Jorge Maria
Quyon Oct 30, 2021
Last Saturday, Quyon got its spooky season started with the first-ever Halloween Howler at the Quyon community centre.
Event hosts and organizers Derek Hickey and Lisa Martel, with the help of friends and family, had lawn games, a costume contest for adults and laser tag for the kiddies with Martel doing double-duty as the night’s DJ Spider-Gwen.
The event was put on and funded completely by Hickey and his partner Martel. Hickey currently resides in Gatineau, but grew up in Quyon and wanted to do something to give Quyon “a little boost,” he said.
Over the years opportunities and activities for kids have dwindled and the event was an opportunity to do something to give back to the community in which he spent his formative years.
Hickey recalls the Quyon’s Winter Carnival and the Quyon Fair which used to be “jam-packed,” but now are both gone. “The community has been struggling for a while,” he said.
While this is the first Halloween Howler, it won’t be the last. In the future, Hickey would like to use it as an opportunity to fundraise for the town.
The main hall was largely empty with the exception of a DJ booth, but would soon be set up with hunting blinds which the kids could use for cover while trying to pick each other off in games of lasertag.
Martel is originally from Ottawa and has worked in community outreach before.
“Derek has a passion for his community, and his hometown and I have passion and a heart for people. So my reasoning is this is his hometown, I know the community is very important to him,” Martel said.
“This is a part of lifting people’s spirits and lifting a community. But it’s also being a part of something more, bringing people together,” she added.
The plan is to make this an annual event along with other events we can plan for the future. “We do plan on continuing and we’re not going to stop,” Martel said.
