Buy your tickets for a chance to win a 1986 Cadillac Hearse. Tickets are $10.00 and can be purchased on this website, or our booth at TransWorld or Midwest Haunters Convention. The winner will be drawn at Midwest Haunters Convention. The Hearse was donated by Tim and Ann Marie Gavinski from the Wisconsin Feargrounds. All proceeds go toward IAHA.

Click here to fill out a raffle ticket payment form.

If you have questions or would like to receive photos of the hearse, contact IAHA at info@IAHAweb.com

The Midwest Haunters Convention (MHC), in Columbus Ohio June 5-7 2009, is the largest event of its kind within the haunted attraction industry; second only perhaps to the Transworld National Haunted Attraction Show.  The MHC is sponsored by CostumeFind.com.

Over 2000 expected attendees will converge from all over the US, Canada and other countries to participate in unique shopping, intense education and premier social events.  Weekend activities include IAHA Masquerade Party featuring the “Ms. Midwest Scary Pageant”, rated as one of the Top 13 Freaky Attractions for the last 3 years by AOL Online.

The MHC provides an opportunity for haunted attraction owners/operators, actors, technicians, other professionals, home haunters and enthusiast’s to network, get valuable training and shop for items needed for their enterprises and for themselves ~ with less than 100 days before Halloween.  Please check out the promotional video by New Social Media on the home page at www.MidwestHauntersConvention.com . Sign up for the email list to receive the latest updates and announcements! 

MHC Lodging

Rooms at the host hotel, the Hyatt Regency, are sold out; MHC attendance is up this year.  Comparable special pricing is available for the MHC at the Crown Plaza Hotel and the Drury Inn and Suites – which are only one block away.   These rooms are also expected to sell out; please make reservations soon. http://www.midwesthauntersconvention.com/lodging.htm

MHC Pre-Convention Haunted Attraction Bus Tour

The MHC also hosts a three-state bus tour that includes 4 haunted attractions located in Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia as well as an Amusement Park, Halloween Museum and Prison Ghost Tour.   Visit our website to learn more – http://www.midwesthauntersconvention.com/thursday.htm

Education

Education is the cornerstone of the Midwest Haunters Convention with nearly 50 seminars, workshops and vendor demos.  The prosperity of the haunted attraction industry primarily depends upon a network of professionals and others that share information in the interests of continual quality improvements.   The educational seminars are sponsored by HauntBots.com.   http://www.midwesthauntersconvention.com/seminars.htm

Safety is a major concern – from dealing with fire codes, dealing with throughput, to handling patrons as an actor – right down to the details of costuming and makeup.   Other topics presented include business practices, including marketing and social media as well as how to get a good scare and a presentation on paranormal ghosts.  Several IAHA members are presenting including a Friday Workshop on “The Business of Haunting (aka How to Get Started)” by Tim Gavinski, IAHA Past President, and Anne Marie Gavinski.

http://www.midwesthauntersconvention.com/workshops.htm

Vendor Trade Show

The Midwest Haunters Convention features a 60,000 square foot Vendor Trade Show with 100 booths offering items ranging from animatronics props to cool costumes and makeup ~ including black light tooth effects, fake blood that isn’t sticky and wound effects that look real!   Most items are offered on a cash and carry basis; others may be ordered in time for haunt season delivery.  Buyers are encouraged to support the MHC vendors that are the foundation for our show.   Admission to the weekend MHC Vendor Tradeshow is free. http://www.midwesthauntersconvention.com/vendors.htm

Midsummer Monster Bash Friday, June 5th

We’re bringing the haunt to our party with an acting competition, Scary-oke and a costumed band, Scarlet Angel. Eight performers will have an opportunity to join the band on stage and sing.  Special performances by Chuck Williams, Frank N Stein aka Ben Armstrong and Psycho Doc Swan. Check out some of the newest props available on display throughout the party at the Frog Bear & Wild Boar bar. Advance tickets are only $7 for this awesome haunters party. Suggested attire; wear your favorite haunt or scary T-shirt. Special prize for the largest group with identical haunt T’s at the party.

IAHA MASQUERADE PARTY Saturday, June 6th, 8:30 pm – 1:00 am

The largest haunters masquerade party of the year; starts with the Wolfe Face Art & FX, Body Art Fashion show, followed by the Ms Midwest Scary Pageant and the Scariest Character Contest.  Chuck Williams and Crazy Bob Turner will be our celebrity hosts!

Join over 1,000 of your haunter brethren in costume for a party like you’ve never seen before.  Terror Within will be decorating the room including an entry passage and more!

$40 per-person admission includes the following:

• Heavy Hors d’ ovres
• DJ w/dance floor
• Entertainment
• Prizes
• A place to party with hundreds of your costumed friends.

THIS EVENT IS FREE for IAHA Members

IAHA Fundraisers

IAHA will host a Live Auction at MHC, along with a Silent Auction for Casket Baskets.  Casket Baskets are unique collections of items donated by IAHA Members.  Bid early, often and generously to support IAHA!  Please contact Deanna Roberts-Morton to participate with donations.

Please make plans to attend this legendary event!  MHC is the proud recipient of the 2008 International Association of Haunted Attractions President’s Award!

For additional information, visit the MHC website: www.MidwestHauntersConvention.com
or contact Kelly Collins at 614-203-4626.

IAHA will be holding its Certified Haunted Attraction Operator Safety program (C.H.A.O.S.) at The Haunted Attraction National Tradeshow and Convention (HAuNTcon) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on Monday, May 4th.

C.H.A.O.S., the haunted attraction industry’s first and only voluntary national safety certification program consists of eight hours of safety training provided by professional speakers with a background in amusement safety and loss control inspection.

Registration is open to the general public and includes materials, continental breakfast and box lunch. Fees are $85 for IAHA members and $100 for non-members. For more information and to register visit www.HAuNTcon.com.

IAHA announces that it has selected the association management and marketing firm, CMA Association Management (CMA), to provide management services for the association and to support IAHA’s strategic growth initiatives. CMA will work with the association to enhance its membership communications as well as provide support services to IAHA’s board.

“IAHA selected CMA for their experience and their time-tested ability to take associations like ours to the next level through their management and marketing expertise,” said Tim Gavinski, president of IAHA. “Working together, we’ll be able to expand IAHA’s capabilities.”

IAHA will now have an office and a phone number where all IAHA Members can call during business hours for assistance. CMA has selected Kelly McKelvey to serve as Executive Director for IAHA and to work directly with the IAHA board.

IAHA’s new office contact information:

International Association of Haunted Attractions
191 Clarksville Road
Princeton, NJ 08550
(609) 799-4900

Greetings fellow IAHA Members,

We want to thank you for being a member in 2008. It was a very successful year for the International Association of Haunted Attractions (IAHA). This success is because of the hard work of industry professionals like yourself, who unselfishly volunteer their valuable time to assist and advance this association, helping everyone in this industry.

We would like to take a moment to share some of the accomplishments of the association over the last year.

Transworld
We continued to improve our working relationship with Transworld Exhibits, and had an extremely prosperous showing in 2008 at the Las Vegas show. We had a strong presence on the advisory board in assisting with the formation of the 2009 Transworld Haunt Show this coming March in St. Louis. To learn more about Transworld visit www.HauntShow.com

Awards Banquet
We blew up the boring annual IAHA Meeting and created the 1st Annual IAHA Awards Banquet in 2008. This event was an overwhelming success! Guests enjoyed food, drink, networking and a recognition awards ceremony that honored haunters and vendors who’ve made a significant positive contribution to the haunted attraction industry.. This event will be followed up by an even bigger banquet for 2009 that you can find out about on the IAHA website here: http://www.iahaweb.com/2009/01/iaha-2009-haunt-industry-banquet-awards-ceremony/

C.H.A.O .S. Seminar Series
One of IAHA’s missions is safety. Upholding this, we created the haunted attraction industry’s first and only voluntary national safety certification program. The Certified Haunted Attraction Operator Safety program (C.H.A.O.S.) consists of eight hours of safety training provided by professional speakers with a background in amusement safety and loss control inspection. Learn more about this program at http://www.iahaweb.com/safety/chaos/

National Public Relations
After spearheading the Haunted Attraction Industry’s very first National Public Relations Campaign in 2006, IAHA has been involved with getting national media attention for the industry ever since, and 2008 was no exception. In 2008 we researched and hired a new PR firm. They generated many stories about our members across the country that included outlets as large as CNN, the Rachael Ray Show, the Chicago Tribune, and the Houston Chronicle. Read a full PR wrap-up in the latest issue of the IAHA newsletter, the Screamzine.

Professional Management
One of the longest running problems our association has had is consistency. Having always been volunteer driven, this has been difficult to accomplish. Most of our directors and committee members have full-time jobs, families, and attractions that make it difficult to consistently give IAHA the attention it needs to flourish. As part of our three-year plan, we collected proposals from over a dozen professional Association Management Companies (AMCs) who could fulfill our needs of assisting with the day-to-day management of IAHA. This is something IAHA has needed for a long time to help take it to the next level. We found an AMC that was the perfect fit, and signed a contract with them for 2009. Member communications will be one of their primary focuses. We will now even have an office, and a phone number where all IAHA Members can call during business hours for assistance. More information regarding our new services will be announced soon.

IAAPA
We continued to nurture our relationship with IAAPA by reaching an agreement that gives IAHA Members that purchased an IAAPA membership in 2008 a complimentary IAAPA membership for 2009. That’s an over $500 value that gets you into two IAAPA Attractions Expos for the price of one. IAAPA also gave IAHA four seminars at the 2008 Expo, and we continued to assist them with the Haunt Vendor Tour. You can learn more about IAAPA and their huge tradeshow at www.iaapa.org .

Midwest Haunters Convention
We secured free admission for all IAHA members to MHC’s Masquerade Party. This was enjoyed by many of our members attending this popular regional tradeshow. We’ve secured free admission for our members once again for 2009, and this party should prove to be even bigger with two and a half times the amount of space of the 2008 party reserved at the Hyatt Regency Columbus. For dates and full details, visit: http://www.midwesthauntersconvention.com/masquerade.htm

Member Directory
At over 175 pages, the 2008 directory book was the largest one we’ve ever produced. Besides all of the valuable industry information it has always included, in 2008 we also added a completely new Buyer’s Guide section. It was just another way to keep this book a valuable reference that you keep on your office desk all year long. The 2009 book is underway and is shaping up to be even better than before.

Vendor Discounts
In 2008 we added 10 new additional vendors to our Vendor Discount Program, to continue to help your business save money, and your IAHA membership pay for itself. The VDP is not just the longest running and most successful program of its kind in the Haunted Attraction Industry, it rivals any other association’s program in the entire Amusement Industry. See our entire line-up of discounts at http://www.iahaweb.com/iaha-vendor-discount-program/

Haunted Attraction Magazine
We reached an agreement with Haunted Attraction Magazine (HAM) that gave all IAHA Members a free subscription for 2008. While only one issue of HAM was produced in 2008, our agreement gives IAHA Members a subscription to the magazine for 2009 as well. Learn more about HAM, which is the longest-running publication of the Haunted Attraction Industry at www.hauntedattraction.com .

With 2008 behind us, and the New Year already underway, we hope that you will continue to be a member of IAHA in 2009. In the face of a slow economy, we decided to not raise member dues for the second year in a row, and to extend the membership grace period.

With your support, we can20continue to spearhead protection and promotion of our members and the entire industry. We have accomplished a lot in our short history, but there is still much to be done. Besides all the things mentioned above, we are also already working on other things, such as group insurance for our members, and an all-new website that you can view at www.IAHAweb.com .

Our goal is that 2009 will be remembered as the year of communication, for that will determine the success of our still young association.

Sincerely,
Your IAHA Board of Directors