It is with heavy hearts that we inform all of our current and future haunted house fans that we are officially closed for the 2020 season. This closure is beyond our control. The last few weeks, the city of Holyoke has been trending “red” and because of this, the city’s officials have decided to take a step backward in their COVID reopening phase. Holyoke is now reverted to Phase 3 Step 1, which removes indoor recreation businesses from being allowed to remain open despite being able to fulfill all other COVID regulations or guidance set forth by the state.
Safety of our customers and staff was the number one priority this season. We took gigantic strides, making sure our haunt met or exceeded all COVID regulations. On the weekends we were allowed to be open, we felt both our staff and our customers were extremely happy with our added precautions and safety regulations. Many people commented that we felt safer than your typical big box store, but alas– the government doesn’t see it this way. We thank all of you who expressed yourselves via the Facebook recommendations and Google reviews that poured in this year. We believe the protocols we enforced created an environment inside our haunted house that was just as safe, if not safer, than your standard grocery or big box store.
We want to personally thank everyone for an amazing year even if it was cut short. Thank you so much to every single one of you who bought tickets this season and trusted us to provide safe entertainment with a sort of normalcy and escape from the “demented” reality we are currently living in.
We are a small business with two owners who work full time jobs all year to support their families. The haunt is truly a passion project for them and that is why they invest so much every year to make DementedFX the best Haunted Attraction it can be. An investment our passionate owners willingly make because they are like gitty school kids living out their dreams and they truly feed off the energy of all our fans. This year, we will have been open for only 60% of a normal season and on top of that we were limited to only 40% of our normal ticket sales due to capacity restraints. It’s because of all of you that we will be able to open next year since we only have to carry a small loss. Your patronage this year means more than just a ticket sale, it continues the passionate dream that has turned into DementedFX. It’s because of all of you that our entire staff can’t wait to jump back in and upgrade the haunt to make it even better. And you know– when all this finally blows over – you’ll have a place to grab a pint, grab a friend and join Massachusetts’ number one horror party October 2021.
On behalf of Jeremie LaPointe, David Spear, and the entire cast and crew at DementedFX,
THANK YOU!
Stay Safe. Stay Scared. We’ll see you next year…
Other general housekeeping things:
If you feel we can operate a safe business and would like to talk to a local official, here is a convenient list of people you can contact. Sean Gonsalves (Holyoke Board of Health) (413) 322-5595 gonsalvess@holyoke.org Alex Morse (Mayor of Holyoke) (413) 322-5510 morsea@holyoke.org Charlie Baker (Governor of Massachusetts) (617) 725-4005
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For anyone that purchased tickets for our Halloween weekend: we will start processing refunds over the next couple days. Depending on your bank the money should be back in your account by early next week.
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We will be here next year but if you’d like to donate something to help us weather the storm with things like rent, insurance or provide us some extra funds to make bigger and better upgrades, feel free to donate:
In the infinitesimal chance that something changes before this weekend and we are permitted to open, we will definitely do everything in our power to rally our troops and put on an awesome show for you.
