Rex B. Hamilton reports on the Ironstock Haunt Conference

[RexBHamilton]

Rex B. Hamilton reports on the Ironstock Haunt Conference



July 6, 2006



Greetings, Fellow Haunters:


I had a great time at the Ironstock Haunt Conference on June 23-25. This was the first time I’ve paid a call on what has steadily become one of the larger regional gatherings in the haunt industry.

The location of Ironstock is about as remote in the great American Midwest as one could ask for - Tell City, Indiana. It is at the very bottom of the state, right across the Ohio river from Kentucky. The actual setup is a 4-H campground complete with banquet hall, concession building and a sheltered amphitheater for conducting classes and raffles. For me, it was an 8-hour drive.

Ironstock is a show that features vendors as well as haunted fun. There were more than two dozen vendors in attendance, enough to fill out nearly all the show’s floor space. To the delight of attendees, it was just as easy to chat with the owners of established provisioners such as Gore Galore, Lix, Castle Blood and Minion’s Web as it was to converse with up-and-comers like Evilusions, HauntBots and Frighteners Entertainment.

Ralph Mitchell is Ironman. His take-charge wife, Melinda Carter, is Ironlady. They were assisted by Mistress Celynn, Kkrazy Kkaren, Keeba, Kitty, Michael Hedstrom, Thirstin Howl IV, Robert Beach, the rest of the Bitch Sisters and a host of others whose names I never got. When hundreds of guests show up at your door, having many good friends to help you out is pure heaven.

Things got off to a nice start on Friday evening. The convention’s welcome party fired up at 5 PM under the entrance portico of the Ramada Limited hotel. Well past the midnight hour, the party was still going strong.

Also on Friday evening was a haunt tour to Slaughter on Second Street, Ironman’s first-year commercial haunt in the modest city of Owensboro, KY. A busload of brave souls, followed by a handful of cars, traveled 45 minutes to view the haunt in action and, later in the evening, a lights-on tour.

The weather was generally co-operative. A few, brief showers sent partygoers at the Ramada under the covered portico from time to time. On Saturday and Sunday, most people at the convention stayed under cover for a different reason: the bright, hot sun pushed daytime temperatures into the low 90s.

My main reason for attending Ironstock was to teach. Late Saturday morning, I presented my 2006 class called “Energizing your actors: what producers must preach to their actors, night after night.” The session sought to help producers effectively communicate with their casts during those hectic October production nights. When I finished, the 30 or so people in attendance gave me a nice round of applause.

Mid-afternoon on Saturday, attendees were treated to a wacky series of coffin races. Next up: a t-shirt toss with the shirts fired out of a modified haunted-house air cannon toward a gaggle of expectant people a good 50 yards away. The pile of door prizes was such that two giveaway sessions were needed that day to pass them all out.

On Saturday night from 8 till 9 was a haunted fashion show. About 15 models strutted down the runway in the banquet hall, adorned with costumes, jewelry and accessories provided by a dozen or so haunted vendors. Deanna “Witchypoo” Rogers-Morton was the event’s mistress of ceremonies.

A special treat for us attendees was the haunted wedding that followed the fashion show. Ralph “Ironman” Mitchell joined Charles Thomas Ferguson and his bride, Christina Eddington, in blissful matrimony. The banquet hall was packed with haunters in costume and make-up who cheered and clapped as the happy couple, arm in arm, walked down the aisle and into their new life together.

The Weasel Ball was the haunted dance party that ran from 9:30 PM til 1 AM on Saturday night. Out back of the banquet hall, two frozen Margarita machines kept gabbing attendees well lubricated. There were a number of long, intense conversations about haunting, interspersed with whooping, hollering and refills at the Margarita machines in that unofficial party area.

One of the things I do at haunt conventions is walk through the parking lot and look at license plates. I saw states like New York, Texas, Alabama, Minnesota and Missouri represented at Ironstock. A unique aspect of their Web site is the interactive map of the United States (created by prop guru Bob-O) that shows where many of the attendees traveled from, whether by air or by car.

Sunday was another brilliant, humid summer day. About a dozen tricked-out hearses lined the circular driveway in front of the pole barns that housed the haunted vendors, seminars, children’s activities, and a haunted art show. A second day of haunted classes was presented to attendees. The crowds were not as thick as they were on Saturday, giving attendees like myself and vendors a welcomed opportunity to hold thoughful, philosophical discussions about where the haunt industry might be headed.

When I climbed into my car at 3 PM for the ride home, I knew that I had been someplace special. The 600 or so attendees got to do nearly everything at Ironstock for free. Yes, a few events had an admission fee, but all were modest. I had never seen coffin races before and the way they were presented was a lot of fun. The Saturday afternoon contest where competing teams was given a bag of junk and commanded to transform it into a haunted prop gave me a new level appreciation for the collective imagination of haunters everywhere.

Ironstock was an eye-opener. They all have my sincere thanks.



Very truly yours,



Rex B. Hamilton


13939 Clifton Boulevard
Lakewood, Ohio 44107-1462
216.226.7764 (home)
216.973.0050 (cell)
EvilLordZargon@msn.com




Evil is good