Vintage is the vibe at this year’s Creep It Real OC.
That means reflecting on the 1910s through 1950s along with the usual lineup of vendors, cosplayers, entertainment and more.
“We’re honoring a vintage vibe with our hometown Halloween festival. To complement that will be photo ops, music and our own characters that really bring home the Halloween of yesteryear,” said Megan Valantine, who co-created the event with her husband, Kevin.
Creep It Real OC’s Vintage Hometown Halloween runs Sept. 11-13 from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. at the Heritage Museum of Orange County in Santa Ana.
The main stage panel — The Magic of “Halloweentown” — happens Sunday, Sept. 13 at 6:30 p.m. with stars of Disney’s “Halloweentown”: Kimberly J. Brown, Daniel Kountz and Judith Hoag. They’ll have a hosted discussion about the ‘90s family-comedy.
“We also find the best thing about the themes that we feature is that our vendors supply merchandise that fits the feel and visitors who dress up in costumes to carry the vibe all day. They really embrace it and make it what it is,” Megan said.
New this year is an experience inside the historic Kellogg House, where event partner The Vogel Victorian showcases deaths and rituals of the Victorian era through performances and visual displays.
“It is unlike anything we’ve done at the event before and we’re thrilled to have it open all event hours, free with paid admission,” Kevin said. “We also tailor our live music choices to the theme and we’re very excited about stage performances featuring The Rhythm Howlers and The Boo Belles as well as our favorite returning group, Kitty Antix.”
This year there are also more food and drink options.
“People have told us that limited options and lengthy lines are a barrier for them, so this is something we’ve addressed,” Kevin said.
In Creep It Real OC’s seventh year, the event’s evolution continues.
“First, with crowds, we’ve strived to spread ourselves out more and more, finding new nooks and crannies in the event space where a feature or vendor space could be,” Kevin said. “We’ve found with increased crowds comes the desire for more to do and more vendors who want to participate as well. Having once maxed out what we could do, we’ve throttled back slightly and found a very comfortable layout. We are now focused on the necessities like restrooms, parking organization and entertainment programming where our stage gets bigger each year and we refine how we feature our performances and activities.”
He said one of the most satisfying things about their events is the partnership with the host venue, Heritage Museum of Orange County.
“Over the years, through our donations as well as the observations they’ve made about how the venue is used in their largest event, many brilliant improvements have been made to the property that we all benefit from, from accessibility to ground improvements to overall building upkeep such as the recent re-roofing of the Kellogg House that was made possible in part through donations by us and other donors and organizations,” Kevin said.
Creep It Real OC has also seen an evolution in who attends.
“Early on, the community was smaller and more niche,” Kevin said. “At this point, we’ve seen a desire for people to dress up their pets and bring them along for a stroll and while we are not a kid or family-focused event, there are plenty of enjoyable things for the younger crowd to do and many families make a fun night of it. We’ve also gotten inquiries about birthday celebrations and had a bachelorette party join us last year. We are so happy to have settled right into where we want to be with those who attend.”
