VIDEO: Kamloops haunted house scares up food bank donations

KAMLOOPS – More than 2,000 lbs. of food has been donated to the Kamloops Food Bank, thanks to one local family's love of Halloween.

Shannon Weitzel and his daughter share a passion for the holiday and want to share it with the rest of the community. So for the past five years, the Weitzel family has hosted a haunted house on their Barnhartvale property.

This year, although the turnout was less than expected, a record number of food was donated to the Kamloops Food Bank through "Barnhauntvale" which took place last weekend.

Weitzel says more than 1,300 people came to take part in the spooky festivities, helping raise $1,285 in cash for the food bank.

"The food bank was absolutely thrilled with the result of it," Weitzel says. "It was a really good win for the food bank for sure."

It takes the Weitzel family about two months to get their property ready for Halloween. They begin setting things up at the end of August.

Weitzel says "Barnhauntvale" is an important community event that supports a good cause and gives kids something fun to do on Halloween.

"We love having this as a community event, as somewhere for the kids to go," Weitzel says.

Next year, the family plans on hosting the haunted house on the last Friday and Saturday of October, instead of the usual Oct. 30 and 31. Weitzel says he hopes this will help create a bigger turnout and more donations for the food bank.

Take a look at how guests reacted to this year's Barnhauntvale.

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