The haunted maze runs until Thursday, Oct. 31, from 5 to 8 p.m. at 1745 Spring St., Paso Robles
PASO ROBLES — A spooky adventure debuted last week as the Paso Robles Lions Club and Paso Robles High Theatre Co. brought to life the “Tale of La Llorona.” The haunted maze debuted Thursday, Oct. 25, and runs until Thursday, Oct. 31, from 5 to 8 p.m. at 1745 Spring St., Paso Robles, across from Paso Market Walk.
This chilling experience brings the legend of La Llorona to life, offering thrills and scares for all ages. Entry is pricedat $7 for children 10 and under and $10 for those 11 and older. Whether you’re seeking a frightful night out or a family-friendly Halloween activity, the haunted maze is sure to deliver an unforgettable evening.
Paso Robles High School senior Addie Coelho led the designing portion of the haunted maze.
“We’ve been planning this for a very long time, about six months … we started painting beginning the first week of school. So we’ve just been going through the story,” Coelho told Paso Robles Press.
The haunted maze was born when Paso Robles Lions Club member Greg Hamlin heard that local kids were complaining about not having enough to do around town. Hamlin, who works as a construction coordinator for television sets in Hollywood, brought the idea of making the haunted maze to the students at Paso Robles High School [PRHS] as something they could do for at least part of the year.
“There’s not much for teens to do around here. You know, we’re a really big community area, but there’s not much for adolescents [to do],” explained PRHS Theatre student Mari.
The students worked alongside Hamlin and members of the Lions Club to build and design the haunted maze just as Hamlin would if he were building a set. They learned new hands-on skills and the students remarked the enjoyment they received from the experience. Not only did they learn something new, but they also enjoyed getting to know the Lions Club members.
“I think [building the maze has] been fun and a little stressful, but I feel like that’s just because it was like, oh, we need to we need to get going faster with everything, which we did, and we got it all set up as you can see. I feel like we timed it pretty well,” says Coelho of their experience.
For the theme of the haunted maze, the students chose the “Tale of La Llorona.”
“’La Llorona’ is a Mexican folklore tale that started in Tijuana, Mexico. And with the [maze] we’re doing, it follows the story of La Llorona where she [Maria] had this husband who was unfaithful to her,” said Mari, who explains that the tale continues with Llorona drowning her children in a river from the result of her jealousy of her husband’s affair.
Maria’s ghost, now La Llorona, was then forced to wander the Earth searching for her lost sons. She can be heard with wailing cries: “Mis hijos! Mis hijos! ¿Dónde están mis hijos?”
Coelho explains how she landed on the tale that would serve as their theme, “I went through a bunch of folklores because I found them a lot more interesting than a chainsaw massacre or something. I feel like everyone does that. I feel like no one does any folklores for scary things anymore, and I feel like this definitely tells a story that a lot ofpeople know.”
The haunted maze was made possible with the help of many local sponsors, including the Paso Robles Main Street Association, Optimist International, Mullahey Car Dealership, Theory Printing and Signs, Paso Wine Storage & Fulfillment, Lauren Karen Team, and Astek.
“There’s no way we would get this done [without the Lions Club]. They bring in people from so many places. And they come in and we got to talk to a lot of them,” says Mari.
Proceeds from the Haunted Maze will go back to the Paso Robles Lions Club and the Paso Robles High Theatre Co. Students enjoyed playing scares on the maze’s guests and they look forward to making this a new tradition for the community.
“This is our first time,” Mari said. “There’s gonna be mistakes. It’s not going to look as much how we imagined, not perfectly how we imagined, but … we tried. We did our best.”
Feature Image: Members of the Paso Robles Lions Club and the Paso Robles High Theatre Co. pose by the haunted maze at 1745 Spring St. in Paso Robles. The maze is based on the “Tale of La Llorona.” Photo by Camille DeVaul/PRP
