Downtown Long Beach came alive this weekend, bringing back Fright Fest for the second year in a row, featuring a haunted house maze filled with scare actors ready to scare anyone who participated, a live DJ, activities for people of all ages and street vendors.
From the late afternoon to the late evening, people packed Pine Street for the festival, with people coming in costumes to enjoy the festivities
“I think it’s fantastic to be able to have a community come out and want to celebrate Halloween with everyone together,” said Crystal Bula Garcia, one of the event coordinators responsible for bringing back LB Fright Fest.
“This year we saw more interest in the Fright Fest, and that made it very competitive because of the limited spaces, but maybe soon we will be able to expand to even more of the area,” said Garcia.
Garcia also sold tickets for face painting and the haunted house maze featuring all of the scare actors.
One scare actor, Scott Shaler, is a Long Beach native and was excited to be part of the festivities.
“As a native of Long Beach, I’m a big fan of anything that is done here, especially having a Halloween event here in Long Beach,” said Shaler.
Shaler also worked at last year’s event and said, “I hope the event continues to grow in the future.”
Both Garcia and Shaler highlighted bringing the community together through Fright Fest.
“One of our pillars is to have a connected community, and the business helps us host events like this, and in return we get to have cool events like this for the people of Long Beach,” said Garcia.
Among the attendees was LBCC student Janell Clark who wore a La Chilindrina outfit from a Mexican show called El Chavo del Ocho.
“I dressed up as La Chilindrina because when I was a kid, everyone used to say I was a lot like her, and well, I wanted to dress up as her because of those memories and also growing up watching El Chavo del Ocho,” Clark said.
Clark noted that she doesn’t often go out, but that the Fright Fest was one of the events in Long Beach that she was particularly excited about.
“I love the costumes and all the new faces because I don’t go out that much and having this event seems cool since people can just come, hang out and enjoy Halloween,” said Clark.
Clark’s friend Joshua Linares also came to fright fest and was excited for what the event held.
“I think it’s cool and I’m very excited to try some of the drinks,” said Linares, highlighting the alcohol that had fake eyeballs that were painted red.
Everyone was hopeful that Fright Fest would return for its third edition next Halloween with even more fun activities and people in attendance.
