Lombard Jaycees need house for haunting
What's a haunted house without the house?
The Lombard Jaycees may be forced to answer that question if they can't find a spot to hold what would be their 41st annual haunted house.
The location of last year's house — a former Hobby Lobby store at 1141 S. Main St. — now is occupied by a temporary Halloween Express shop.
A combination of fewer vacant properties in Lombard large enough for the haunted house and property owners shying away from temporary leases has made the Jaycees' hunt for a house to haunt challenging, said Bill Heniff, Lombard's director of community development.
“The thing I'm hearing most is ‘We don't do short-term leases,'” said Jackie West, a Jaycees member who has been working since mid-August to find a location.
Even with the help of Heniff‘s staff and Village President Bill Mueller, the Jaycees haven't found a vacant 10,000-square-foot structure available to become a scary site for a charitable cause during October.
If no home for the haunted house is found by Saturday, Oct. 1, members of the group say they'll call off this year's event.
The Jaycees' requests to rent properties have been turned down by owners of an empty building on Main Street that used to house a Walgreens and an empty former antiques store on North Avenue. An idea that popped up Tuesday of hosting the haunted house inside a tent isn't feasible, Heniff said.
“We've been working diligently to see what opportunities are available out there,” Heniff said. “But so far, nothing has come to fruition.”
West said the Jaycees appreciate the village's help.
“The village has been very helpful; they've been working hard,” West said. “They don't want to lose this for our community.”
The haunted house raises money so the Jaycees can provide food baskets to needy families in York Township around Thanksgiving and Christmas. It also collects donations for a food pantry at a free matinee that's designed to be a less frightening experience for young kids, West said.
“The people that haunt our haunted house are teenagers. We give them something constructive to do because they're there from the start. They help build it,” West said. “I'm upset about these kids not having that to do.”
The latest option is a site in Villa Park that Jaycees and Heniff say they are considering. And if a site to haunt is found by Saturday, Jaycees from other communities have said they're willing to work around the clock if necessary to get it open by Oct. 14.
“If we get the word that we get a last-minute house,” West said, “there will be people who will come to help us get it built.”