Fear for fun: Othello Straw Maze scares through October

OTHELLO — Lily McIndoe knew exactly what she wanted to be Friday night, and she gave careful instructions to Stephanie Carl, who was painting her face.

“I’m going be a dead bride person,” McIndoe said.

“A zombie bride?” Carl asked.

“No, just a dead one,” McIndoe said.

Carl had some options, and showed McIndoe a colorful, if creepy, design inspired by the costumes and decorations associated with the Mexican holiday Día de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead. McIndoe opted for that.

“A pretty, creepy, scary Day of the Dead bride,” she said.

Creepy and scary is the point in the Othello Straw Maze. The maze is a fundraiser for the Othello Rodeo Association, and volunteers put a lot of work into getting the maximum scare.

The maze is open Friday and Saturday and Oct. 29-31 at 1971 W. Fairgrounds Road. The not-scary maze is open from 6-7 p.m., when it’s not quite dark. The scary stuff is from 7-10 p.m.

The rodeo association also has built a little theater as part of the maze, and Halloween movies are shown beginning at 6 p.m.

Admission is $10 per person, with children 6 and younger admitted free with an adult ticket.

For Lily McIndoe’s mom and dad, Kayla and James McIndoe, the maze has been part of their lives for years.

“My husband and I have been doing it since high school,” she said. “About 13, 14 years is how long I’ve been out here.”

It’s turned into a family affair.

“It’s a blast. Our kids have grown up doing it, and they love it,” Kayla McIndoe said.

Kristy Rattray, one of the organizers, was running the movie theater Friday night. She said the straw maze started as a fundraiser for a rodeo association member who needed medical treatment. Organizers originally opted for a straw maze since there already was a corn maze in the Tri-Cities, she said. It proved so popular the rodeo association decided to keep it going.

Of course, a bunch of straw bales aren’t scary on their own. The art of making people jump and scream is the work of volunteers, who come up with the displays and staff them with scary stuff. They’re called scarers.

The maze has its share of dead ends, spooky lighting, and well, Rattray gave a hint when there came the sound of a few small engines just prior to the maze opening Friday.

“The chain saws are warming up,” she said.

The maze is divided into sections, called rooms; the scarers pick a room and are responsible for making it scary.

“They don’t have to scare in it, but they do put the time in to get it together. That way, if people do want to scare in it, it’s fully decorated,” McIndoe said.

That scratching in the spider room is kind of unsettling as are the creepy creatures. Some rooms are longtime favorites, while others are changed from year to year.

“We do keep some of our classic rooms, such as the Jason room,” McIndoe said. “The doll room is one that people tend to like. There’s a carnival, a clown alley. The spider room is one people always seem to like.”

A room based on the movie “Alien” was added for 2021.

“We have an insane asylum, as well as a funeral (room),” Kayla McIndoe said. “The funeral room does have a real casket that was donated to us by a local funeral home.”

Rattray said the project wouldn’t work without the help of sponsors, including Boersma Farms, ProgresoFarms/Michael Cutler Co., Othello Chiropractic, Tarp-it Inc., and ITC Services Inc.