News release from the Downtown Improvement District:
Fright Night Downtown Fun for All Ages
It’s time to pick a costume for one of the most highly anticipated events of the Halloween season—the 4th annual Fright Night Downtown is Saturday, October 22nd. This year, there are 14 different locations hosting special Fright Night activities from noon to the witching hour promising the most entertaining Fright Night to date.
New this year, more daytime activities for families:
- The Foellinger Freimann Botanical Conservatory starts the activity with a pumpkin zone at noon. The Community Center is planning children’s games and Fort Wayne Dance Collective is offering an afternoon performance too.
- Live entertainment on the downtown Library Plaza will amuse those waiting for The Zombie Machine to crank out ghouls, and this year there are more artists from TAG Art providing free face-painting.
- Downtown comes alive with the dead as the Zombie Walk takes a new route along Wayne, Calhoun, Columbia and Harrison streets. The parade will be less than a mile long and harkens back to the days of Halloween festivals held on Calhoun Street years ago in downtown Fort Wayne. The event rivals some of the largest zombie walks in the country, with thousands of costumed zombies taking to the streets.
More spooky fun at night:
- Five more organizations are joining Fright Night for the first time with new events after the Zombie Walk: children and families can enjoy a free movie at the library, lantern tours at the Old Fort, or ghost hunting at the Shrine Temple or Rankin House. For an older crowd, Cinema Center will host a Braineaters’ Ball and a Sci-Fi Thriller.
- Teens have a special place to dance and mingle with a live DJ at the Anime Ball in the Grand Wayne Center.
- The Marriott Courtyard is offering a traditional bonfire and hot dog roast.
- With so many places and things to do, a free haunted trolley will connect the different locations from 6 until 11:00 p.m. It will start and stop the loop at the library plaza and will run about every 20 minutes. The trolley is sponsored by the Downtown Improvement District and Club Car Limo.
There wouldn’t be a Fright Night without The Embassy Theatre’s annual silent movie and Dennis James on the Grande Page Theatre Pipe Organ. If the Cat and the Canary have you wanting more at the Embassy, this year there are tunnel tours and an overnight ghost hunt from 11 p.m until 4 a.m. too. Back by popular demand are ARCH haunted bus and hiking tours, the History Center jail and Parkview Field’s live band and scavenger hunt.
The Downtown Improvement District is seeking Buskers for The Zombie Walk to add to the feel of this funky death march. Otherwise known as street performers, Buskers are encouraged to be part of the Zombie Walk or set up on the streets near Fright Night locations throughout downtown.
Fright Night is a downtown event for ALL AGES, some activities have a small admission price and others are free. Visit the Fright Night website.
2011 Fright Night activities
Zombie Machine
Library Plaza 900 Library Plaza
2:30 – 5:30 p.m.
The Downtown Improvement District offers a free face painting assembly line by TAG Art and live entertainment with a Halloween Play, K Monique’s Dance, Samuel TrueBeDoor, Raq the Rivers belly dancers and the End Times Spasm Band. Make your own ghost snot with Science Central. Pint & Slice will provide food & beverages. IPFW students will be taking photos.
Zombie Walk
5:30 – 6:00 p.m.
Zombie Walk begins at the library, goes North on Calhoun to Columbia Street, South on Harrison to end at the Grand Wayne Center.
Halloween Haunt at the Community Center
233 W. Main St.
2:00 – 5:00 p.m.
Bring your little spooks and goblins to the Community Center for games for kids and entertainment for the whole family. Enjoy Halloween cornhole, pumpkin relays, pumpkin bowling and Pick-the-Pumpkin. Children–get your face painted, enter the scarecrow conÂtest, go on a skeleton scavenger hunt, and watch Scooby Doo movies. There will also be seasonal crafts and refreshments. Best of all . . . it’s FREE!
The Pumpkin Zone
Foellinger Freimann Botanical Conservatory 1100 S. Calhoun Street
12:00-5:00 pm
$5 Adults (18+), $3 children
Pumpkins are one of the best things about the fall season and we’re going show you why! See creative things to make and do with pumpkins, get fun pumpkin facts, play pumpkin games and watch a pumpkin carving demonstration.
Rocky Horror Picture Show
9:15 pm
$2 adults (18+), $1 children (17 and under must be accompanied by a parent or adult guardian)
Let’s do the time warp agaaaaain! Doors open at 8 outside on the terrace (weather permitting-dress accordingly). No outside food or beverage – refreshments available for purchase. This movie is participatory in tradition and content may not be suitable for younger audiences.
Phantoms & Phobias
Dance Collective Hall Community Arts Building, 437 E. Berry St
2:00 & 7:00 pm
$12 adults, $10 children 12 and under
This spooky concert features the work of 9 choreographers, creating pieces to the deep-seeded phobias and inner phantoms we all possess. So, ask yourself…what are you afraid of?
Also: October 21 @ 7pm & October 23 @ 2pm
Call 260.424.6574 for tickets
Go to Jail
History Center 302 East Berry Street
5:00 – 9:00 p.m.
$2 per person.
Experience the Old City Jail in the basement just as generations of inmates did. See the noose, bandages, and other creepy artifacts from the 1883 execution of Sam McDonald (including his murder weapon) on display in the museum’s underground level.
Embassy Tunnel Tours featuring the Fort Wayne Shadow Chasers
Embassy Theatre
4:30-6:30 p.m. and 7:30-10 p.m.
$4 per person.
Tour the Embassy tunnels to hear about the resident ghost and other frightful historic legends. Tours run every 15 minutes.
7:00 p.m. Silent film The Cat and the Canary with Dennis James on the Grande Page Theatre Pipe Organ
Enjoy magician Terry Michael Owens before the film
$7 for adults, $4 for students 12 & under
Tickets for both events above are on sale now at the Embassy box office and Ticketmaster
Indiana Paranormal Inquisitor’s Hunt for the Embassy Ghosts
11 p.m.-4 a.m.
Tickets: $60, limited attendance
Price includes Ghost Hunt and T-shirt. On sale now through the Paranormal Inquisitor by calling Tina Lano, tinainquisitor@comcast.net or by calling 260.452.5142
Live Music & Kids Scavenger Hunt!
TinCaps Parkview Field
6:00 – 9:00 pm
Come on over to Parkview Field to enjoy live music from Heartbeat City on the centerfield amphitheater. Come see Johnny around the ballpark and take part in a concourse scavenger hunt for the kids! Beverages and concessions available for purchase. Free admission.
Champions/Courtyard Marriott parking lot
6:00 – 9:00
Bonfire with hot dogs and scary blood soup ($1 each)
Champions will have a scary menu and employees dressed in costume
The Corpse Bride
Allen Co. Public Library
6:30 – 8:00 p.m.
Free movie, the Corpse Bride, in the library’s lower level theatre.
The Old Fort
6:30 – 10:00 p.m.
$ 2 per person donation
Enjoy lantern tours of the Old Fort , a guided 30 minute walk revealing actual confrontations with the Spirits inhabiting the Fort and it’s grounds , tours every 45 minutes ….
Indiana Hotel Lobby – ARCH
6:00 – 11:00 pm
Listen to spooky stories by T.A.G. Art and ARCH from 6 – 8 or warm up in the Indiana Hotel Lobby while waiting for tours.
Haunted Sites Bus Tours & Fright Site Hikes
7:00, 9:00 & 11:00 PM Haunted Bus Tours, $15.00 non-members, $13.00 ARCH members, $10.00 for children under 18. Hear haunted Fort Wayne history, take a haunted bus tour to the North or South sides of the city.Tickets for the Bus Tours go on sale Friday September 30th, 260-426-5117
7:30, 9:30, & 11:00 PM Fright Site Hikes, $10.00 adults, $5.00 children 6 & up, free ages 5 & under
Indiana Hotel Lobby, at the Embassy Theatre
Join ARCH as we take a twilight stroll through downtown while we spin tales of the darker side of Fort Wayne’s history. Fright Site Hike tickets will be on sale in the Indiana Hotel Lobby during Fright Night!
Shrine Temple (corner of Ewing and Berry St ) & ARCH/Alexander T. Rankin House 818 Lafayette Street
Ghost Hunting
7 – 11 p.m., every 15 minutes
Free
Join T.R.A.M.P.S. The Research And Metaphysical Paranormal Society and Ghost Trackers on a real ghost hunt at ARCH or the Shrine Temple. Register for your time slot at the DID information booth on the library plaza from 3 to 5 or on-site starting at 7. (limited to 15 people per ghost hunt.)
Cinema Center 437 E. Berry St.
Braineaters’ Ball
6-9 pm, followed by sci-fi movie thriller at 9:15, “Attack the Block” ($3)
Free admission! Hey, all you brain-eating zombie types. After the Zombie Walk, take a short hop over to Cinema Center for music and dancing, a macabre art gallery, free popcorn, $2 pizza slices, cupcakes, prizes for best costume, and scenes from classic horror films in the theater. We’ll even crown a king and queen of the ball. Horrifyingly fun!
The Anime Ball
Grand Wayne Center
8 – 11 p.m.
$5.00 admission
Break out the glow sticks and your best dance moves! Ikasucon and the Grand Wayne Center have partnered to bring you a RAVE with live DJ, costume contest and enough dancing to keep you satisfied until next year! Anthony Wayne Ballroom, ages 13 years and over.
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