Adventures at MHC ’09
By Noah (AKA Jolly Pumpkin)
This article is much different than MHC articles of years past. Instead of just coverage of the tradeshow, Monster Makeup Wars and Zombie walk, you’ll be hearing about the Friday Midsummer Monster Bash, Masquerade Ball and more. But that’s not just it. The second part of this fascinating article will be from the perspective of one of the best known haunt actors in Ohio. His name is Damien Reaper and he had one hell of a time at the Midwest Haunters Convention. The first page of Adventures at MHC ’09 covers the tradeshow and more.
Every year thousands of haunters invade Columbus Ohio for the one and only Midwest Haunters Convention. The Midwest Haunters Convention is an annual gathering that focuses on vendors, social events, seminars, workshops and more that is centered around the haunt industry. This years MHC once again took place at the Great Columbus Convention Center. What once started out at a popular baseball park now invades a large convention center. Every year MHC expands and becomes a much larger and important event for the haunt industry. It’s currently the second largest haunt convention behind the Transworld Haunt and Attractions Show in St. Louis Missouri.
The festivities started earlier in the week with a massive 2 day tour of attractions in Ohio and Pennsylvania, a haunt industry party w/scaryoke and much more. Our primary focus was the tradeshow floor and Monster Makeup Wars. So we decided to head out to Columbus, OH in the afternoon to experience what many haunters call their favorite convention of the year, The Midwest Haunters Convention. We left around 12:00 PM Saturday and arrived at the Greater Columbus Convention Center at 1:45. It was a nice sunny day and an easy drive thanks to our handy GPS.
Once the car was parked and we entered the convention center, I noticed right away that this year’s MHC had a much larger crowd and it was shaping up to be the best Midwest Haunters Convention to date. Even though there weren’t as many vendors as there were in 2008, the tradeshow floor was layed out much better and you could barely tell that there was a decrease in companies showcasing their products.
Many of the same companies that were at Transworld such as Scarefactory, Pale Night Productions, Night Scream Studios and others were also showing off their products at Midwest Haunters Convention. While MHC is more of a cash and cary convention instead of a large order tradeshow, it has built up a reputation over the years as one of the funnest conventions to attend.
The tradeshow floor was packed and the sounds of air compressors and horns echoed through out the convention center. Rather you were apart of the haunt industry or not, the high amount of energy could be felt at the convention. We explored the convention for about an hour and half and decided while we were down in Columbus to check out the downtown.
Most of the time when we are in Columbus it’s at night visiting haunts and we never really get to experience the beauty of this great city. Columbus has a huge downtown market, every type of restaurant you could think of and many types of entertainment waiting for you around the corner. Sadly downtown Columbus puts downtown Cincinnati to shame, but this seems to be the case with many places I visit.
45 minutes had passed and we were ready to head back and get seated for the Bloody Mary Monster Makeup Wars. This is one of MHC’s most popular events and rightfully so. It pits groups of contestants against each other in a competition to see who can create the most frightful monster using the same materials provided by Bloody Mary Makeup. The contestants have 30 minutes and the winning team receives one hundered dollars.
At the beginning of the contest it wasn’t too crowded, but soon filled up with people wanting to get a taste of Monster Makeup Wars. It was a great competition with some tough competitors, but in the end the team of Dream Reapers Haunted House and their character “Rainbow Rape” walked away winners in the 2009 Bloody Mary Monster Makeup Wars. Too See detailed videos of this event, please click on the link below.
The Monster Makeup Wars was a thrilling contest, but the day wasn’t over yet. As we left the convention center, suddenly from nowhere zombies stormed the sidewalks as people looked in shock as the living dead made an appearance outside of Midwest Haunters Convention. Babies dressed as zombies stalked their prey as scantily clad zombies showed off their assets. It was a spectacle to say the least as hundreds upon hundreds of zombies walked the sidewalks of downtown Columbus while people took pictures and filmed the madness.
It was a more entertaining gathering this year and seemed to be better attended than last year’s Zombie Walk. Overall the tradeshow at Midwest Haunters Convention was exciting, frightening and downright memorable. Year after year this annual convention gets better and more people seem to realize that besides Transworld this is the convention to attend. This is the one and only Midwest Haunters Convention. Now
MHC Awards
Best Designed Booth-Froggy’s Fog
Best Product-Raging Werewolfs from Night Scream Studios
Most Creative Character-Rainbow Rape, Monster Makeup Wars Winner
Biggest Disappointment-Lack of many web design companies