What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/1175968
BECCA MARTIN-BROWN NWA Democrat-Gazette I n Eureka Springs, six degrees of separation is often reduced to one or two, even when the relationships are with those already deceased. "Voices from Eureka's Silent City," living history tours now in their 11th year at the city cemetery, are most popular when the stories prove that kinship and bring Eurekans together. Gayla Wolfinbarger was president of the board of the Eureka Springs Historical Museum four years ago, when it looked like the annual fundraising event was on its own deathbed. It had already garnered "a substantial" amount of money for the museum, "enough to put the museum on firm financial ground for the first time," she says, so "we decided it had to continue." Wolfinbarger found three board members whose grandparents were buried at the cemetery, "then we thought of a theme and researched till we had enough to do the event." "Our grandparents' stories were crowd favorites because we were the guides to those actors playing our grandparents," she says. "We portrayed Beulah Mullins, my grandmother who had owned Pivot Rock and Natural Bridge here in Eureka Springs for 50 years. Claude Bingamon was a much loved former baker here in Eureka Springs, a local favorite. His granddaughter, Stephanie Stoddan, was his guide [and] at our hospitality table we served over 1,000 brownies from his own recipe. Our scriptwriter, Debbie Smith, was the guide for her great- grandparents, James and Melinda Quigley, who lost each other in the Civil War. "I served also as a guide the following year when my grandfather Robert Mullins was portrayed," Wolfinbarger adds. "We have several people — actors — who have been in the production since it began. The actors themselves research to learn more about who they are portraying. They try to find people who knew them, their speech habits, how they stood, what they would wear, etc. These volunteers are our greatest asset next to our script writer, Debbie Smith, who is also a museum board member, and our guides that complete the stories and guide our visitors from one character to the next. They do at least 50 shows in the two weekends." This year's theme is "Silent Voices of the Silent City: Silenced No More" and will include visits with an undertaker, a doctor, a murderer and a return visit to John Poynter, a former character brought back in honor of Mary Jean Sell, the previous scriptwriter who passed away this year. "We do have people show up expecting it to be spooky," Wolfinbarger says. "However, the event is historical. We want to share/entertain people with a little bit of Eureka Springs history through the residents of the Silent City." Other Halloween and autumn celebrations include: Haunted Houses Banshee Manor Haunted House WHEN — 7-11 p.m. Fridays, Satur- days & Sundays through October and 7-10 p.m. Oct. 31 WHERE — 4520 N. College Ave., Fayetteville COST — $10 INFO — bansheemanor.com Zombie Event at Modern Mission WHEN — 7-10 p.m. Oct. 18-19, 25-26 WHERE — 3484 E. Joyce Blvd., Fayetteville COST — $25 INFO —595-0055 or modernmission. com The Expelled Haunted House WHEN — 7-11 p.m. every Friday and Saturday in October; Oct. 24, Oct. 31; Nov. 2 WHERE — 29555 Arkansas 23, Huntsville COST — $10-$20 INFO — theexpelled.com Nightmares Haunted House WHEN — Dusk-midnight every Friday and Saturday in October; Oct. 25; Oct. 31-Nov. 2 WHERE — 3706 N.W. Frontage Road, Bentonville COST — $20-$30 INFO — nightmareshauntedhouse. net Warehouse of Fear & Swamp Walker WHEN — 6:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays in October and Oct. 31 WHERE — 17023 Chambers Springs Road, Siloam Springs COST — $15 INFO — 524-0014 or riverside- entertainment.com OCTOBER 13-19, 2019 WHAT'S UP! 37 HALLOWEEN The Talking Dead Eureka Springs cemetery full of stories from the past Photo courtesy Gayla Wolfinbarger Terry McClung played F.O. Butt in a previous walking tour of the Eureka Springs Municipal Cemetery. The tours are hosted by and raise money for the Eureka Springs Historical Museum. See Scares Page 40 FAQ Voices from Eureka's Silent City WHEN — The one-hour guided walking tours begin at 5:30 p.m. and leave every 20 minutes with the last tour at 8:30 p.m. Oct. 17-19 & Oct. 25-26 WHERE — Eureka Springs Municipal Cemetery; park- ing is at the former Victo- ria Inn (4028 E. Van Buren St.) with free shuttle service to the cemetery. There is no parking at the cemetery. COST — $15 for adults; $5 for children 12 and younger; advance tickets at all Cornerstone Bank locations, Chamber of Commerce and the Eureka Springs Historical Museum INFO — 253-9417