Excitement building for inaugural Haunted Library event

If you see an assortment of spirits, goblins, and generally scary creatures headed toward Canton Center later this month, know that their destination is the Canton library. The masked and costumed arrivals will change the usually tranquil location into a Haunted Library just in time for Halloween this year.

The first Haunted Library, a free event, is on the town’s Halloween Parade route and down the street from the ‘Trunk or Treat’ event at Canton High School. Both the parade and Trunk or Treat are sponsored by Canton Parks & Recreation and are also free.

Reference librarian Ashley Perry, who also works with the library’s Young Adult program, brought the idea for a Haunted Library event to teenage patrons after attending a conference during which staff from the Medfield library did a presentation on their annual Haunted House.

“[The teens] were super psyched about it and they asked me if we could do it,” said Young Adult librarian Rosie Moore, “and I said sure.”

The premise behind the Haunted Library is that something unknown and mysterious has taken over the library and changed different areas of the building into dark and unusual spaces. Without giving too much away, Moore said that the normally pleasant spaces are now scary versions of themselves. Costumed tour guides, activities for younger trick-or-treaters, scary fun for teens, and candy for everyone are all part of the seasonal plan.

Visitors should arrive at the Special Event entrance at the bottom of the library’s ramp to check in, and they will be placed into small groups of five to 10 people and assigned a guide.

Tours on Saturday evening, October 29, are reserved for visitors ages 12 and older and will last approximately 15-20 minutes as they explore seven scary areas. The group tours on Sunday afternoon — geared toward kids in kindergarten through grade 5 and their families — will take a longer time to run, since there will be stations with activities for children.

A group of about 10 teenagers started the initial planning in August for the Haunted Library. “It’s taken a lot of work,” Moore said of the group’s planning efforts.

Other teen volunteers will help October 29 and 30 with the staging of the library, the behind-the-scenes-work, and the tours. Some of that work includes both creating and finding decorations, and decorating the library after it closes for business on October 29.

“We have been working very hard on creating many of our decorations already for several weeks,” Moore said. “We will put it all together that Saturday. We’ve got lots of kids lined up to come on Saturday, October 29.”

Some areas of the library can be decorated while the library is open; once it closes, the volunteers will quickly add finishing details to their work before the building reopens that evening.

The library is also hosting its annual Pumpkin/Jack-o’-lantern Carving Program on Friday, October 28, from 2:30 to 4 p.m. People can either bring a pumpkin to carve or reserve a pumpkin from the library, and there will be stencils and tools available for decorating the pumpkins. “People are invited to either take their pumpkins home with them or leave them at the library to help decorate outside,” said Moore.

The Haunted Library will be open Saturday, October 29, from 6-9 p.m. (ages 12+) and Sunday, October 30, from 2-5 p.m. (grades K-5). Moore and the teens are keeping the ages of their visitors in mind as they plan decorations, costumes, activities, and how much they want to scare visitors.

“We’re not going to try to limit the scariness of it,” Moore said. “[Saturday night] is going to be as scary as it’s possible for us to make it. On Sunday it is going to be much less scary. It will still be decorated like a haunted house and the teens will still be in scary costumes.”

Moore said that on Sunday, trick-or-treaters will be able to walk in the Halloween parade and then enjoy Trunk or Treat and stop by the library, or take in the Haunted Library after the parade before heading on to Trunk or Treat. A Canton couple has donated candy for all of the attendees of the Haunted House.

To reserve a pumpkin for the Jack-o’-lantern carving program on October 28, go to the events calendar at library.canton.ma.us.

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Posted by Mary Ann Price on Oct 21 2022. Filed under News, Town Government. Both comments and pings are currently closed.