Once upon a midnight dreary, while she pondered weak and weary, Fort Frances Museum Program and Events Coordinator Catrina Caira came up with a gruesome idea for a hauntingly good time—an ol’-timely 1920s-themed “ghost social,” but with a modern twist: music, dancing and cocktails.
With apologies to Edgar Allan Poe, it may not have happened exactly like that, but this Saturday’s event (at the Fort Frances Memorial Recreation Centre from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m.) was Caira’s brainchild (with some inspiration from the Rec Centre’s Tara Gunderson). It also spawned the creation of the Spooktacular Kids’ Night at the Memorial Sports Centre on Friday, Oct. 23, which runs from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
“The idea started because I was doing some research on Halloween traditions, and when I was going through the old newspaper archives, I discovered in the 1920s that there were “ghost socials” held in the area,” Caira told The Times.
“They had these great little descriptions that talked about, you know, there’s going to be dancing, and a pumpkin pie auction and fortune tellers, and I was like, ‘This sounds like a great thing to bring back because socials are really popular here as well.’”
Ghost socials were popular community gatherings across rural Northwestern Ontario in the early 20th century. Participants attended dances and socials disguised in costumes, masks or white sheets, keeping their identities secret until later in the evening. Often organized by churches, schools and community groups, the events combined entertainment and fundraising, drawing neighbours together for an evening of mystery, courtship and fun before the “ghosts” finally revealed themselves.
“The original idea was to kind of bring the idea of a ghost social kind of forward and modernize it a bit as a fundraiser,” Caira said. “One of the key points of the ghost social in the 1920s was to come dressed as a ghost. So that’s kind of where we’re going with the costume theme: basically, come as a ghost. Any ghost is fine, and if you don’t feel like coming as a ghost, that’s fine too. Then we’re going to have a silent auction that will include some pumpkin pies, and then we’re going to have modern music and drinks and a costume contest.”
Those wanting to honour the true ghost social tradition could come dressed as simply as the time-honoured classic white-sheet-with-two-holes-for-the-eyes.
“They could also just paint their face white, or they could come as [the ghost of] Marilyn Monroe or King Edward VIII. Really, ghost is a very liberal term, which is one of the reasons that we thought it was a perfectly good costume option.”
Early bird tickets are available through the activities page of the Memorial Sports Centre website (fortfrances.ca/experience/activities-amenities/memorial-sports-centre) for $15, with tickets at the door for $20.
Dearly departed attendees will want to have some cash on hand for the silent auction and the cash bar. Proceeds from the event will go to support The Fort Frances Museum, which is hoping to raise money for a set of computer tablets to use with its programming.
“The goal is to hopefully raise enough money that we’ll have, say, a class set of tablets, and that gives us the opportunity to use them within school programs as well as public programming,” Caira said. “We’re also hoping to load them with some accessibility software for people who might have accessibility issues with the museum’s exhibits.”
Patrons can expect music, dancing, drinks, a silent auction, “and we’re hoping, a lot of fun,” Caira said.
Volunteers who would like to help set up the event can show up at the Rec Centre tonight from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. The team is also looking for volunteers and scarers to help with the Spooktacular Kids’ Night—setup for that begins at 4 p.m.
“We’re going to have a small haunted house, like we did last year at the Boo Bash,” Caira said. “We’re going to have a kid-friendly haunted house, and we’re going to have some crafts and some games and just some fun family fun. That one is $5, and tickets are also available on the Memorial Sports Centre website or at the door.
“We’re trying to resurrect this activity from the dead, literally,” said Gunderson, the Memorial Centre’s recreation supervisor. “It’s something that happened 100 years ago, and our hope is that maybe 100 years from now, they’ll still be talking about the Ghost Social of 2026.”
“The other thing I wanted to mention too was just the importance of coming together as a community and coming out, whether it’s to celebrate a girls’ night out, maybe it’s a parents’ night out, maybe it’s celebrating a job promotion, maybe it’s celebrating a breakup.”
“Whatever your why is, whatever thing that you know held you down or is picking you up, come and celebrate it! Come down to Memorial Sports Centre and just step away from everything. It’s been a long minute since we’ve hosted something as a town like this type of social.”
The organizers are also looking for any businesses that wish to donate to the event, such as an item for the silent auction or a small cash donation to help pay for the DJ or the food.
