Brock Kulm, Vale High School senior and organizer of the Grave Rave. (Submitted photo)
VALE – Halloween is probably Brock Kulm’s favorite holiday – tied with Christmas, of course.
“I love the whole spooky season, and I love dressing up as someone that you’re not,” he said in an interview with the Enterprise. “I don’t know why, it’s just so cool.”
Kulm, now a senior at Vale High School, felt that even though Halloween is most visibly celebrated by smaller children in the trick-or-treat demographic, the holiday has a lot of potential fun for teenagers, too.
That’s why he decided to do his senior project putting on a town dance for Halloween, which he’s calling the Grave Rave.
The Grave Rave will be on Saturday, Oct. 30, from 8 to 11 p.m. on Court Street between Mal’s Diner and Malheur Drug. The dance costs $10 per person, $15 per couple, or $20 per family. Tickets are available at Luzetta’s and at Mal’s Diner.
“They don’t do enough for teenagers during Halloween in this town,” Kulm said. “It might be nice for them to actually get to do something, besides just stay at home and do nothing.”
Kulm said that attendees of the dance can expect familiar rustic touches like hay bales and onion crates made spooky with the addition of blacklights and maybe even a fog machine.
There will be a DJ, Frankie Gomez, taking requests, and Mal’s Diner will be serving food until 11 p.m. The Kettle Korn Factory will also be on site.
And there will be a costume contest, with prizes for the winners donated from local businesses.
“I think we’ve managed to turn Vale into one big family where everyone just knows each other and cares for each other, for the most part at least,” Kulm said, explaining why he’d felt motivated to give back to the community through this project. “Especially the younger generation, the high schoolers, I think we need to contribute more than we have.”
Kulm said the idea is to spend the money collected through ticket sales on a flag – either an American flag or a Viking flag – for the community.
It should be “something to remind everyone that this is a community that cares for each other and supports one another in an amazing way,” Kulm said.
News tip? Contact reporter Liliana Frankel at [email protected] or 267-981-5577.
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