What are people most afraid of?
Is it the creepy crawlies that hide among the vegetation, or the ghosts that haunt abandoned buildings, or something far more sinister?
Well, it won’t matter because the Rio Grande Valley Livestock Show is hosting its second annual fall fest with their titular “Terror on Texas Avenue” event starting Oct. 27. It boasts 13 themed rooms inside a haunted house, which almost guarantees to have something attendees might fear.
A sneak peek of the haunted house reveals the 20-feet-by-20-feet spaces showcasing such frights as the arachnophobia room, where giant spiders and their webs hang from the ceiling.
Some rooms are themed after specific horror movies like Stephen King’s “Carrie,” “The Ring” and “Sinister.”
According to RGVLS Marketing and Fundraising Director Christy Cameron, they’ve spent about $30,000 on the haunted house so far and the actors involved are volunteers and students from Raymondville High School.
“We have 25 volunteers that we have found through social media,” Cameron said. “We put out a post to see if anyone wanted to form a fall festival committee, so out of that we got 25 awesome volunteers and they’re devoting their time for those next four days, but the actor in the haunted house is going to be some drama students from Raymondville High School.”
Cameron says this event has been in the works since early July.
“Back in July we didn’t know what we were getting ourselves into,” Cameron laughed. “We knew what we wanted. We designed it on a computer, we made a layout and then we had to come in here and chalk it up on the floor.
“It was a very hard, long process.”
From dimensions to sizes to materials, the five-person crew has been hard at work even on their days off to get everything ready for Halloween.
The Terror on Texas Avenue event isn’t only hosting a super-sized haunted house but also lucha libre, a pumpkin patch, hayrides, live music, food, a long-awaited Freddy vs. Jason rematch and more.
Attendees can participate in Scarecrow Row where they can design a scarecrow for competition and win prizes as well as flash mobs at the event center and a surprise appearance by Leatherface, who’ll be butchering his victims on full display.
Carnival rides and a petting zoo can be expected as well, and Cameron mentioned there will be a kiddie zone for the younger children to enjoy their time at the fall fest.
As a nonprofit organization, RGVLS profits will go back to the children in the form of scholarships, Cameron explained.
“Last year we made $1.2 million in scholarships, academics and project scholarships,” she added. “So anything we make out of here and the stockshow and every event that we have here … goes right to the kids.”
Cameron said their goal for next year is to hit $2 million.
Terror on Texas Avenue starts on Oct. 27 from 4 to 11 p.m., Thursday to Saturday and from 4 to 10 p.m. on Sunday.
Parking is free but entrance for adults is $10, kids from ages 3 to 13 are $5 and anyone younger than that can enter free.
For more information visit, https://www.rgvls.com/p/events/terror-on-texas-ave.
To see more, view Monitor photojournalist Joel Martinez’s full photo gallery here:
Photo Gallery: Terror on Texas Avenue guarantees night of fright in Mercedes
