WMG
Medical
Volume 3 • Issue 20 October 19, 2016
Wilton Manors Gazette
Wicked Manors Will Go On Additional sponsors found to help cover security costs
By Michael d’Oliveira Robert Boo is breathing a “sigh of relief.” Recently, Boo, CEO of The Pride Center, was worried his organization might not be able to organize Wicked Manors, Wilton Manors’ annual Halloween event. The costs for security, in the wake of the recent attacks in Orlando and France, have tripled from $9,000 to $27,000. That increase is what created the doubt about Pride Center’s involvement this year. But now, thanks to new sponsors, including the copresenting sponsors, AIDS Healthcare Foundation and Hunter’s Nightclub, Wicked Manors will again be a Pride Center production. “Wonderful organizations, I might add,” said Boo about AHF and Hunter’s. “I’m very excited. It’s going to be really great.” Boo expects between 15,000 and 18,000 people to attend the event. “It’s bringing people into the city. But since we haven’t done it on a Monday night before, we’re just guessing. We could get totally inundated.” He added that’s a good problem to have. This year, Halloween is on a Monday. Boo said the event could have been held the Friday or Saturday before Halloween but Monday was chosen to help the bars, which don’t usually make a lot of money on a Monday night. Caleb Ben-Avram, co-owner of Naked Grape on Wilton Drive, said he thinks the event should have been held on a Saturday. Normally, Naked Grape is closed on Mondays, but Ben-Avram said the sheer number of people who come to Wilton Drive for the event means he and his partner, Tim Slivinski, will be open. “It’s a lot of people, so we have to be open.” Although for this year he’s not sure yet how many people will patronize Naked Grape during the event because they have to work the next day. “I would imagine the weekend’s [going to be] a little bit busier.”
Photo: J.R. Davis.
For those who drink or abstain that night, Wilton Drive will be closed to vehicles starting at 1 p.m. on Halloween and opened back up at 2 a.m. on Nov. 1. There will be entertainment, costume contests and more. The event is from 7 to 11 p.m. The theme for this year’s event is “Political Nightmare – Scandals, Secrets & Sins.” It’s doubly appropriate because of the presidential election and for the fact that Boo reached out to the city’s politicians for additional help when it looked as though his organization might walk away because the security costs had increased so much. In a previous interview, Boo said that the increased costs would have cut too much into the profit from the event. That money is used to help fund Pride Center and its programs. Last year, the organization made a profit of $40,300 from Wicked Manors. After Boo reached out to the city, commissioners voted to spend up to $10,000 on public safety. They gave City Manager Leigh Ann Henderson discretion as to how much of that money would be spent on Wicked Manors. But now, Boo said he may not need those funds. “I haven’t gone to them yet. My hope is I don’t have to go to the city for any additional funds for support. The city is being very supportive.” City Manager Leigh Ann Henderson said that no formal request has been made yet by Boo to tap into the money. City money that has been allocated is $10,860 for RoadSafe Traffic Systems to provide traffic maintenance services. That includes water barriers in several locations, 250 barricades and 28 specialty signs. Commissioners approved the expense at their Oct. 13 meeting. WMG For more information on Wicked Manors, visit wickedmanors.org.
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