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Halloween Weekends!!!
WOW!!!!! Sorry for the delay in the updates but WE HAVE WE HAD A BUSY FEW WEEKENDS!!! We
had a wonderful but VERY EVENTFUL time during the Halloween weekend Campouts! We had a packed campground all three weekends
with the last one being the busiest.
The first weekend, we, unfortunately, didn't start the Haunted Trail on Friday night. We had rain
(finally!) Wednesday and Thursday which not only made a bit of a muddy mess but knocked the electric out for about 4 hours
on Wednesday and 8-10 hours Thursday. Since we needed the electric to set up some of the smaller props we
don't put out until the last minute, we had a day and a 1/2 delay in set-up. We got it all ready by Saturday night though and
had a blast!
The second weekend was even better although it was hotter than expected--temperatures in the 90's on Saturday!!
We had a great turnout for the costume contests, lots of veggies for the camper stew and the streets were full of ghosts,
goblins, princesses, Harry Potters and a number of others for Trick-or-Treat from 7:00 to 8:00 pm.
The dance was great! T-Bird got there early since the roads are closed for Trick-or-Treat at 7:00
pm and decided to start early--at 7:00 pm instead of the planned 8:00pm...And when the music started Rockin' the Shelter was
Hoppin'...literally! At one point the whole Shelter was jumping to the Electric Slide! I've never seen so many
people in and around the shelter before! It was literally overflowing with kids and adults dancing their hearts
out!
The Haunted Trail and Last Ride were busy as well. We had a great turnout and went well past the 11:00pm closing
to accommodate all the people waiting to experience both of them.
The third weekend was our biggest of the weekends! The camper stew went quick, the candy was
flying out of bowls left and right and the movies were packed! The Haunted Trail went to midnight and the workers
were tired but having a great time when it was over. They were still pumped up from the night's activities.
All in all, they were wonderful weekends. We'd like to thank everyone who attended,
all the workers who put in many, many hours of designing, constructing, painting, decorating, and haunting and Ohio's
Park District for allowing us to add a 3rd weekend this year.
Plans are already under way for next year's events as well. With the success of this year's dance,
we've discussed having more dances next year. Be sure to email us and let us know what you think! If there's
anything else you especially liked or disliked please let us know. You can reach us at friendsofhuestonwoodsa@yahoo.com. We'd love to hear from you and hope you'll decide to join us next year!!
Be sure to check back soon for pictures from the events!
The weekends prior to the Halloween Events
These couple weeks prior to the Halloween Campouts, we've spent setting the last of the details into motion...getting
the final plans for the Saturday events, the Haunted Trail and the Last Ride ready to go. Construction has been
in full force, the Vortex Tunnel is ready. The girls, Erin and Jenn, set to work painting the "dots" on the
Vortex walls and they've put a TON on there so it should cause some real dizziness going through! Other "rooms"
on the trail are nearly finished, just needing some fine tuning.
T-Bird has been booked for the Dance the 2nd weekend's Monster Mash Dance and we're all looking
forward to him spinning some great music! We wanted to break up the movies with something special and we're hoping everyone
will enjoy the dance.
The Camper Stew gifts are ready to go. Unfortunately, with the severe drought, we haven't been able
to get pumpkins like we have in the past but I think the kids will like what they get!
Get ready to have some fun in the next few weekends! We'll see you there!
September 7-9, 2007 - and we have rain!
With the kids back to school and the Labor Day weekend last week, it was a quiet weekend. It was quiet
as well because we were expecting rain, and rain we received! Most of us got there Friday evening just about the time
we were hit with a 30 minute rain storm! It flooded the campsite for a short time but with the dry weather we've
had, it soaked in quickly and within a couple hours we were pretty dry again. By morning, we were a little
dusty again! We got relief though with another rain around 5:00 PM and over night.
We were able to get some work completed though! We had park maintenance assist us in bringing
up some of the bigger pieces used in the Trail and we thank them for the assistance! It took 10-12 guys to carry
it out of the woods, to the truck and into the barn last fall! It saved us a lot of backs! Gates and posts
were constructed under the Center Circle Shelter and are ready for painting.
We're well on our way to a busy Halloween season and and set the final schedule for those weekends at yesterday's
meeting. I'll be publishing it on the web site as soon as I get it typed later today or tomorrow. We're also expecting The
Last Ride to arrive today!
See you soon!
August 31 - September 3, 2007 - Labor Day Weekend!
Well, the kids are back to school and summer is quickly coming to an end. Our movies are over for
now but we'll have more during the Halloween Campouts.
We started construction of the Haunted Trail full force Saturday morning now that the Stories around the
campfire and Friday Night Hikes are over. Shawn, the Naturalist, has had a great turnout for the story-telling campfires
and night hikes each weekend this summer but it's time to say goodbye to them until next spring.
We showed movies on Saturday and Sunday nights since it was a long weekend. We showed Harry Potter's
Scorcerer's Stone and Chamber of Secrets. The rest of the days were left to the campers
to spend the last of summer and the holiday with their friends and families relaxing before the hectic Holiday season moves
in...it'll be here sooner than we think!
The weather was great! We had temperatures in the 80's with a wind that felt wonderful and kept the
humidity down. The air is starting to smell like autumn and with leaves beginning to fall it's beginning to look
and feel more like the change in seasons...granted leaves have been falling for about a month now with the heat and drought
but it's still starting to feel like autumn anyway! lol
It's amazing how the old saying holds true...time flies when you're having fun. We've had a wonderful
summer but it seems to have gone so fast. We've met new friends in the park volunteers and renewed friendships
with old ones. We've made new friends in the group as well but, unfortunately, have lost some too. (We hope
you're enjoying Texas, Bev and Jon, and we miss you Missy and Pam.)
Enjoy the end of your summer and maybe we'll see you in a few weeks, if not, then next spring!
August 24-27, 2007 - Cooler than it has been!
Finally!! A weekend that wasn't in the upper ninties with 90% humidity!! It was still hot, in
the upper 80's and low 90's but the humidity was low so it made it a little more bearable.
We started off early on Saturday morning cooking for the Hueston Woods Archery Shoot Fundraiser for Juvenile
Diabetes. We grilled up burgers and dogs and served up sno-cones and funnel cakes too! Anything to help raise
money for Juvenile Diabetes. Later that evening we showed the movie Secondhand Lions.
We started all over again Sunday morning for the second day of the Shoot for Juvenile Diabetes. We
had very nice turnouts for both days, Sunday being busier!
We didn't get to work too much on the trail over the weekend but we've been working in the Schuermann basement
every Tuesday and Thursday buidling props. The Last Ride has been shipped and should be in some time this week!
An update on the Halloween Weekends...we may not have the Pumpkin Decorating Contest this year due to the
drought. It's hard to find them right now because most growers are having problems with the crops in the heat and drought
we've been experiencing this summer. All the other events are scheduled as planned and a schedule of events should be
created soon. We have a Friends Group meeting on the 9th and will work to complete the schedule. We will be updating
the website as soon as we get everything finalized!
Have a wonderful week and a safe holiday weekend!
August 17 - 19, 2007 - Oops!
The Group worked some more on the trail this past weekend. We're limited on what we can build at this
time because of the Friday Night Hikes. We certainly wouldn't want anyone to get hurt running into a wall or tripping
over something!
Hueston Woods State Park also held it's annual Beach Party. There was a Space Walk and a Rock Climbing
wall that everyone really seemed to enjoy! There were also extra water sprinklers added for the kids since it was another
hot weekend!
We had an "Oops" at the movie this weekend! We were scheduled to play The Little Mermaid
but when Tom opened the box to get the DVD, it was missing! Leave it to the kids to misplace the movies! LOL
We ended up playing Mouse Hunt instead but the kids didn't seem to mind too much! I truly apologize
to anyone who was upset about the change!
August 10-12, 2007 - Another Hot Weekend!
Well, we had another hot weekend this past weekend. We started working on a couple of the areas for
the Haunted Trail. Two areas are constructed but I can't give too many details...don't want to give away the secrets!!!
Construction also started this week in the Schuermann basement on new props. We're also extremely
excited about the new attraction for this year, The Last Ride. It's been ordered and construction has been started.
Tom keeps in touch with the company who designed the attraction and they've moved us to the front of the list since we need
it soon. I think everyone will love it!
We set up early for the movie, Robin Hood, so people could cool off with a sno-cone!
We had a great evening!
August 3-5, 2007 - WOW!!! Is it hot!!!
We had temperatures in the 90's with very little rain to cool it down! We had just a few sprinkles
during the movie and Sunday morning. We spent the day getting out the walls for the Haunted Trail to begin construction.
We have approximately 60 walls at the front of the trail and we're hoping to start construction in the back areas until after
the Labor Day weekend when we can start on the more traveled areas.
We played the movie Saturday night, Duma, and had another great turnout considering
the heat. The sno-cones came in handy for that though!
If it continues to be hot like it was this past weekend (and as of today, Tuesday, it's going to be!
We currently have a Heat Warning in Hamilton and Butler Counties in Ohio and a Heat Watch in the surrounding Ohio counties.
Hottest summer I can remember in years!!!)...but as I was saying, if it continues to be hot this weekend, we'll try to get
the sno-cones out during the day to help cool things off.
See you this weekend and stay as cool as possible until then! Remember too, the Beach Party is going
on from 2:00 - 4:00 PM this Saturday, the 18th. Be sure to join the Park for the annual Party for some good food, music,
fun and swimming! The Friends of Hueston Woods gentlemen will be there to assist those in wheelchairs getting onto the
hay and boat rides...And remember to visit our friends, Preble County Board of MRDD, at the Beach concession stand!!!
July 27-29, 2007 - Recovery Weekend!
We had a quiet weekend. It seems the campers were worried about the Weatherman's forcast of 60% chance
of severe thunderstorms and the campgrounds weren't as full as usual but we had a nice weekend. We only had a small
sprinkle around 8:00 pm or so and it only lasted about 15 minutes.
We spent the day walking the trail working on plans for each area and sat discussing how each area would
be constructed. We didn't get to start any construction this week due to the somewhat muddy conditions on the trail
caused by the rains throughout the week.
Earlier in the week the group ordered the new attraction discussed in the notes from July 13th -15th below!
We hope to have it within the next couple weeks. Want to hear more about it!!!!
As I explained before, the guys made a trip to Columbus for the Midwest Haunter's Convention. They
found the most awesome attraction every!!! It's called "The Last Ride". The attraction simulates being buried
alive!!! We'll be having the attraction during the Halloween Campout all three weekends. It's been seen on E!'s
Girls Next Door and at Grimsby and Streaper Casket Company in Gatlinburg, TN. So, be sure to visit us the Halloween
Campout weekends for a hauntingly good time, whether you're camping or NOT!!
July 20-22, 2007 - Christmas in July
We had a busy weekend for Christmas in July! We started Friday night with the decorating of the Christmas
Tree. The kids decorated beautiful ornaments! At dusk we played the movie Ice Age II - The Meltdown.
We had a great turnout for a Friday night with everyone getting into the campgrounds and settling in.
Saturday morning, we started bright and early getting set up for the day's activities. We constructed
Santa's Naughty Corner, went to pick up the Spacewalk and set up the sno-cone concessions. We started with the Spacewalk
and the Naughty Corner...amazing how many kids find it funny when Mom and Dad are put in there but not so funny when they're
put in the Naughty Corner!!!
Later in the day Santa came to visit and made his rounds to the campsites visiting all the good boys and
girls. After his rounds we had Santa's Bike Parade. There were approximately 100 kids on bikes, scooters, skates,
etc. following Santa throughout the campground.
We didn't have as many campsites decorated as we've had in the past but we had some beautiful decorations
out there. The winners of this year's campsite decoration awards are: 3rd place, Wayne from Florence KY who won a Coleman
Lantern, 2nd place, Nikki from Trenton, OH who won a Canopy and our 1st place winners were Phillip and Heather from
Trenton, OH who won a one night stay in the Camper Cabins. Congratulations to all of our winners!
We ended the night a movie, Happy Feet. Another great turnout with everyone have
a blast!
Thanks again, to all our volunteers and patrons of the park for a great weekend!
July 13-15, 2007, countdown to Christmas in July and Halloween!
We had another great weekend with the movie Open Season. Sunday morning was a bit
rainy but the weekend was sunny and warm besides that. We did some finalizing of next week's Christmas in July and started
planning for the Halloween Campout weekends. We've decided at the last minute to add a movie on Friday night for the
Christmas in July weekend to be shown after the decorating of the Christmas tree, around dusk. We'll be showing Ice
Age II, The Meltdown.
The guys, Tom, Chris, Chris, Steve and Harry made a trip to Columbus, OH Saturday to the Midwest Haunters
Convention to get ideas and possibly some new props for the Haunted Trail. They had a great time and played wih the
props like kids! They came back with a few new ideas for the Trail and found one thing that will be HUGE if we're
able to afford it! (It will remain a secret for now though-- just in case!)
We'll begin construction for the Haunted Trail the weekend after Christmas in July. If you'll be visiting Hueston Woods in the weeks between now and Halloween we do ask that you please
avoid the trail used for the Hueston Woods Haunted Trail for safety reasons. We can't stress enough either
to keep bikes off the trail. There are roots and stumps on this trail and we will be putting up other barriers
and such as well that could be harmful if run into or hit the wrong way. Again, I stress, this is for safety reasons
only.
We spent Sunday morning grilling up Hamburgers and hot dogs at the Archery Shoot. Rob has a record
turnout at this shoot and we're glad we can help him. We hope you'll join us on August 25th and 26th for the Hueston
Woods Archery Club Shoot for Juvenile Diabetes.
Have a great week and see you at Christmas in July!!
July 6-8, 2007 - Another record weekend!
We had another record weekend! Although the campgrounds weren't sold out, we had another packed house
this past weekend. We showed Arthur and the Invisibles and everyone had a blast! The funnel
cake line was to the flag pole and we had all burners going full blast!
We truly appreciate all the campers and families from the surrounding area who come to share their
evening with us at Hueston Woods. Without you we wouldn't be able to raise the money to help the park with things such
as construction of the shelter and the camper cabins, the festivities during Memorial and Labor Day weekends, Camper Appreciation
or the Halloween Weekends. The State Parks belong to the people who live in Ohio and we really appreciate the way you
support Hueston Woods State Park.
Hueston Woods Fireworks Extravaganza was held on July 5 and it was a great turnout! Rumor is
the fireworks were bigger and better than ever before!
Construction of the Hueston Woods Haunted Trail should be starting in the next couple weeks and planning
has been going on since the end of last year's Trail and Halloween Weekends! we hope you'll come join us!
Don't forget Christmas in July will be coming up on July 20th - 21st!!! See you
there!
June 29 - July 1 We're missing some!
Well, with summertime comes vacation! We had a few people missing this weekend due to vacations and
work, but boy did we every come through as a group! (I've never seen the guys make so many funnel cakes!! It was
the most we had ever made in a single night!) We had a record turnout at the movies and everyone there pitched in, even
the kids!
We had Jenn, Amber, Cyrus and Dusty helping with the sno-cones and popcorn and did they ever have a good
time! I think having young teens help occasionally makes them feel important and they sure felt important Saturday!
They served up the sno-cones and popcorn with smiles and laughter and talked about it for days...I know Jenn did. She
would laugh and tell friends how Cyrus squirt the front of his shirt with watermelon syrup and how she and Amber had
it all over themselves as well. They took the job serious but had a great time in the process!
That's what it's all about...having a great time with family and friends, enjoying talking to the campers
who are there, watching the kids laughing at the movie and have a good time...it's just having fun in life.
I would personally like to thank everyone who was there this weekend--members and visitors alike--for making
the weekend great. I truly appreciate all the members who are there every weekend to help out
without complaining or fussing, just smiling, laughing and having a great time. It's hard work but it's more than worth
it!
June 22-24, 2007 weekend!
This past weekend was another good one. We took it kind of easy after last weekend and considering
the rain we had off and on but it was still a great weekend! We showed the movie The Ant Bully and everyone
enjoyed it. There was laughter going on through out.
The rain didn't seem to hinder anyone much. We still had a packed park with people boating, fishing,
biking, horseback riding and walking. Tom and I saw one couple leaving the lodge Saturday morning and
not long after saw them walking in the campground! I hold them in high esteem...I still don't know how they walked that
far, that fast! More power to you guys! I wish I had 1/2 your energy!
The rain and cool air Saturday night made for great sleeping weather and brought a few people out for
night fishing. There were several boats out on the water and people along thw shores when we went down to the Acton
Room to wash dishes after the movie.
June 18, 2007 - Camper Appreciation!!!
Whew! What a day! Saturday's Camper Appreciation was so much fun! We started around 8:00
in the morning rebuilding the "jail" for the Jail 'n' Bail to have it ready by 10:00 when the "highly decorated offericers
of the law" of the Friends group went to work! For $2 you could arrest your friend or family member for 10 minutes.
We "arrested" over 90 people. Of course it's all in fun although a few of the kids weren't too happy with their
parents after they got out of jail!
We also had the Space Walk for the little kids - and big kids...we had a couple adults get in there and
have a great time! We set it up at 10:00 in the morning and went through to 3:30 when we had to start grilling for the
Camper Appreciation dinner.
We had a great turnout for the dinner. The line went through the shelter for approximately an hour!
We grilled hamburgers and hot dogs and we had a lot of campers bring in baked beans, potato salad, mac and cheese and other
side dishes. They also brought the best cakes and cookies around!
We ended the night playing Over the Hedge. We had another great turnout or the movies
as well!
Thank you to everyone who attended and shared kind words to our members for the work they do in the
park. One gentleman said it was his family's first time at the park and they couldn't wait to come back they had had
such a great time. That's exactly why the Friends of Hueston Woods and Hueston Woods State Park do what we
do...it's a long, hard day but it's well worth it to see everyone smiling and having a good time with their family and friends.
We hope to see you there next year!
June 8-10, 2007, A busy weekend!
Whew! What a busy weekend! We started bright and early Saturday morning with some of the guys
taking off to the Archery Range. The Archery Club had a shoot and Chris, Tom, Chris, Mark, Mike and Harry were grillin'
up burgers and hot dogs and frying up french fries!
While they were grillin'and chillin' the rest of us were cleaning and clearing trails. We cleared
all the trails in the campgrounds, both electric and non-electric and thanks to Billy and Angie the marina has been
cleaned as well! They took out 2 bags of garbage!
We all finished working around 3:00 and had a few hours before the movie. Wrong thing giving us time
to waste!!! We ended up celebrating Pam's birthday with a water balloon fight! We don't just throw balloons, we
LAUNCH them from one campsite to another with balloon launchers! Please note there were no major injuries. lol
See, we're not all work and no play, that makes for a very dull day!
Later that evening we showed the movie Cars and had a great turnout! The kids loved
watching Mater and Lightning McQueen! And another great time for all the Friends members too.
Sunday morning we were up again and at the Archery Range by 9:15am. Tom, Chris, Mike, Chris,
Billy, Harry and I (Denise) were cookin' up the burgers, hot dogs and fries. I had to go down and show them how to grill without
burning the food! All you need is a little water for the flames! What would these men do without the women!
(Just kidding guys!!!)
At 2:00pm we had our meeting to finalize the Camper Appreciation plans and start preparing for the Hueston
Woods Haunted Trail and Halloween Weekends!
Another great weekend under our belts and we're preparing now for Camper Appreciation this weekend!
See ya there!
June 1-3, 2007 - At the movies!
We had a very nice weekend even though there was a small shower Saturday afternoon. The shower
helped cut down on the humidity and dropped the temperature a few degrees and it didn't last more than 5 - 10 minutes.
We heard there were torrential downpours south and east of the campgrounds and were lucky we didn't get them even though the
trees and grass could use a little rain.
We had a great turnout at the movies Saturday night. The campgrounds were quite a bit emptier
than the previous week with the holdiay but a good turnout anyway! We showed the movie Eragon and had
a great time. All the kids were excited about watching the dragon, Saphira, and her dragon rider, Eragon, defeat the
bad guys! The evening was cool and comfortable and a great night to sit outside enjoying a movie!
May 25 - 28, 2007 - Memorial Day Weekend!
This past weekend, Memorial Day Weekend, was a VERY BUSY weekend! We had wonderful weather with only
a small rain shower on Saturday afternoon. The temperature was in the 80's but felt comfortable. And the Putt-Putt Course
is installed!!! The Friends Group volunteers put in the new putt-putt course in the campgrounds in ONE DAY!!!
Thank you to everyone who worked diligently to get the course set up in that one day so the patrons of the
campground could enjoy it as soon as possible! Thanks go to Pam for great leveling techniques! She was 99%
accurate in leveling the gravel pads for the 9-hole course single-handedly with only a rake! (The remaining 1% was off
when the guys tried to help!) Thanks also go to Chris H., Rodney, Scott, Chris A., Tom, Missy, Harry,
Dee, Allan, and especially to Ethan and Kyle. Without Ethan and Kyle and their strong, young wrestler backs we "old
people" would never have gotten all the gravel moved for the course beds! (They wanted to show off for the girls anyway!)
The course looks wonderful and I'm hoping to have some pictures of it on here in a couple days.
Thank you to all who volunteered to get the new Putt-Putt Course in business in such a short period of time!!!
We also had two movies this weekend with Night at the Museum on Friday night and
Flushed Away on Saturday night. We had a packed house each night even with the short rain
we experienced Saturday afternoon. We sold a record number of funnel cakes over the weekend and thank everyone
who waited in line to get theirs. We appreciate your patience! (Thank goodness we added the extra burner this
year!)
Thanks again to everyone--volunteers and patrons--for a wonderful weekend!
May 19, 2007 - Getting ready for the season!
Well, the season is about to start and we needed to do some cleaning up!
On Saturday Tom Denise, Chris A. and Chris H. spent the entire day cleaning the Center Circle shelter
and supply shed. We spent about 8 hours making sure everything was ready. Chris and Chris spent the day pressure
washing the shelter to get rid of mud dauber nests on the ceiling, washing the floor to get rid of the dirt and mud collected
and all the picnic tables in the shelter. Whew! were they dirty but they look like new now!
Tom and Denise cleaned and organized the supply shed to make room for all the new supplies like the sno-cone
syrups, funnel cake mix, cups, plates, paper towels, three new burners and cast iron dutch ovens for the funnel cakes and
everything else needed for the upcoming movie season.
And the season started Saturday night! We showed the movie The Wild and had a great
turnout, as usual.
We're ready to go and can't wait to see everyone this year!
May 13,2007 - Gotta get the putt-putt course sections moved!
What a way to spend Mother's Day--enjoying the fresh outdoor air!! It was a beautiful day with the
sun shining and a mild breeze blowing... Donna, Chris, Tom and Denise spent several hours with the help of a friend,
Dave, moving the putt-putt course pieces to the area where it will be assembled. The sections had been stored under
the shelter for the winter to keep it out of the weather and we needed to get it out from under there to allow the patrons
of the park to use the shelter! Those pieces were heavy but thanks to the trucks we were able to move them fairly easily.
Now the shelter is about ready for the movie season--just needs some cleaning!
April 7, 2007 - The Easter Bunny is coming!
Hueston Woods State Park held it's annual Easter Egg Hunt and the Friends of Hueston Woods were there to
help the Easter Bunny hide his eggs. Although it was a pretty cold and blustery day, we had a nice turnout and
everyone had fun!
Mike, Nick, Chris, Paula, Tom, Denise, Chris and Donna were there to assist him and spent about an hour
hiding eggs just to see them all collected by the kids in less than 5 minutes--boy those kids are fast, I'm surprised they
missed the Easter Bunny as fast as they are but he got away just in time!
See ya next year, Easter Bunny! Maybe next time you won't be so fast and the kids will catch you!
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