The economy might be scary, but that won’t stop Americans from shelling out more than $6 billion for Halloween costumes, candy and decorations this year.
The holiday is a money-maker for big-box retailers, but it also creates a seasonal demand for haunted houses, pumpkin patches and costume stores. According to the National Retail Federation, seven in 10 Americans plan to celebrate Halloween this year, and the average person will spend $72.31. That number is up from last year’s $66.28 and $56.31 in 2009.
For Evans native John Carter, his Plantation Blood haunted house is a way to make money off having fun. Carter began his foray into the Halloween industry when he was a teenager, working on the Augusta Jaycees’ haunted house and then for Fat Man’s Forest as well.
“It’s been a passion of mine since I was a little boy,” he said.
Carter spent more than $80,000 remodeling the buildings on Wallie Drive, south of Tobacco Road, this year, but he said the key to having a good haunted house isn’t just spending money on it.
“A lot of people will just throw one together and it isn’t worth a hoot,” he said. “Our actors are second to none, and I think that’s what makes it special.”
Lowering overhead costs, Plantation Blood uses around 100 volunteer actors for the spooky tour, and they spend around four hours getting ready with a team of professional makeup artists.
When he’s not setting up rooms designed to scare, Carter works as a landscape contractor. The Halloween season coincides with a typically slow landscaping season, and he starts setting up Plantation Blood at the end of September.
With tickets going for $18 and anywhere from 20,000 to 30,000 visitors each year, that adds up to an annual cashflow upwards of $500,000.
“I guess it’s just a lot of fun for me,” he said. “I like that it’s giving kids something good to do, too.”
Halloween isn’t just for kids. Mitzi Sharp. the manager for Halloween Express in North Augusta, said the holiday is becoming more popular with adults.
“Kids are still a big part of it, but it’s starting to be more for adults,” she said. “Kids go trick-or-treating, but a lot of times adults will have multiple parties they want to dress up for.”
Halloween Express is open in September and October and hires seasonal workers each year to run the store. Sharp has worked in the North Augusta store for two years and said it’s exciting.
“People get to be anything they want to be for one day,” she said. “I think it’s just a fun holiday.”
Not all seasonal fall business is about witches and zombies. One of the CSRA’s most iconic fall attractions is the pumpkin patch at St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church in North Augusta.
The pumpkin patch has been around since 1995 and sells pumpkins grown by the Navajo nation in New Mexico. The tradition began as a fundraiser for a new organ, according to church member Bill Lesshafft, but has turned into the church’s trademark.
“It’s become a family tradition,” he said. “We see the same people every year.”
St. Bartholomew’s gives two-thirds of the pumpkin proceeds back to the Navajo, and uses the other third to fund its own outreach all over the CSRA. Lesshafft said the church has become very passionate about helping the Navajo over the years.
“They’re doing it without government help, they’re very industrious and hard working,” he said. “That’s something I think we could do with more of.”
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