By Janelle Davis
On Oct. 20 and 21, the Baldwinsville Center for the Arts will host the 5th annual Ghost Walk in the Village of Baldwinsville.
If you have never experienced this event, you are in for a trick-or-treat, according to organizers.
The Ghost Walk is a walking tour that stops at eight locations throughout the village.
At each stop, guests are met by an actor who plays a ghost. These aren’t just any people. It wouldn’t be a Center for the Arts if they didn’t do what they do best. They audition local talent and cast the most realistic characters they can.
Each year, there is a different story theme for the Ghost Walk, along with different locations.
There is a “ghost” at each location who will share their experience with a presence some call the Witch of Whiskey Hollow.
The legends say there is a dark entity that lives in Whiskey Hollow.
When settlers first came to Whiskey Hollow, they were warned of a witch who feeds off people with dark hearts. Throughout the years, whenever young folk would venture into the woods near Whiskey Hollow, they would come back with scary stories or occurrences.
During the Ghost Walk, you will hear from eight victims of the dark entity who roams Whiskey Hollow. They will share their fictional stories of how their dark hearts were touched by this entity resulting in their doom.
In the past, librarians from the Baldwinsville Library would research historic stories to use for the walk.
The Baldwinsville Center for the Arts chooses the theme that formulates each year’s Ghost Walk from true stories derived from the Baldwinsville Gazette, the predecessor to the Baldwinsville Messenger.
According to the website, baldwinsvillearts.org, by popular demand organizers have worked to make the stories and experience a little more intense and a little more creepy this year.
The events they put on, including the Ghost Walk, are not only entertaining but valuable to the Baldwinsville community.
The Ghost Walk typically brings between 600 to 650 people to the Village of Baldwinsville.
“This event alone has put a tremendous amount of growth into the community. After the last Ghost Walk, we did a study to find that it put around $14,000 into the Baldwinsville community,” Jim Dale, president of the Baldwinsville Center for the Arts, said.
Ultimately the goal of the Baldwinsville Center for the Arts is to bring arts to the community, as well as encourage people to pursue the arts by giving out scholarships.
“This year we gave out $4,000 worth of scholarships for students interested in pursuing the arts in college,” Dale said.
The event will begin in Baldwinsville Canal Square on Friday, Oct. 20, and Saturday, Oct., 21.
Tours begin at 6 p.m. with the last tour starting at 9:45 p.m. Tickets are $18. The event is not recommended for children under 11 years old, due to what the organizers refer to as the intense and scary nature of the creep atmosphere created by the actors.
The tour launches from Baldwin Canal Square on the River (Denio Street) behind the Bville Diner and next to WT Brews.
The Center for the Arts is always accepting volunteers to help with the various events they put on throughout the year. If you would like to buy tickets for the Ghost Walk or are interested in volunteering, you can go to baldwinsvillearts.org.
