NEWS: Haunted Attraction Association's New Strategic Plan; ScareCON; Canadian Costumes

0:07 Coming up your weekly roundup of news from around the haunt industry. Welcome to the show. I'm Philip on the Han Show. We bring you the haunt news, information, and education you need to prepare for Halloween. On Tuesdays, we bring you a roundup of news from haunts worldwide. Read more about these stories and so much more in our free weekly newsletter. Subscribe at the link in the show notes, and as always for the news roundup, I'm passing it off to Darryl. The Haunted Attraction Association has unveiled their twenty twenty four through twenty twenty seven strategic plan. Over the last three years, the AHAA has achieved great success, with new partnerships rising forty percent, due in major part to their strategic planning and commitment to support the entire haunt industry.

0:57 Now, the association aims to continue that success through targeted approaches, increased education, ongoing resource sharing, and member development through an updated strategic plan. Highlights of the new plan include the addition of a home charity haunt membership tier, new secondary memberships to allow haunts to add managers and team leaders, a code of ethics to be unveiled in twenty twenty five, a new vendor Advisory Board, a diversication on the Top Haunts program to include a tiered level of awards and increased educational opportunities from beginning to form a nationwide actor training program for a consistent curriculum nationwide. The HAA website will be updated to include a jobs board, expanded attraction finder, and a vendor finder to help members stay better connected.

1:44 To learn more and see a detailed account of the most recent HAA member survey results, watch the haa's full presentation by following the links in our show notes. The Haunted Attraction Association is also now accepting vendored donations for their annual laws, ive and online auctions. At two hundred and fifty dollars, donation or more will renew a vendors HAA membership. Higher donation will received enhanced perks with tiers at three point fifty six hundred and one thousand dollars. Enhanced ROI offerings include video promotion, eblast inclusion, social media recognition, and more. Donations are tax deductible and help the HAA raise funds for operating expenses, marketing for members, ensuring members have access to twenty four to seven, crisis management in the fall, and more, all while promoting your products in business to a room full of potential buyers. Submit your donation information via the haa's official auction submission form. F Tling's new Dance Macab attraction will feature a first of its kind spinning ride system Intiman's Dynamic motion stage. The tilting dipping turntable will feature six other turntables atop it, each with three six rider rows to allow one hundred and eight guests to experience the attraction each ride. This attraction replaces the former Haunted House. The new attraction is inspired by Camille Saint Sains eighteen seventy four orchestra work Dance Maccob, bringing to life the piece in a thrilling new way. Dance Maccob is set to open this fall. For more behind

3:15 the scenes insight, check out Efterling's official YouTube, the Making of Dance Macob playlist. Building the House, the former Dead City Haunted House in Murray, Utah, caught fire and collapsed this past Wednesday. Firefighters initially responded to a smoke investigation due to the amount of smoke and fire spread. A total of six engines and four ladder trucks were called in. This is a defensive fire. Murray City Fire Department Assistant Fire Chief Stephen Olsen told ABC four dot com that means we're not able to send people in due to the heavy fire conditions and limited access. Within an hour of the firefighter's arrival, the roof of the structure collapsed. No injuries are reported, but heavy damage to the structure and contents is expected. The building house hosed Dead City until its closure in twenty twenty two. It was currently being used as a warehouse. This year's scare Con will take place Wednesday, June fifth at Psychopath in Newcastle, England.

4:12 Scare Con is dedicated to the ever growing scare attraction industry, provide a space for attendees to come together and learn and discuss ideas, discover new innovations, and purchase props for their attractions and shows. In the evening, scare Con presents the annual Scare Ball, which features the live Scare Award ceremony. This year's venue takes the event to the Northeast region of England. Delegates love the fact that we can move the event around to different venues, which means the scare attraction population can see different events that they may not have been able to visit before, says Michael Bolton of Scare Con. We are excited to therefore bring the event to Psychopath which won last year's Scare Awards for the best Screen park in the UK. This venue will give delegates the opportunity to visit a number of Psychopaths Scare experiences with live actors exploring expanded range of vendors, attend talks and seminars, and of course attend this Scare Awards with a mystery specialty act for the evening. Tickets are on sale now at an early bird discount price of seventy five pounds per person. The Ashland Public Library has teamed up with Jeff Dpaoli, host of That Halloween podcast, for a series of Haunted Happenings live streams. This free series of live streams will feature guests from the haunt and horror communities where they will share behind the scenes stories. The next event will take place on Thursday, February fifteenth at six thirty pm EST.

5:33 This month's edition will feature Nicki Trakia, set builder and scare actor from Haunted Overlord in Lee, New Hampshire, free registration is now available for this and future live streams. The Canadian Border Services Agency CBSA have targeted the Costume Shop in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, to pay over one hundred thousand dollars on import duties after a change it made to the classification of themed costumes. Store owner Ryan Shohl has been importing his costumes under Chapter ninety five point h five of the Canadian Customs Tariff, which classifies the goods as festiveware and comes with zero import duties. In late twenty twenty two, however, he was notified by the CBSA that isn't costumes were no longer classified as festive wear, and instead classified his fancy dress, which comes with an eighteen percent duty fee plus applicable taxes. Furthermore, he was retroactively being charged for these fees dating back to twenty twenty one. We all import under ninety five point oh five, and the government itself, in its final report said to me, yes, you had no reason to believe he did anything wrong, Schoel said in the Calgary News. But it's wrong. They say it's not a costume.

6:43 I mean, come on, Mario Luigi or ghost Face they're all costumes. Schol who has more than twenty five hundred costumes in stock, must now refile previous inventory, even if those goods are no longer imported, and he can't appeal the CBSA's decision until payment is made. CTV News contacted other big box retailers to inquire if they are paying extra import duties, but received no responses. They contacted other small businesses in Calgary, but no interviews were granted for fear of retaliation from the CBSA. Shoel has contacted lawyers, brokers and consultants to defend himself and intends to continue to fight the ruling in court. Steve McCarthy, owner of New Republic, a screen printing clothing company, has decided to permanently close the business, but loyal customers and fans of his work don't despair. He has taken a position at Monster Inc. Tees. All current orders from New republicle ship as soon as possible, be delivered by the request of due dates. All current quote requests will be responded to from the Monster Inc. Teas team. McCarthy addressed a change in a Facebook post, dating my customers will not notice a difference in print quality with the move, as I will still be the printer. The only real difference should be a point of contact in the business name. As well as all new product offerings and new Evil Dead movie is on its way. It has been announced that Sebastian Vanicek has been hired by Ghost House Pictures to direct a spinoff of last year's Evil Dead Rise. Further details, including the film's plot and anticipated release date, are not yet announced. Banchik made his directorial debut with twenty twenty three's Infested. Infested will be available for streaming on shutters starting April twenty sixth.

8:16 Some events coming up in February through April include trans World Helloween and Attraction Show March seventh through tenth in Saint Louis, Missouri, Ferexpo April twelfth through twenty fourth at Owensboro, Kentucky, The Spooky Swap Meet April twenty sixth through twenty eighth in Los Angeles, California, And the East Coast Haunters Convention April twenty seventh and twenty eighth in Oaks, Pennsylvania. And that's all for the news this Week. Today's episode was produced by me Philip Bernandez, with reporting by Daryl Plunky, post production by David Swope. This HANT News Update is a production of the Haunted Attraction Network and you can sign up to our weekly newsletter at Hantattrastion Network dot com. Support for this episod thode comes from Ghantum Lighting and Controls. Until next time, Hunters Stay Scary. This is a Haunted Attraction Network production.