After a two-year hiatus, Fort Fright will return to Kingston this year.
According to the St. Lawrence Parks Commission, the popular event will return to Fort Henry in late September and run throughout the month of October, ending on Halloween.
This year’s event will feature “50 movie-style, quality animatronics, dynamic special effects, intense sound and lighting and a large number of costumed scare actors,” the commission said in a news release last week.
Fort Fright is meant to transform the “18th-century garrison and National Historic Site into one of the most spine-chilling haunted houses in North America,” the commission said.
A new addition to Fort Fright will be the two “dark nights,” which will take place Oct. 19 and 26, where guests will be able to explore Fort Fright in near total darkness, with only a single glowstick to light their way.
The annual haunted house, which has been running since 2007, did not lend itself to social distancing, so it was put on hold for the last two Halloween seasons during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In its place, Fort Henry hosted a second iteration of the immensely popular Pumkinferno, which has been running in Morrisburgh at Upper Canada Village for more than a decade.
Both the original Pumpkinferno at Upper Canada Village and the Kingston event will once again take place this year, but Kingston’s pumpkin extravaganza will be held at the Kingston Penitentiary.
Unlike Fort Fright, Pumpkinferno events are family-friendly. They showcase lit-up, hand-carved, artificial pumpkin sculptures throughout the two historic locations.
According to Katie Forrester, a spokesperson for the commission, each year a group of young artists are chosen to transform thousands of artificial pumpkins into spectacular displays ready for the Halloween season.
“They embark on this monumental project every spring, designing, carving and constructing the amazing array of pumpkin-carved installations you will discover on your tour,” Forrester said in an email.
These two events also begin Sept. 29. Tickets are now available for all three Halloween-themed activities.