Santa Maria Elks Rodeo plans haunted Halloween drive-thru

SANTA MARIA, Calif. - With the cancellation of the rodeo this year, Santa Maria Elks Recreation is planning on getting creative with holiday celebrations. They're kicking it off with Halloween.

They will host a Haunted Hills drive-thru. Families can drive through spooky scenes on the rodeo grounds while listening to halloween background sounds on the radio.

The event will take place the last three weekends of October. Organizers say they are hoping to bring the positive out of a tough situation.

"The hills are coming alive," said Tina Tonascia, COO of Elks Recreation. "We wanted to be creative and find a way to utilize the property to give families something to do."

Tonascia said they are busily preparing the grounds and bringing out their machinery as part of the Halloween holiday scenery.

Normally they would be taking out the weeds on-site for the rodeo, but they are letting everything grow to help set the Halloween ambiance.

"This is giving us a better experience and we plan on maybe offering more things year round," said Peter Sterling, president of Elks Recreation. He said they plan on holding a Christmas themed drive thru as well.

With the pandemic, the rodeo is not allowed to do trick-or-treat activities. They also cannot have live actors, but they do plan on having traffic controllers to help guide the way through the haunted hills.

Tickets are now on sale, online only, and families must choose a time slot. Space is limited. Tickets are $30 plus fees.