Many were devastated with the announcement that Monte Cristo’s historic Halloween event has been cancelled. Lawrence Ryan of the Homestead has spoken to the Junee Independent about why the day had been axed.
“We chose to not have it, we don’t have the staff capacity to look after it and with the costs involved, we’re going to give it a rest this year and hopefully come back next year,” he said.
“That’s what we’re planning to do. It just needed a bit of a rest and it costs an absolute fortune to put it on for an event and we do it for the kids, of course in the town. There’s plenty of other places in Junee to do it so hopefully, they’ll be able to take up the slack just this year and we can come back bigger and better next year.”
The Homestead said, “there will be no Halloween at Monte Cristo Homestead this year sorry,” prompting a flood of community support for the homestead.
One community member said “Oh no. I look forward to seeing your pics on here. I hope all is ok,” which illustrates the respect and love the community had even in the face of the bad news.
Although Halloween is not on for Monte Cristo this year, business has improved for the famous haunted homestead.
“People are out and about and go through it, which is really good. It’s a steady stream of tourists coming through and everyone says how much they love Junee and how there is plenty to see in town. It’s awesome.
“People are still enjoying it, they can still come through even throughout the Halloween weekend from Friday to Monday, ten to four so you can still get that bit of the spookiness.
We’re just not doing the trick or treat thing this year.” This year’s Halloween hasn’t even passed and already the community is ready for 2023 Halloween at the Monte Cristo.
Jack Murray