2012 West Coast Haunters Convention dates and location announced.

[The Nightmare Factory]

The 2012 West Coast Haunters Convention will be held June 1-3 in Portland Oregon at the DoubleTree Hotel at Lloyd Center.


http://www.westcoasthauntersconvention.com

The convention is in it's the 3rd year, but it is being held in Portland Oregon. Another first is the convention location, the DoubleTree Hotel and exhibition center.

The show was started by Ed Roberts, of The Nightmare Factory, a charity haunt for the Oregon School for the Deaf. They were featured on Extreme Makeover Home Edition.

The West Coast Haunters Convention was started because other conventions were too far away or too costly for Ed to bring his students. So Ed decided if he could not take his students to a convention he would bring the convention to
his students with the intention of creating a haunters convention on the west coast for all haunters and Halloween fans.

One of the unique things about this convention is that it is run as a nonprofit that contributes to a foundation that provides grants for special education. There will always be workshops and seminars about charity
haunt, be because the convention got it's start at the Oregon School for the Deaf. seminars will be interpreted for any deaf or hard of hearing participants.

This years keynote speaker will be Mike Krausert from Bad Boys Scenic Design and
New England's Spooky World and more recently The Fear at Fenway park and formerly from Terror on the Fox.

Convention highlights will include: an elaborate costume ball on Saturday night. Sponsored by Dark Light precision Lighting systems. A hearse car rally featuring cars from around the northwest and other events
throughout the weekend.

Education at the West Coast Haunters Convention is paramount and this year will be no exception. Classes and workshops will take place daily, with over 50 hours of topics related to all areas of haunting and haunted houses!

This years tradeshow floor will be filled with some of the top vendors in the industry. The move to the DoubleTree allows the tradeshow to more than double the available space for vendors. All this and the
opportunity to network with hundreds of haunted house owners and enthusiasts can be found at the 2012 WCHC.



http://www.westcoasthauntersconvention.com

[The Nightmare Factory]

Key Note speaker announced

KEY NOTE SPEAKER - Friday June 1st at 9:00 am

Michael Krausert
Director
"America's Horror Scream Park"
The Fear at Fenway
www.redsox.com/spookyworld
Nightmare New England
www.nightmarenewengland.com
SpookyWorld
www.spookyworld.com
Bad Boys Scenic Design
Cutting Edge Scenic Design

Michael began designing and building attractions over two decades ago at the age of 18. Throughout his career he has designed and built for numerous charitable organizations such as the Jaycees, non-profit arts programs, the Optimist Club and he helped these groups raise millions of dollars in the process. During this time, he began to grow his own company and design team with other friends and haunt enthusiasts. This team has a well deserved reputation within the haunted attraction Industry as a group of talented designers willing to share ideas, techniques, and their collective experience to help novice and professional haunters alike learn how to raise the level of detail and realism in their own attractions.

As one of the founders of Bad Boys Scenic Design he helped to design and build their most well-known attraction--Terror on the Fox. During the 13 years operating Terror on the Fox, the Bad Boys continued to advance, promote, and elevate the artistry in the haunted attraction industry through teaching their methods of foam carving, sculpting, scenic design, and sponsorship writing.

In 2007, he co-produced the Frozen Tundra Fright Tour, a tour developed with the purpose of showing how the haunt industry could work together as one. The tour was an overwhelming success; it resulted in securing over 40 sponsors and raised over $25,000 for IAHA. (International Association of Haunted Attractions)
In that same year, he was the recipient of the prestigious Isabella Award which honors an individual whose achievement is measured by his/her contributions towards improving and strengthening the haunt industry as a community of artists and enthusiasts and who set a positive example for others to follow.

In 2008 he embarked on his new role as Director of Operations for Nightmare New England, an ambitious new scream park featuring 4 original haunted attractions. One year later the park acquired SpookyWorld and added three more attractions. In three short years, his guidance and experience has elevated Nightmare New England and SpookyWorld to be one of the largest most successful scream parks in the country. Today the park features 7 haunted houses, a midway, live music, restaurants, games, rides and more. He is responsible for the design, construction, marketing, and staffing of over 300 seasonal employees.

In September 2010, the producers of ABC’s Extreme Makeover Home Edition invited him to lead the scenic design team for their first ever Halloween episode where the haunt “Nightmare Factory” was redesigned, re-themed, and modernized to improve fundraising for the Oregon School for the Deaf. Working closely with show producers as well as film director and musician Rob Zombie, he guided a team of talented artists and volunteers to produce an incredible attraction. Extreme Home Makeover showcased to a national audience the level of artistry and innovation that our industry is capable of. The leadership that he brought to this challenging project was just another example of his ongoing commitment to bringing people together to work towards a common goal.

Mike Krausert continues to devote his time and energy towards advancing the artistry and professionalism of this industry. His expertise has been consulted and relied on to educate and inform the New England Fire Marshalls Association about haunt safety as well as the latest fire prevention materials and applications available to our industry. Mike adapted colleague Kelly Allen’s Employee Safety Handbook to reflect safety and emergency protocols specific to Nightmare New England and SpookyWorld. This handbook has been instrumental in serving two purposes beyond ensuring the safety within his attractions—it has helped to educate local, state and national inspectors about the importance emphasizing safety in the design of haunted attractions but also underscored the professionalism of our industry.

Last September Mike was a guest speaker at the annual meeting of the New England Fire Marshalls where the National Fire Protection Agency was also represented. Mike spoke passionately and knowledgably about the advancements within our industry, conducted a lecture on life safety in the haunted attractions and presented his version of the Employee Safety Handbook. The New England Fire Marshalls Association elected to make this handbook available online for fire inspectors nationwide to consult and reference. Mike continues to work with these important organizations at local, state and national levels to promote our industry in a professional manner and to work closely with them to evaluate, inform and develop the code for special amusement attractions.

Last March, Mike was the recipient of the Haunted Attraction Associations Presidents award, an award that recognizes an individual for their level of artistry, skill and leadership in the field.

This past season Michael and the team at Nightmare New England designed, built and ran The Fear at Fenway, a new and unique Halloween park located at Fenway Park, the home of the Boston Red Sox in Boston Massachusetts.
Mike’s career in the haunted attraction industry has been chronicled through numerous industry and national magazines, newspapers, television shows, and the recently published book “Spooky, Creepy Boston” where he was featured and interviewed to show the connection between haunted houses and Halloween in historic New England. More than anything, Mike is known as someone who is intelligent, approachable, generous and sincere. He brings the passion he has for haunting to every aspect of his life and continues to share what he has learned with those around him.

[drfrightner]

I have never been to Portland but have always wanted to go! Seems like a cool city...

How many haunts are in that city?

Larry

[Allen H]

Larry,
Oregon was the prettiest place I have ever been. I drove down to the beachand enjoyed the antique stores along the way- it was awesome. I went the first year of the show and we toured three haunts I think- fun shows. If you can- GO! Im working hard to get there myself its just hard the weekend before MHC.

[The Nightmare Factory]

LARRY!!!!

I would love to have to come to our show.

For you I would open the Nightmare Factory, as far as other haunts, we can get Milburn open, I know the Haunt in Vancouver is opening for us and I am working with a few others to open for the show.

We're facebook friends, if you want e to help you set up your trip, I'd be more than happy to help. Hmmm, maybe a Hauntworld booth at the show?

Ed

[The Nightmare Factory]

Larry,
Oregon was the prettiest place I have ever been. I drove down to the beachand enjoyed the antique stores along the way- it was awesome. I went the first year of the show and we toured three haunts I think- fun shows. If you can- GO! Im working hard to get there myself its just hard the weekend before MHC.

Allen, let we know if we can help.

westcoasthauntcon@gmail.com

or

wchcspeaker@gmail.com

Ed

[The Nightmare Factory]

Moving right along

The 3rd annual WCHC June 1-3 is moving right along.

The list of speakers is filling up nicely, tradeshow vendors are signing up and we have announced the first ever Home Haunters Headquarters!

For a complete list of what is happening this year check the web site often www.westcoasthauntersconvention.com

Vendors, check out the exhibit page for news about the show.

We are now offering a e newsletter you can join by emailing us at westcoasthauntcon@gmail.com