By Tucker Henderson

Reporter

Karvonen Funeral Home is hosting their third annual Halloween Party at their Wadena location with an open invitation to everyone.

With 185 visitors during their first year and 250 participants at last year’s party, this year’s event should make for a shocking success as families choose a safe and warm alternative to trick-or-treating.

“We want the entire community to know, everybody is invited,” said co-organizer Kendra Schumacher. “It’s child friendly, but it’s not like we don’t have things for the adults to do too.”

Schumacher said that they host the event in the Wadena facility as it is the largest of their available spaces, making it the perfect place to host a crowd of costumed guests. A box maze will be set up in the funeral home’s chapel, which will be available throughout the evening to both children and adults.

“The boxes are big enough for a full-grown adult to get through,” said Schumacher. “We have the adults costume contest as well. They get to choose between gifts cards. The kids costume contest is in age ranges. It goes 0-5, 6-12, 13-20, and then 21 plus.”

“Last year we kind of learned that our 6-12s go through some big growth spurts, so we might need to buy the bikes afterwards so we can get an appropriately sized bicycle. It’s also winter, so likely they’re going to grow some and not be able to enjoy their bicycle until spring anyway.”

Among the festive events, a bunny hill and main activity will be available for the whole family. A photo booth opportunity will be available with a six-sided coffin that Schumacher refurbished herself that anyone can sit and have their picture taken.

“Then we have the wishing well that they’re able to go fishing for candy,” she said. “And the troll in the basement is nice to them. Other than that, we kind of just throw whatever we can—coloring pages, different photo opportunities. This years it’s going to be Addams Family, so we’ll have a Cousin It hanging around and also Thing moving around. It’ll be a scavenger hunt. There will be snacks and candy, lots of sugar. Get them a bunch of candy and send them home.”

To the staff at Karvonen Funeral Home, the holiday party is more than just celebrating the Halloween traditions, it’s making sure everyone has a safe and warm place to participate in the festivities.

“It’s a safe, warm place where kids can spend hours just having fun with their friends,” said Schumacher. “Minnesota’s unpredictable—it could be blizzarding one day of in the 80s the next and just having some place that’s warm and safe for them to just show off their costumes and run around and be kids is so important to us. Bringing them a little bit of joy and hearing them giggle and run around is fun.”

“Also, we know we’re a funeral home and we know that holding a Halloween party might be a little iffy for some people, but we want the kids to know that this is a safe place too, that we’re not scary,” she continued. “This funeral home does not look like the stereotypical horror movie funeral homes and the employees are not scary. Trying to open the community’s eyes against those stereotypes is important too because we want the kids to feel comfortable coming to us and being here, especially when they’re grieving and dealing with loss.”

The Addams Family Boo Bash will take place at 419 2nd Street Northeast on Saturday, Oct. 26 from 3- 8 p.m. All children must be accompanied by an adult to participate and to register for the costume contest.

“It’s a fun time,” said Schumacher. “I’ve definitely enjoyed hosting the last few years and can’t wait to keep going.”