Ghoulies, ghosties and long-legged beasties from all across the world gathered at the Sands Convention and Expo Center on March 17th, 2008, to attend the first annual International Association of Haunted Attractions Awards Ceremony and Banquet. Dubbed the "Oscares", this spooktacular event honors individuals from the Haunted Attraction industry for their outstanding contribution and dedication to the art of haunting.
"The International Association of Haunted Attractions (IAHA) is THE professional affiliation for haunted house owners and operators." said Tim Gavinski, President of IAHA. "In the past, there has only been one top ten haunted house type list that came out of our industry but that came from a magazine publisher who always made sure to include his own haunted houses on the list. The International Association of Haunted Attractions Awards Ceremony and Banquet is much more democratic. The nominations and voting is done by our general membership made up literally hundreds and hundreds of haunted attraction owners from all over the world - everyone from the local neighborhood haunted house to the world famous Knott's Berry Farm Halloween Haunt. Like the Academy Awards, our general membership decides who we should honor as a positive example for the rest of the Haunted Attraction community."
For 2008, IAHA Vendor Excellence Awards went to Creative Visions, Gore Galore, Distortions Unlimited, Haunted Media DVD Magazine and Oak Island Entertainment Group. The Best New Product Award went to Spookywoods FX. Ben Armstrong of Netherworld Haunted House, Bob Turner of The Haunted Hydro, Randy Bates of The Bates Motel, and Lance Pope (posthumously) of Thrillvania were all honor with the IAHA Board of Director's Award. The President's Award went to Barry and Kathy Schieferstein and Kelly and Neena Collins, creators of the Midwest Haunter's Convention, and The International Association of Haunted Attractions Lifetime Achievement Award went to Industry legend Philip Morris of Morris Costumes.
In the United States, Halloween has become a 7 billion dollar industry and about 20% of all Americans will attend a Halloween event this fall.
