Key Biscayners take their Halloween seriously. Like its July 4th Parade, All Hallows’ Eve – and the preceding week, really – is a throwback when kids roamed the streets in drug store costumes going door-to-door for Bits-of-honey and Milk Duds.
Ask any resident on Glenridge Road, and they may say there is a household budget line item for Halloween candy, says Manny Rionda, founder of the beach cleanup group Fillabag and a self-proclaimed Halloween nut.
Rionda, when he was a board member of the Friends of Cape Florida, helped organize what has become a Key Biscayne Institution: the Haunted Hike at Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park. This year, the hike took place on Saturday, and – in what has become a tradition – no lack of creativity was spared to make the ½-mile loop as scary as possible.
The idea for the Haunted Hike originated from a conversation in 2017 with Art Yerian, the former park manager who passed away in 2022. “At my first meeting, he said, ‘We want to create a deeper, more meaningful connection between the Village and the park,” Rionda recalled.
Rionda said the way to do that was through the No. 1 family event in Key Biscayne, every year: Halloween. Yerian said when he was stationed at a park in North Florida, there was something called the “Haunted Trail.”
And thus, the Haunted Hike was born – a loop at the south end of the park that starts on a bicycle trail before forking onto a dirt path along Biscayne Bay.
Key Biscayne is proud of its civic-minded citizenry. It’s hard to find a resident who is not involved in one or numerous groups aimed at helping the elderly, the disabled, the environment or other do-gooder causes. And many of these groups are represented along the Haunted Hike.
Groups participating this year were the senior organization the ASK Club, Key Biscayne Yacht Club, Bill Baggs park rangers, Biscayne Nature Center, Key Biscayne Community Garden, the Youth Council and a Boy Scout troop from Homestead.
These groups went all out in creating their own “spooky spot.” And this isn’t kids’ play – though it’s technically designed for kids.
“It’s scary, right?” Rionda said. “We always recommend ages 8 and up – although not everybody follows that and they regret it. And for some people, even if they’re older than 8, it’s too scary.”
Really, how scary can a community even be?
Well, the senior citizen organization, the ASKClub, created a wicked doctor scenario. The Biscayne Nature Center’s theme was the “Curse of Cape Florida.” The park’s rangers created a labyrinth where monsters and maniacs with chainsaws bedeviled hikers. A Boy Scout group came in from Homestead, went all out with a radioactive site that turned people into crazed clowns.
Rionda’s spooky spot was called the Fountain of Youth – where children learned that their skin and limbs were what was being used to give the elderly a new lease on life.
Rionda played the decrepit caretaker who greeted those coming into the Fountain of Youth with promises of a new look.
Outside of the trail, there were carnival rides, face-painting and and food vendors offering mini donuts, juicy burgers and pizza, which was from the island restaurant Milanezza.
We had several sponsors supporting our event – including the KBCF, the Islander News, Orthodontist Dr. Bocage and Plunderlings – a unique action hero company located right here on KB.
“Readers should be aware that every dollar that the Friends of Cape Florida raises stays in the park and directly benefits the park and the educational programming and preservation efforts,” said Christina Bracken, president of the group.
Friends of Cape Florida is the citizen support organization (CSO) for the park, creating some 40 events annually to educate and entertain, from wellness to music to fireside chats, stargazing and more.
There were several sponsors for the event, including the Key Bisayne Community Foundation, orthodontist Dr. Virginia Bocage and the Plunderlings – a unique action hero company located right on the islands.
And there was live entertainment from Fantasy Theater Performance. “While this performance was a little wind-blown, the kids loved their funny and humorous stories,” Bracken said.
The Haunted Hike has grown since its inception in 2017. Friends of Bill Baggs had to skip the event in 2020 because of the pandemic and in 2021 because of severe weather. In 2022, the response was so overwhelming, Bracken instituted timed tickets for the trail to avoid the lengthy line that occurred that year.
Rionda says he is always on the prowl to recruit groups starting in August for the Haunted Hike.
“Well, it starts with this: ‘Do you love Halloween?” Rionda says about his pitch. “And they say, ‘Oh yeah, I love Halloween.’ And I say, ‘No. No. Do you really love Halloween?”
This story was originally published in the Key Biscayne Independent, a WLRN News partner.
