to his missing-in-action teammates) guided kids through a variety of scenarios where they had a chance to earn a clue to solving the mystery of the missing people. Scenarios featured a pirate ship, a prison, a graveyard, an insane asylum, an Old West saloon, a crashed UFO, and a mad scientist’s forensics lab.

Chief Katie Mast stated that everyone was grateful to provide a fun, safe space for kids, especially because there are so few opportunities in the Marion community for kids outside of school.

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