Oct. 29, 2015 By Jackie Strawbridge
A scary surprise is waiting for Saturday’s Trick or Treat marchers at the Paragon Paint Factory.
The Paragon, located at 45-40 Vernon Blvd., will be the setting of the first ever Haunted Factory, presented by Gianna Cerbone-Teoli of Manducatis Rustica. The event is free, and will open to visitors once the Trick or Treat march winds down Vernon Boulevard.
Cerbone-Teoli launched the annual Halloween march a decade ago, and she used to host a haunted house within her restaurant.
After deciding to find a new location for the event, she started working with the Paragon owners to use the factory’s first floor.
“It’s going to be a fun, scary, exciting, haunted factory in the heart of Long Island City,” she said. “Plain and simple, all in good fun.”
The themes of the haunted factory will play on Long Island City’s history, “and the ghosts that are still wandering the streets,” she added. A handful of volunteers will help run the show from inside, with three levels of scariness for kids, teens and adults.
However, other than those details, Cerbone-Teoli declined to reveal many specifics about the event because she wants it to be a surprise for participants.
“You have to come and see,” she said. “We’re talking pretty scary.”
Cerbone-Teoli said she appreciated the opportunity to bring this new event to the Long Island City community.
“We’re using somebody’s property, somebody’s building, to do something fun for the kids,” she said. “It just keeps it at that community love, and the beauty of being in Long Island City.”
“You don’t get this anywhere else.”
The Trick or Treat march starts at 2 p.m. in front of the 108th Precinct, 5-47 50th Ave.
Reach reporter Jackie Strawbridge at jackie.strawbridge@queenspost.com
