• Scary Dairy 2018

If you missed the Friday night Scary Dairy event you don't have to wait another year to experience it... there will be an encore performance (so to speak) tonight, Saturday, October 20th.

The cast of characters before the haunting began.

This blog will be a photo recap to encourage you to bring your families out to DeJong's Dairy for a night of fright and fun. Tickets are $5 per person, and you can re enter the maze as often as you like. There is also a kids area for those that aren't up to the scary maze, along with a bouncy house and other activities.

If you bring a non perishable food item for HOPE, you'll receive a free order of popcorn.

The dairy store closes at 8pm, so if you're coming to the maze, be sure to enter from the Mission Trail and Bundy Canyon intersection. Yes, it's normally a three way light, but you'll be able to enter the parking area from there. Just look for the signs.

This sign leads the way to the parking lot. Please DON'T use the Corydon entrance to the dairy. The gates close at 8pm when the dairy store closes.

For current information be sure to check out the facebook event page with this link.

One view of the kids ares.

Mugging for the camera(s).

Families having a great Autumn night out.

Hitting the bullseye.

Fun awaits around every corner.
Photo courtesy Richard Deskin.

Never a dull moment.

Photo courtesy Richard Deskin.

Don't worry, it's only very scary.

Photo courtesy Richard Deskin.

Is she cute or is she frightening, you decide.

Photo courtesy Richard Deskin.

Flash photography reveals things that the unaided eye doesn't.

Photo courtesy Richard Deskin.

At about 8pm.

This is a Wildomar Rotary Club fundraising event. The money raised goes toward service projects in the community including RYLA (a campout for high school juniors) and PRYDE (a similar campout for middleschoolers).

Hope to see you there!

Joseph Morabito takes a selfie with "selfie cat".

Ok, it wasn't actually known as "selfie cat" until now, but I think it's a cool name... certainly cooler than my lame non-costume costume. ☺

• Scary Dairy 2017

All I can say about the inaugural Scary Dairy event is WOW!

Once through this portal, you wandered through a dark maze filled with strobe lights, fog, unsettling music, and ghouls around nearly every corner.

Sometimes the doubting Thomas in me sees the glass as bone dry, and after opening night was cancelled, I really thought this wasn't going to happen.

However, many hundreds of people showed up en masse and proved me wrong.

Even though the event on Friday was canceled several hours before it was to kick off, it was estimated that nearly 300 people still showed up at the dairy for the opening night of the two evening event.

There were two mazes, one a tame one for the wee tykes, and the other geared to the older kids and adults that could handle a good fright.

If you guessed that this delightful creature was in the "scarier" maze... you'd have guessed wrong. He was around one of the first corners of the kiddie maze.

Originally both mazes were going to be outdoors, but winds made it impossible for the structures to stand up. In my view, that was a blessing in disguise because it had to be moved into the feed barn and that turned out to be the key to it all.

The crowd of people was very thick and to alleviate traffic the back gate of the dairy was opened and for a brief time Bundy Canyon and Mission Trail went from a three way intersection to a four way intersection.

Once inside, there were sturdy walls that maze could be attached to, so no worrying about the wind. 

This was one of the corridors that greeted the brave of heart that dared enter.

Not to mention that it allowed for great echos where howls, shrieks, and screams were continuously heard over the spine chilling organ music.

What a couple of the lines looked like at about 8:30pm. The line to the children's maze went quickly, but was always dozens deep until about 9:00pm.

This event was a fundraiser for the Wildomar Rotary club, and couldn't have happened without the hard work of Dana DeJong and Jon Favillo... and of course there were many others that pitched in long hours too, but no need to name them all like this is an Oscar's award speech. ☺

Members of the Rotary Club are shown serving the guests... where earlier in the day they'd spent all afternoon getting the mazes ready for the night's hootin' and hollerin'.

Let's not forget another key to the success of the event; hats off to Herman DeJong for being so generous with the community and having the event at his family dairy. He was on hand the entire evening.

To all of us it's the place to get milk, eat a fudgsicle while reading a book at the Little Free Library, or take the kids to look at the animals, but to the DeJong family, this is their livelihood. 

Thinking to next year, with more time for event leaders to plan out the event, I suggest that everyone mark their 2018 calendars now. It's going to be even better. ☺

Remember that Trunk or Treat is coming up next Saturday evening. This will be the 4th running of the event and each year it has gotten larger and more entertaining. Hope to see you there.

•                •                •

Just because I cannot see it, doesn't mean I can't believe it.
– Jack Skellington.

If, Wildomar Rap were a Halloween confection, it would have the texture of a tamale, taste like a brownie and have a kick like an IPA.

• Upcoming Events Final Quarter 2017

So many times I've heard people say, "Oh my, I only wish I'd have known about (insert name of event here), I'd have loved to have gone."

Well, here's your chance to put several events on your calendar, before they happen this go round. ☺

First up is the State of the City event. 

I've been to several of these, and though they are generally filled will fluffy happy talk, it's still good to get an assessment of where the city leaders think we stand. 

Tickets are free, but you need to get them ahead of time.

Here's the link to get tickets.

 City of Wildomar's 2017 State of the City 

•                •                •

Next up on the calendar is the inaugural showing of the Scary Dairy. It's a fundraising event from the Wildomar Rotary Club. 

This will be happening on Friday and Saturday evening, October 21st and 22nd.

It'll be at Wildomar's famous DeJong's Dairy. See the flyer for more details. 

•                •                •

Sunday October 22nd there will be a spaghetti dinner fundraiser for shooting victim Chelsea Romo at the Elks Lodge in Wildomar. 

There is a big window from 3pm to 8pm to come out to be part of this fundraiser. Leave the cooking and cleaning to others as you help out a local family in need.

Spaghetti is the the international food of friendship. ☺

•                •                •

On Saturday October 28th, at Marna O'Brien park will be the site of Wildomar's 4th annual Trunk or Treat event. This event has really grown into a terrific community event. 

Plan on coming before dark and visiting all the candy-passer-outers. Come dressed in an original or clever costume and enter one of the contests and you might go home with a prize.

If you'd like to be one of the official "vendors" see the flyer below for details. There is no cost to sign up. It's a great way for your business or organization to meet a large swath of the community. Bring a lot of candy with you, and think of a clever way to decorate your vehicle too.

•                •                •

Community Clean Up Day

Not as much fun as the other things mentioned, but for some maybe just what they've been waiting for. If you've got junk, then bring it to one of the two designated areas. 

This will be happening on Saturday morning, November 4th.

Be sure to check the conditions in the flyer before heading out... you don't really want to dress your truck up like that of the Beverly Hillbillies just to learn you showed up at the wrong location... or to mistakenly bring things on the contraband list.

Also, you'll be needing to unload your own junk, so bring a crew with you.

•                •                •

Other things to consider include:

• Twin events, potluck at the VFW and a crafts fair the Elks Lodge on November 11th. The craft fair is starts at 10am and goes to about 2pm, whereas the potluck kicks off at 1pm. 

• The annual Christmas Tree Lane held at the Elks Lodge, Saturday December 2nd. 

• The annual Breakfast with Santa event that is held at Fire Station 61, on Gruwell St. 

There is no flyer made yet, but it's not too early for you to block out part of that morning to be part of one of Wildomar's most endearing and anticipated happenings.

• CERT reunion dinner, Thursday December 28th (other details to follow as we get nearer). There are many CERT alumni, but probably have lost contact after our classes were completed. 

As we've seen repeatedly this year, emergencies happen all the time, and seldom with much notice. If you've taken the CERT classes, it would be a good chance to reconnect over dinner... no cribbing on the menu. ☺

Come on out to one —or all of— these events and get a sampling of the Wildomar community in action. See you there.

•                •                •

We know what we are, but know not what we may be.
– William Shakespeare

To Wildomar Rap or not to Wildomar Rap, that is the question. Nobility of suffering in the mind notwithstanding.