Lions Haunted Events Cancelled Due to Mosquito Threat

The Holliston Lions Club and the Holliston Community Farm were forced to cancel the Halloween Haunted Hay Walk which was scheduled for this upcoming weekend. We’re being felled by mosquitos! This year, we have had numerous threats posed by diseased mosquitos and the Board of Selectmen felt it was in the best interest of the public to not host the event on Saturday evening.

Currently, Holliston is still in the “critical” range for mosquitos. Rightfully, the Selectmen were concerned about the safety of the volunteers who man our scare sites and those who participate in the event.  Since we do not have signs of more than one deep frost between now and the event, we feel this is in everyone’s best interest. The last thing we want is to endanger anyone’s health.

This year, the plan was for a two-day event, Saturday being for those hardy souls who were interested in a super-spooky event and a Sunday afternoon event which was to be geared towards younger children offering the opportunity to enjoy a beautiful outdoor afternoon while Trick-or-Treating.

The Selectmen did approve our permit for Sunday afternoon — however, after checking the community calendar, we discovered the Holliston Police Department was also hosting an event for the younger children of Holliston. So families did not have to choose, we opted to cancel our event for this year.

Not the End of the Road

We ask for your patience — this was the fourth year of this event and we do intend to bring it back again next year provided we are not facing another EEE threat! Next year, we plan to be back bigger and better than ever!

Please do watch the community calendar (and this space!) for upcoming events co-sponsored by the Holliston Lions and Holliston Community Farm. This is an important relationship for both organizations and we intend to find another way to bring families together to enjoy the farm later in the year. Please feel free to reach out to either the Holliston Lions Club on their website at https://www.hollistonlions.org or the Community Farm on their website at https://hollistoncommunityfarm.org

Doreen Martel

2 Comments

  1. Stacey Raffi on October 21, 2019 at 6:54 am

    Doreen: I know this event has been a fundraiser. Where/how can we donate in lieu of the actual event?
    -Stacey

  2. Doreen Martel on October 21, 2019 at 8:10 am

    Stacie, Donations may be made directly to the Lions Club. Information is on our website. Please if making a donation put a note stating it’s in lieu of Hay Walk and any donations will be split between Lions & Community Farm. Thank you.

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