Lack of workers forces Haunted Palouse to take a pause this year

A lack of volunteers forced the planners behind the annual Haunted Palouse to cancel this year’s event.

The popular October event will be postponed until next year as planners promise to use that time to recruit helpers.

“I anticipate that next year will be very well-staffed,” said Libby Akin, one of the planners.

In its place, the community will host a pumpkin carving contest this year where judges will rate pumpkins and hand out prizes.

Haunted Palouse is a community-wide undertaking that involves preparing a haunted house and “zombie trail” with the help of local school and community groups.

Akin said it takes volunteers three weeks to plan and build the attractions, and the decision to cancel this year’s event occurred at the last minute.

“I think it just caught everyone a little off guard,” she said.

The crowds that visit Haunted Palouse provide economic benefits to the city and its community groups. According to planner Nicole Walker’s recent post on the Haunted Palouse Facebook page, last year’s Haunted Palouse net profit was $70,000. That is allocated to groups like the Palouse Arts Council, Palouse Library and Garfield-Palouse Future Farmers of America.

There were several reasons for the lack of volunteers. One was an aversion to some of the proposed ideas for the haunted house scares.

Among the groups that dropped out for this reason were those from the Garfield-Palouse School District.

Palouse Superintendent Mike Jones confirmed the district felt uncomfortable with its students and staff participating this year.

“We didn’t want to be involved with disturbing content,” he said.

However, he said the district is looking forward to participating in next year’s event.

“Haunted Palouse has been great for the Palouse community, for the school,” he said. “It’s a longstanding tradition that we’ve been beneficiaries of.”

Walker addressed the list of ideas for “scares” that caused concerns in the community on the Haunted Palouse’s Facebook page.

“We understand that the original brainstorming list had some potentially alarming themes, and quickly pivoted away from those ideas after receiving feedback,” it said. “Brainstorming is a normal part of this event. Haunted Palouse is a very very scary event, and sometimes the topics can be alarming to some folks. We are aware of how this initial list came across, and will be more mindful of that in the future. These ideas were not proposed ‘themes,’ simply ideas for different scares.”

She added that the organizers respect any group’s decision not to participate.

Shishona Turner, vice president of the Palouse Chamber of Commerce, said Haunted Palouse requires a “monumental effort” from a lot of people. She said without enough people volunteering, it is too much for the organizers to carry out themselves.

“It’s more than a full-time job,” she said.

Kuipers can be reached at akuipers@dnews.com.