I had a friend in tight with a city government. His club was one of the groups that rented the castle for a dinner party. They all had a grand time and he had an idea. Produce a joint production between the city parks and recreation department (which used to produce a Halloween haunt and hay ride till their own fire department made it too expensive for them to continue) and the school. We were looking for a home and a better crowd, a match made in heaven (ha!).
This would be my first Fall Festival Production. I convinced over 100 vendors to rent space, a carnival to set up rides and provided continuos entertainment on Halloween weekend. The event was a success in that it lost no money. We would have made money if not for the $8,000 fire sprinkler system we had to install. It should have cost us about $4,500, but the fire chief changed his mind on what he wanted installed. I now own a sprinkler valve system for a ten-story building. This could be funny, if not for the fact that the system he designed was not adequate and I had to modify it. He wanted a bell on the valve. If a sprinkler head were activated, the water traveling through the pipe would mechanically ring the bell. This was great, except who could here the bell? As I suspected, the bell could not be heard over the screams and sounds of the haunt. I added a pressure switch, which was directly connected to the fire alarm system. This covered me if a sprinkler head went off and if something happened to the systems water pressure. Castle Dragon has changed very little. Experiments continue during the first week of operation. Most of them are failures and are removed. We added a hayride and it did very well. It was designed for family entertainment and not too scary. It became very important as early in the season before the Fall Festival I discovered that the drainage in the park where we had set up was not very good and the park flooded. It did not flood where the castle was, but the road to the castle flooded. We used the hayride wagons to bring customers to the Castle and the hayride. Political affiliations with public officials are, at best, fickle. I will have to relate the story in a blind way to protect the guilty. Income from the hayride and the castle went to three charities, the acting school and two service organizations. One provided actors for the hayride and the other actors for the haunt. Members of these organizations were prominent citizens in city government, like the mayor. These people became, er, difficult. And they were prone to pitching unique fits. An example: the castle was open and customers were making their way through it. The cemetery fog machine ran out of fog juice, the ranking volunteer came screaming down the central corridor that he could not work under these conditions, without the fog. He was very vocal and not alone. I could present more examples, but suffice it to say, volunteers (these were adults) bring with them a unique set of problems. The weekend before Halloween I was witness to a potential crime. The reality is that we will never know the what and/or the why. This was the weekend that customers were riding wagons to get to the haunt. Three teenage boys entered the haunt. One was celebrating his sixteenth birthday with his older brother and a friend. The birthday boy was to have his day celebrated by being bashed into walls, doors and props by his brother and friend. Security was tailing them by the second scene, but several guests were between security and the three boys. It seemed all in fun, but security followed the boys out of the castle. Once outside the birthday boy passed out. Because the guests were being ferried back and forth via wagons, all the guests in the group were trapped waiting for the next wagon. As the incident developed it appeared (at first) that the boys were claiming that he was injured inside. Again my hat is off to the police. My officer called for back up. In a matter of minutes flashing lights and sirens enveloped the haunt. The sirens ceased, but the flashing lights continued for over thirty minutes. The officer was busy. He was taking statements from all the customers that witnessed the boy's antics. The family of the boy happened to be on site, and they were delivered by wagon ASAP. At first it seemed that they were about to claim injury via the haunt. This was shot down by the officer. They were surprised (?) to learn that their son was injured by his brother and friend. They became very quiet when the officer mentioned witnesses, not haunt employees. The boy regained some awareness before he was transported to the hospital. I am sure that had I not had a police officer as security that we would have been sued. I did not think to interview customers, I was too busy controlling the crowd and arranging for transportation. The radio police officers carry proved to be valuable and save time. Yes, we had a cell phone and two-way radios for communication. But, when a police officer makes a call on his radio, the reaction time is quicker. A potential disaster was avoided because we were in control and there was a police presence before and during the incident. Another fun thing happened this year. For those of you that have purchased my books, this will help you to rest a little easier about my designs. Hail and a twister preceded the storm that flooded the park. It ran along the power lines about two hundred feet from the castle and took out several transformers. I was in the castle during the storm. The castle came through without much more than a few hail dents. What makes this funny is that as soon as the storm passed the cities building department truck (one of those four door diesels) pulled up to the castle. There were six employees inside. They rolled down the window and looked at me and the castle with disbelief. Money exchanged hands and they drove off. I recognized one of them as being the one giving me grief over the design and telling me that the building was not safe. He, who laughs last, laughs best.Mad Hatter
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