BALDWINSVILLE — After being sidelined by COVID in 2020, the Baldwinsville Center for the Arts’ popular Ghost Walk tour returns for a fourth frightening year Friday, Oct. 8, and Saturday, Oct. 9.
This year’s walk features a new route and all-new scary stories based on Baldwinsville lore and legend. Local actors — including author Bruce Coville — will portray the spooky spirits.
“We’re just so excited to get past the pandemic. The 2021 Ghost Walk is going to be bigger and better than ever,” said Jim Dale, BCA board president.
This year’s Ghost Walk, sponsored by Hearing Aid Consultants, LLC, is only two nights instead of the previous three, but there is an added opportunity for freaky fun with Ghouls Night Out.
The ladies-only kickoff event is Oct. 7 at Baldwin Canal Square. Attendees can enjoy hors d’oeuvres by The Deli and local food trucks, wine cocktails from the BCA cash bar and a flight of cocktails from Sal’s Pizza, Angry Garlic, Pizza Man Pub and San Miguel Mexican Bar & Grill. Sammy Award-winning vocalist Lisa Gentile will provide live music, and a wandering spiritual medium will be on hand to make supernatural connections. Limited tickets for individual tarot card readings have already sold out.
As for the main event, Ghost Walk is a 75-minute walking tour with eight stops. The route has been reconfigured to reduce the number of crossings on Baldwinsville’s busy streets. A survey after Ghost Walk 2019 showed that attendees wanted spookier stories.
“We’ve got eight brand-new stories written by the same screenwriter that we had do the 2018 and 2019 stories,” Dale said.
Several of the ghost stories focus on children, including one about a possessed doll. “It’s pretty chilling,” Dale said. Another is based on Morris family, of Morris Pumps fame. Only one of William F. Morris’ seven children, Windsor, survived to adulthood, but legend has it the boy was seen playing with his siblings’ ghosts in the yard.
The 2019 survey also showed Ghost Walk’s economic impact on Baldwinsville. That year, 1,440 people attended, and nearly 600 people responded to the post-event survey. Attendees reported that in addition to their ticket prices, they spent an average of $22 at Baldwinsville businesses while in town for Ghost Walk. Dale said that works out to more than $30,000 spent in Baldwinsville.
Ghouls Night Out is from 7 to 11 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 7, at Baldwin Canal Square. Tickets for Ghouls Night Out are $25; attendees must be 21 or older and provide proof at the door.
Ghost Walk tours leave Baldwin Canal Square every 15 minutes between 6 and 10 p.m. Oct. 8 and 9. Tickets are $18 each. Due to the spooky, scary nature of the stories, Ghost Walk is recommended for ages 11 or older.
Visit baldwinsvillearts.org to purchase tickets for either event.
