Sudbury haunted attraction breaks previous attendance records

Halloween is Robby Lavoie's favourite time of year.

Lavoie is the owner and creator of Northern Screams Attractions, which creates spooky haunted houses in the Greater Sudbury area every October.

This year's edition, called Fields of Fear, includes three unique haunted attractions: the Hostel, Carrefour Carnavale and the Catacombs.

"The main attraction is the Hostel," Lavoie said. "Hostel is something we've never seen before in Sudbury. There is about $20,000 to $25,000 of new equipment and props in this attraction, from very gruesome and bloody animals to human parts. You name it, we have it all in this attraction."

As it enters its final weekend, Lavoie said Fields of Fear has been a great success.

"We're seeing record attendance," he said. "Saturday was a record breaking night for us, seeing over 1,100 plus people in a short amount of time."

Lavoie said they've been breaking records while also following COVID-19 guidelines and restrictions. The attractions have been limited to 150 guests at any one time, and staff have been enforcing vaccine passport requirements, along with masking guidelines.

A lifelong obsession

Lavoie said he caught the horror bug when he was in his early teens. He went to Niagara Falls with his family to attend a wedding. While they were in the region, they visited a few haunted houses.

"I came home with a bug of just loving what I saw down there," he said.

Lavoie said his mom loved Christmas and always decorated the house quite a bit that time of year. After they returned from Niagara Falls, he convinced his parents to let him put that same level of effort into Halloween.

"Dad let me go nuts that first year in the yard," he said. "We started with someone in a dog cage, in a bleeding skeleton costume scaring people in the front yard. And that developed into a huge outdoor attraction for us."

He turned that hobby into a business, and has been scaring Sudburians ever since.

The Field of Screams attractions conclude Saturday night in Blezard Valley.