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Living Oakville Beaver 21 · Friday, October 28, 2011 OAKVILLE BEAVER · www.insideHALTON.com Visit t scaresdale c l manor...if n f you y dare By Nathan Howes OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF A n Oakville resident is hoping to hand out a scare or two on Halloween for a good cause. Since 2005, Andrew Grant has been using his property as a charity Halloween haunt to raise funds for Oakville's Fareshare food bank. "People always think about dropping off food, which is awesome, but obviously Fareshare has its two big food drives per year and they really run dry most of the rest of the year," said Grant. "For it, money is good too because then they can buy perishables." When Grant moved to Scarsdale Crescent six years ago, he didn't know what Halloween was like in the neighbourhood, and started off by dressing up in his grim reaper costume out front, to see what kind of reaction he would get, he said. "I think we had about 12 kids. It's one of the neighbourhoods that was built in the mid-60s and I figured a lot of the original owners were still there. It was turning over slowly," said Grant. "I persevered and each year I kind of added a little bit more as I was building things -- building facades and small graveyards." Word began spreading over the next couple of years and then last year his haunt drew about 350 kids, which is actually not a lot compared to some of the new developments in Mississauga, Grant said. "I belong to the Canadian Haunters Association ... some of the people get 2,000 kids a year, which is madness. I can't imagine how you can handle that much candy so fast," said Grant. "Some of us are charity haunts and so we try and get donations from candy companies, just whatever little bit helps." "Any budget I can raise goes towards building new stuff because it is all custom-made, hand-built props. We do custom animation that gets projected in the windows as well," he added. Those who've never been to his haunt shouldn't expect violent and gory stuff, Grant said, because he's not a fan of horror movies, but there are skeletons and other ghoulish sights one would normally expect. "We try to add a little bit of humour to it just because me and my friend yard full of cemetery fences and large gates, along with boarded windows. "We had a room inside the garage so we added a façade to cover the side alley and started down the side of the house, so we have that as well. It takes up the whole width now so it's pretty good," said Grant. Grant recalls a memorable moment last year when he roamed the neighbourhood on a custom-made ice cream bike, dressed as a "horrible looking clown" with an intense mask, scaring a group of kids back to their parents vans. "I chased these four boys back to their van and I was kind of like pawing at the window and they're screaming and jumping in the back seat and the dad was gold because he took his time coming back," Grant laughed. "He opened the car door and was like `oh I dropped my keys,' and left the door open and I kind of just popped my head in and the boys were screaming and weeping in the back seat. The dad was laughing. "It's fascinating because people are scared of different things. There are things you think are kind of benign and people just flip out over them. I've never realized how much people hate clowns, holy cow," he added. Over the last couple of years, Grant said he has tried to open his haunt as early as possible, but mainly it's just the night of Halloween. It is usually ready shortly after dark and will close by 9:15 p.m., he said. Last year, Grant raised $190 plus food, which was his first year for Fareshare, and two years prior, he collected about $350 for the Children's Diabetes Association. Donations will be accepted on Halloween night. Scarsdale Manor is located at 480 Scarsdale Cres. For more information, visit http://scaresdale-manor.com/. CREEPY COLLECTION: An annual Halloween Haunt at 'Scaresdale Manor' collects donations for Oakville's Fareshare food bank. who helps me, we're both big fans of the haunted mansion and that's got a nice mix of scary stuff, nice design and humour," said Grant. "We try to relay that a bit, especially with the animation now. We have a new animation this year, which is a little scared guy in a bed and all these things are happening to him. I put a sheet in the window and turn the projector on." Grant's entire front yard has been converted to a grave- Thank You for Supporting the 2011 Halton Children's Water Festival LAKE SUPPORTER WANT TO MAKE 2012 YOUR BEST RUN YEAR EVER? JOIN THE PEAK CENTRE RUN CLUB Peak Centre Burlington Run Club offers f three weekly group runs to all registered participants. All long runs are fully supported. To improve running performance, optimal cross-training designed specifically for running is available. 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