Downtown businesses get creative with spooky activities

By Leah Rainwater

St. Joseph businesses are gearing up for spooky season by finding unique ways to celebrate with the community.

Downtown Frames is hosting a Haunted Gallery event from Oct. 7 to Oct. 31 from 4:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. in store.

The idea came to Diane Cudworth, the owner of downtown frames, after her father passed.

“I was out at my dad’s in Sacramento cleaning out his house, he passed away in April,” said Cudworth. “I came across a lot of old pictures, and uh…some of the people in my family look like serial killers.”

Participants will choose “Sinner vs. Saint” based on dressed up photos around the store.

Tickets to the event are $10 for adults, $5 for students and free for kids under 13.

Tickets can be bought at the door and there will be prizes included for those who guess who the serial killers are in over 100 antique photos.

Cudworth buys and sells previously owned frames, so she was able to make the photos look authentic.

“I had a whole bunch of old frames,” said Cudworth “You know, the metal frames that they had back in the day, and I thought that they would work well with the pictures. I found some other pictures elsewhere.”

Cudworth said she bought 1,000 tickets to supply to participants and she’s almost sold them all.

However, Cudworth notes that she’s able to buy more tickets for more people to attend.

Cudworth said when it comes to community interest, it has to do with some recent trends.

“Well, there’s a lot of interest in serial killers right now,” said Cudworth. “And so, I’ve got a couple actual serial killers in the mix, so you’re gonna be playing a game.”

Another spooky event the community should keep an eye out for is the Midsummer Night’s Murder Downtown Mystery Walk.

The Mystery Walk will take place on Saturday, Oct. 12, from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m.