‘We don’t have coffee’: South Okanagan Halloween display causes confusion
The owner of an art gallery in the Okanagan is addressing a stream of visitors mistakenly looking for coffee and pizza due to a decorative sign that is part of an unusual Halloween display.
Naramata artist Blaine Gerlach owns the shop Gam Gam’s Cottage where she sells her art and works from other local creative people. Her shop is located in Naramata Courtyard Suites, a motel that is closed for the winter season.
Gerlach and fellow artists are transforming the motel into a Halloween-themed mini strip mall with a haunted courtyard. Called the Cursed Courtyard, the display is set to open next week.
“We’re still finishing the build out of a lot of the rooms and most of the courtyard is done,” Gerlach said. “My shop is unusual in that I don’t sell online or ship anything out, so it made sense to do a ‘retail is dead’ theme in an old strip mall display, where each of the rooms is a different fake store that serves the dead.”
The sign for the Halloween display erected outside the motel last week is creating confusion for the public. It lists the fake stores which include a pizza place and coffee shop.
“People are walking into my shop asking for coffee and pizza or wandering around the courtyard looking for a coffee shop and being confused,” Gerlach said, chuckling. “It took a few confused people before I figured it out. It’s the sign, they think it’s real, they’re not reading the top part of it.”
She recently put out a post on social media stating she doesn’t have coffee, prompting humoured reactions from the community.
“Just here to remind everyone, although I’m sure most must have been visitors to Naramata, we don’t have coffee,” the post read.
The inventive display offers a creative, immersive experience with spooky characters and artsy items from Halloween movies, with art installations and sculptures relating to Okanagan history.
Gerlach’s Gam’s Gams Cottage has also been transformed into an artsy Halloween world for visitors to enjoy and shop for local art and an assortment of Canadian sourced products, however, fresh coffee and pizza are not on sale.
The shop and display are located at Naramata Courtyard Suites at 365 Robinson Avenue. The display is open on select dates from Oct. 16 to Oct. 30.
Tickets cost $6.73 and can be purchased through Eventbrite where available dates are shown.
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