Orange County is joining the ghoulish world of Halloween and horror conventions with the launch of Grave Harvest at The Hotel Fullerton on Sunday, Oct. 2.
The brainchild of Larry Carr, owner of Abracadaver Events, who has been making props, sculptures and masks for the film, entertainment and haunted attraction industries for 35 years, the convention promises more than 60 vendors and exhibitors, as well as classes, demos and some celebrity appearances.
Carr says that over the years, he’s seen the Halloween industry explode.
“What’s amazing is all the new shows in California,” he says. “I used to have to go back East … for all the trade shows.”
That was only a few years ago. And now Los Angeles has several.
“So we thought we’d bring it to Orange County,” he says.
Even though Grave Harvest is in its inaugural year, Abracadaver has been hosting Halloween markets on the backlot of its Fullerton location for more than six years.
“We just kind of outgrew the space here,” says Carr.
The larger space will accommodate vendors and exhibitors ranging from A Corpse Maker horror props, Blood and Teeth artwork and Dreadful Little Things creepy, custom dolls to Haunted Orange County, Tee No Evil and The Haunt Store.
There will also be celebrity appearances by Philip Friedman, who played the old woman in Insidious, and Douglas Tait (aka The Monster Man), who performed stunts in Freddy vs. Jason and has been in other films as, yes, a monster.
Other activities include a presentation on getting started in the haunted attraction business and a corpsification demonstration – using a plastic skeleton, latex, paper towels and cotton to make an inexpensive skeleton.
“You can actually make the skeletons look very good,” says Carr.
Also, the Horror Writers Association will be hosting a creative writing panel and Bobby Norman, author of Black Water, will be signing his new book, WW3 The Lizard War.
Grave Harvest
The Hotel Fullerton
Sunday, Oct. 2
11 a.m. to 6 p.m
Parking is free