Halloween attraction seeking break on capacity limit

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This article was published 04/09/2021 (1671 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Manitoba Halloween attraction is asking provincial health officials for a break with the rules, arguing small-business fairs and events have been slighted by the newly announced capacity limits.

In a letter addressed to Manitoba’s top doctors Brent Roussin and Jazz Atwal, Tim and Michelle Muys, owners of Heebie Jeebies Halloween mazes, petitioned the province to up their capacity limit from 500 to 1,500 attendees, arguing the attraction has stringent rules in place to prevent COVID-19 transmission.

“Last year we operated at 500 (people), but last year we had a ton of COVID measures in place, we have all the same measures in place this year, but last year we were starting the second wave and there was mass hysteria,” Tim Muys said in an interview Saturday.

“It all made sense, it was all justifiable and we were all too happy to go along with the limit. We did what we felt we had to do and upheld the responsibilities we felt we had to uphold.”

Heebie Jeebies is an outdoor fall attraction featuring four mazes (two of which are set up in doorless shipping containers), food trucks and carnival games on a 70,000-acre plot of land south of McGillivray Boulevard on LaSalle Road. Guests are given time slots to arrive, with the expectation that most guests stay for under two hours, said Muys. This year visitors will be asked to present either proof of vaccination, or proof they have tested negative for COVID-19 within the past 24 hours. Masks are required inside mazes and strongly encouraged outdoors, while social distancing is required throughout the grounds.

“Coming here was safer than going to Costco,” Muys said of last fall’s event, adding no health order violation tickets were issued, and no COVID-19 cases were contact-traced back to the maze site.

In public health orders released Thursday, Roussin indicated outdoor summer festivals and fairs would be subject to a 500-person capacity cap starting Sept. 7. Special allowance for greater capacity would be granted on a case-by-case basis, pending public health approval.

By contrast, however, indoor and outdoor sports venues are allowed to operate at 50 per cent capacity, with attendees of indoor events required to provide proof of vaccination.

To Muys, the difference in rules for events like Jets or Bombers games feels like a slight against small-biz attractions like Heebie Jeebies.

“The field is definitely not even for everybody,” he said. “There are exceptions being made and it’s impossible for us to know whether exceptions are being made for the fiscal contributions these organizations make to the economy in Winnipeg, but that shouldn’t negate the fact that the rest of us contribute as well.”

Without the 500-person cap, Muys said he expects between 20,000 and 25,000 people to visit the Heebie Jeebies grounds between Oct. 7 and 31 this year. Over the course of 16 nights, he said, it works out to just about 1,500 people per night.

The event requires “an enormous amount of effort” to put together, Muys said. The team employs more than 100 actors, hires three food trucks, gives out treats like hot chocolate and runs carnival games and fireworks. Muys said setting up each year takes “blood sweat and tears,” but with limited capacity straining the budget, he isn’t convinced it’s worthwhile to set up.

“If I stuck with that limit I can’t grow,” said Muys. “I’m basically doing this at cost, and it’s hardly worth it to open if you’re just going to pay the bills and not be left with anything — two years in a row now.”

Muys is “optimistic” the letter he and his wife sent to Roussin and Atwal Friday will bring about an exception to the rule for their business, but wants to ensure other fall attractions have a fair chance this year.

“We feel we’re kind of left out of these orders,” he said. “Last year they did have seasonal events in there and this year we kind of seem to be left out.”

 

julia-simone.rutgers@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @jsrutgers