Ed Roberts and his wonderful team here at the Oregon School for the Deaf will be wrapping up their first annual West Coast Haunters Convention today. It's been a great couple days so far with some informative haunt seminars, a number of interesting vendor booths, and of course Friday night's amazing haunt tour at Milburn's Haunted Manor (still can't get over the overhead zip line scares!).

For me personally, it was Saturday night that I was truly looking forward too. I gave two haunt seminars, "113 Ways to Slash your Haunt Marketing Budget", and with those out of the way it was time to relax and take advantage of what I truly enjoy about events like this - the socializing. There wasn't anything formally organized this year (I've heard there's a sponsor in place for a costume ball next year). Haunters love their party time though so lack of a plan wasn't about to stop us. I've heard a number of people hit the casino while others went bowling. For Destry and I, we kept it simple kicking things off in the bar at our hotel, the Keizer Rennaissance Inn, with the owners of a couple other Puget Sound haunts, Black Lake Asylum and the Kitsap County Haunted Fairgrounds. As the pale ales flowed, I eventually turned around to notice Nick Collins, Dana Martin, and others had pulled up a table behind me. We joined their table and were thrilled to watch as, one by one, more familiar faces joined the crowd. In came Leonard Pickel and his wife, Jeanne to join our crew. Ed Roberts and friends pulled up a nearby table. Furby made a grand appearance in her cape and theatrical contact lenses. And finally, the Wolfe Brothers arrived in full costume as a Skeletor-type character and The Fly (who had one fly hand to which Destry struck laughs commenting that The Fly was flashing gang signs). Pictures were taken and the party was in full gear when all of a sudden the unthinkable happened - the bar closed!

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