LAHARPE — Alicia Trester is in the mood to scare the heck out of her visitors this month.
Or to make them laugh.
You’ll most likely run the gamut of emotions if you pay a visit to Trester’s Butcher Block Haunted Maze at the intersection of Seventh and McKinley streets in LaHarpe.
Trester and an army of roughly 20 relatives and friends have converted four lots of vacant property into a labyrinth of Halloween delights.
The maze is open from 7:30 to 11 p.m. each Friday and Saturday through Oct. 31.
“It’s something I’ve always wanted to do,” Trester said. “So I got together with all my family, and we made it happen.”
Costumed actors are situated throughout the 600-foot maze, hidden behind various displays and decorations. The entrance is made to look like a freaky butcher shop, while assorted flashing lights will leave guests in various stages of fright, bemusement and discombobulation.
That said, the aim is for a family-friendly atmosphere, Trester chuckled.
“People of all ages can come,” she said.
(Those who get a little too scared are able to take advantage of early exits along the way.)
The maze itself is made up of used pallets and plastic sheeting.
Trester, who works at Russell Stover Chocolates, asked her bosses if they had leftover pallets to dispose of, and then began canvassing other businesses around town.
With the help of her fiancee, Kyle Rayburn, they loaded a 30-foot gooseneck trailer with pallets, twice, to get enough for the maze.
“It took a couple of months to get the pallets together,” she said.
From there, she used some artificial intelligence to come up with the design.
“I took a picture of the lot and fed it to AI, and this is what it came up with,” she said.
