The City of Malibu holds its annual haunted house event for teens, part of a new program called “First Fridays” that aims to provide entertainment for Malibu youth.
By Michael Aushenker / Special to The Malibu Times
Can you say “Boo in the ‘Bu”?
The City of Malibu hosted its third annual “Haunted House” party last week, complete with a haunted maze and a scary movie.
Local teenagers were invited to run through the maze and watch Gore Verbinski’s 2002 horror thriller “The Ring.” Volunteers served up free popcorn, cotton candy, milkshakes and nachos to accompany the movie. The event took place on Friday the 13th at City Hall after scheduling complications in 2011 prevented the city from holding it on its usual date of Halloween.
A group of 25 teens on the Harry Barovsky Memorial Youth Commission and three city staff members helped put the entire event together. The annual party was included as part of a new program called First Fridays that launched in September, 2011. The monthly event series targets teenagers age 18 and under, and most of the events are free. The goal of the program is to provide teens with a safe, supervised, low- to no-cost monthly event in Malibu.
Kristin Riesgo, recreations supervisor for Parks and Recreation, said it’s all part of the city’s push for greater outreach with the community’s youth, especially with the newly renovated City Hall offering greater chances for hosting events.
“Since moving into the new City Hall building” Riesgo said, “there has been an opportunity for the Parks and Recreation Department to expand all types of programs for residents. One focus has been teens. First Fridays is the first of several more events we have planned that will be focusing on teens.”
On Feb. 3, the next First Friday event, “Art Evolution,” invites guests to witness artists create live art such as graffiti, caricatures and photography. The Youth Commission is currently working on a “Battle of the Bands” concert, scheduled for March 2.
While previous First Friday events enjoyed strong participation, numbers were down this time.
“The event went well, but we had a lower attendance than expected,” she said. “The teens that did attend seemed enthusiastic and enjoyed the festivities.
“We had a gentleman attend the event who is a haunt enthusiast and organizes dozens of haunted houses during Halloween around the county. He also enjoyed the maze and applauded us for our efforts.”
Riesgo looks forward to holding the Haunted House party again, when it will return to its customary Halloween date later this year.
“In the past, we’ve had a pretty good turnout, so we thought we’d kind of keep it going,” Riesgo said. “It’s enjoyable for the kids to take part in it and be in the haunted house and scare people. So as long as we have good attendance, we’re going to keep doing it.”
For more information on “First Fridays,” visit malibucity.org and go to Parks and Recreation (listed under City Departments) and hit the “Teen Programs” link.