The spookiest night of the year

The spookiest night of the year

By Jacob Kolkman Posted November 6, 2008

Spook Night is the one night a year that kids from kindergarten to high school can come to and always have a good time. It’s a night filled with games like the cakewalk and ring toss, stomachs full of bad concession stand food, and the highlight of any Halloween get-together the haunted house. And of course, let’s not forget all of those fun and crazy costumes.

Spook Night isn’t just a night for people to go out and have some Halloween fun. It also moonlights as a fundraising event for improvements and supplies at Winnemucca Grammar School. Each Halloween season for the past fifty years, Spook Night has raised money for Grammar School needs. Spook Night was originally held at the school when it was a two-story building before it was torn down. Over the years the demand for more space caused them to move to the fairgrounds until last year when there was literally no room to move. Now the Winnemucca Events Center is the new home of Spook Night and will probably remain that way until they build something bigger.

Children play one of the many games at Spook Night.

Children play one of the many games at Spook Night./Jacob Kolkman • The Brand
Children play one of the many games at Spook Night./Jacob Kolkman • The Brand

This is Mrs. Kitrus’ first year organizing Spook Night with the help of the school’s parent-teacher organization “F.R.O.G.S.” or Friends of Grammar School. F.R.O.G.S. is responsible for getting the prizes and setting up all the booths and raising the money they need for a smooth Spook Night. They not only just assume what the school needs they have the teachers make “Wish Lists” to ask them what they would like to have improved and what they would like for their classrooms that they probably couldn’t afford.

Last year they raised over $13,000 to insert a grass area with a sprinkler system and other things around the school. This year they are planning to use the money raised to extend that grassy area to cover up an old blacktop area and replace the old slides and basketball hoops. This year Spook Night raised a total of $12,000, a total that is slightly lower than the previous year.

Mrs. Kitrus believes that Spook Night could still use some improvements though. She said, “I would like to do something different with the haunted house. If we could make it bigger that would be great so that people don’t have to wait in line for so long.”

Hopefully next year they can raise enough money next year to amp up the haunted house. That one will probably be the best Spook Night ever. So if you missed the awesome one this year don’t worry. You still have next year and the year after that to see what all fuss is about.

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