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It all started here. The humble beginnings of this Xtreme Halloween Xpo!
came about in early 1997 as the first
Halloween enthusiast convention
complete with seminars and
workshops ever held. Hosted
in our small furniture plant in
Santa Maria, California, it began
with the auspicious moniker of the
"First Annual Southern California Halloween Chat List Convention And
Workshops". |
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That first gathering boasted
just over a dozen internet chat
list members from as far away as
Minnesota, a 2200 mile journey,
proving the theory that Halloween
fans would appreciate having their
own gathering and workshops. In
addition to breaking
 ground for the
course of how this type of
convergence might work, we also
included our on-line friends from
around the country by broadcasting
live video feed with the help of CU
See Me technology and our itinerant
technical guru Jim Kadel. Though
the video was sans sound, at least
some of the festivities were shared
with those unable to attend in
person! Thanks Jim! |
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Attendees enthusiastically joined
in on everything we had dreamed up
for that first weekend. A dinner, a
trip to the flea market, a bar-b-q
lunch and of course, the one day of
workshops that began with the first
seminar; "Rotting A Plastic Skull" by Jerry Chavez,
followed by "Resin Casting" by Bob
Andrews and
then after lunch the workshop "The
Flying Crank Ghost Lite" by yours
truly, which debuted the very first
version of the now highly popular
floating ghost platform ever
constructed by materials other than a
35 lb
half sheet of plywood. This one
pound platform is the same one
copied and modified by enthusiasts
and merchants alike all over the
world today called the "Ultimate
Floating Ghost" platform.
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The location of our
conventions through the years have
moved to various venues in the
Central and Southern California
areas, from L.A. to S.F. In
2002 the decision was made to bring
our gathering back to the Santa
Maria valley where it all started
out, but within no time we realized
the city couldn't contain all the
haunt crazed fans that wanted in!
100 attended in '03 when we tested
the idea of bringing in exhibitors
for the first time, Illusion Wear's
handmade capes and Ed Gein
Collection of rotted
 corpses and
novelties. Attendees loved the
products made available, so we put in
over a dozen in '04 in the first professional Halloween /
haunted house trade show
specifically for pro haunters and
enthusiasts over the Valentine's
Day weekend in February at the
Haunted
Santa Maria Inn with an
attendance of nearly 200! And with nearly twice as many
vendors in '04, Haunt X was now hosting more than 300 unique guests in '05. By
2006, our little gathering grew into Haunt X and hosted 3,000 guests over the
five days of show. |
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We here at
Haunt X have
determined it would be a great
thing to identify all those souls
who attended this momentous first
gathering of Halloween enthusiasts for
posterity and need your help. If
you can identify any of the folks
in any of
these
three
photos please email me with
their first and last names and if
known, how to contact them today.
Thanks for your help. So far we
have this list of the original 15;
Speakers (in order of
speaking sequence) Jerry Chavez,
Bob Andrews and Wil Schock of
course. Attendees; Jeanni, Steve
and Derek Schipper, Julie and
Dwayne (from Tarzana), Jack Eyster,
Robin (? from Minneapolis) Lane,
Chase and Lorna Schock. |
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No matter
the size Haunt X grows to, we
plan to retain that friendly
atmosphere that has always been
present at all of our gatherings.
Big things are in store for
our next Xpo! , so be sure to
mark your calendar now for the
oldest and the best Halloween and
dark industry Xpo! held
today! -Wil Schock, host of
Haunt X |
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Testimonials '06 |
