Haunt in the Park to return to Shelburne at new location

October 2, 2025 · 0 Comments

Written By PAULA BROWN

LOCAL JOURNALISM INITIATIVE REPORTER

The Little Family’s Haunt in the Park is rising up for another year of spooks, but will find itself in a new location.

The 2025 Haunt in the Park will be held at KTH Manufacturing, located at 300 2nd Line, instead of Fiddle Park.

“We were very grateful that KTH approached us with the opportunity to put the Haunt on in one of their outbuildings, near the back of the factor. It provides us with a fully enclosed building for the first time ever in our history,” said Carola Little, an organizer for the annual event. “We’re so grateful to have a home that we can bring this Haunt back to Shelburne like we have for the past 30 plus years.”

The Haunt in the Park originally began in 1993 when Bob and Sue Little and their three then-teenage children set up a haunted house on the porch of their First Avenue home. As the family moved homes over the years, the event moved with them until they found a permanent home at Fiddle Park in 2015.

This year, the Haunt in the Park has had to find a new temporary home due to ongoing construction at Fiddle Park.

Speaking with the Free Press, Little touched on the relocation of the Halloween attraction temporarily and why it was important for the family to bring it back in 2025 despite the hurdles.

“Over the course of the past three decades, there’s been a few times where we’ve struggled putting on the haunt, whether it was finding a location or finding volunteers, but we are just the type of people that don’t know how to quit,” said Little. “We were always going to be determined to put the haunt on, even without access to Fiddle Park. We hope that by next year we’ll be able to move back as promised, but even if things come up, we will continue to find a place for Haunt in the Park. It is truly undead.”

Last year, Haunt in the Park attracted 4,810 visitors and was able to raise 4,130 lbs of food and $2,512 for the Shelburne Food Bank.

“For the first time ever, we had to close the gates because we were already past our closing time,” said Little.

To address the growing number of visitors, the Haunt in the Park has added another event date this year.

“We love all the enthusiasm from the people that are driving from far and standing in the line for many hours. We hope that we can continue to make it vibrant, exciting and fresh every year,” said Little.

The Little Family Haunt in the Park events will be held on Oct. 24, 25, 31, and Nov. 1 from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. A ‘Mini-Boo’ will be held on Oct. 25 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. for younger children.

With the temporary relocation of the Haunt in the Park comes different hurdles.

The Haunt in the Park is in need of volunteers ages 18 and up to serve as parking attendants to guide visitors through the KTH Manufacturing shipping dock, which will be active during the events, to the outbuilding.

“From an aspect of volunteering, it’s not a romantic role. You’re out there in potentially cold weather with a reflective vest, asking people to listen to you. But, without those volunteers we will not be able to open our door because it will not be safe to have people crossing that live shipping deck otherwise,” said Little.

At the time of print, Haunt in the Park is looking for parking attendant volunteers for their Oct. 25, Oct. 31, and Nov. 1 event. Eight parking attendant volunteers are required for each event.

Those interested in volunteering for a shift are asked to contact the Haunt in the Park through direct message on Facebook or by texting their volunteer coordinator, Stacey, at 905-751-7620.