Reporter Central Kitsap
Keep it classy Expanded classifieds inside Kitsap Week
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2013 | Vol. 29, No. 4 | WWW.CENTRALKITSAPREPORTER.COM | 50¢
Kitsap Haunted Fairgrounds actors give a good scare BY SERAINE PAGE SPAGE@SOUNDPUBLISHING.COM
The Kitsap Haunted Fairgrounds is not for the faint of heart. For the volunteers who organize the event, it has only been a good night when someone runs out of the barn clutching their britches, trying to hide an accident. The black lights always rat out the scaredy cats, though. It serves as a silent compliment that the volunteers have done their best work. From 5-6 p.m., visitors can enter the Bremerton haunted house with the lights on for minimum scare. However, it is the “full scare” and game on from 6 to 11 p.m. that gets people shaking in their boots and leaving puddles. “We call it “pee your pants time,’ ” laughs Vicki Josal, volunteer coordinator for Kitsap Haunted Fairgrounds of the lights-out event. Josal has around 175 volunteers
in her database, all willing to come forth to act as zombies, aliens, tortured souls, whatever she needs. The actors never come out of character unless there is an emergency, like the first weekend when a guest suffered from an asthma attack. For three weekends out of the year, and on Halloween, the Kitsap County Fairgrounds is transformed into a place of terror. Gone are the vendors offering f luffy cotton candy and whirly rides at the Kitsap County Fair & Stampede. There’s nothing cute or fun about the transformation that takes place immediately after the fair vendors have packed up and left. This year’s event is expected to draw around 7,000 visitors to the grounds, breaking last year’s attendance rate. That could be blamed on the ground’s fictiSEE HAUNTED, A17
Seraine Page/Staff photo
Kitsap Haunted Fairgrounds volunteers Kymber Thomas and Christina Wright pose together for a photo after finishing their makeup in preparation for a night of scaring guests. Volunteers start their transformations at 3 p.m. on event nights.
Silverdale residents are ‘watchdogs’ of sign code update BY LESLIE KELLY LKELLY@SOUNDPUBLISHING.COM
Leslie Kelly/Staff photo
Work on an updated sign ordinance for Kitsap County is in progress and may include allowing digital signs. Some Silverdale area residents are concerned that current regulations are not being enforced.
A Silverdale-based citizens watchdog group has its sights set on proposed changes to Kitsap County’s sign code that are still in the works. The group, led by Joyce Merkel, a former Kitsap County planner, is hoping to keep Silverdale Way from looking like the strip in Las Vegas. “Many of us who live in Silverdale, and who own property here, do not want to see Silverdale turn into another Reno or Las Vegas or even an Aurora Avenue like in Seattle,” said Merkel. “We see Silverdale as a beautiful urban area, a place where people want to live and work and shop.” Merkel said she’s been in touch with the Kitsap County Department of Community Development trying to get
information about the changes that are being considered for the county’s sign code, but has been told there’s nothing on paper yet. According to Darren Gurnee, county planner in charge of the sign code update, the changes are in process but there’s nothing to offer Merkel yet. “We are currently developing preliminary language with the help of a specialized work team,” Gurnee said. “Public presentations are anticipated to take place by December.” Gurnee said the language that is proposed in the updated sign code will go through the public process including an open house and presentations at various community councils and county organizations. It will also go to the county planning commission for recomSEE SIGNS, A17