The annual Haunted Hayride on Fort Huachuca took place at Wren Arena over the weekend and, for the third year in a row, Alpha Company, 2-13th Aviation Regiment, took first place for their spooky scene.
Fort Huachuca's Directorate of Family, Morale, Welfare and Recreation (DFMWR) and Soldiers worked together to put on the event. Military units teamed up and picked a specific spot on the trail to create a scary scene as part of the hayride.
Stacy Sandlin, DFMWR commercial sponsorship coordinator, put in many hours during October to coordinate the event from start to finish.
A total of 13 units participated and competed in the annual event. Alpha Company, 2-13th Avn. Regt. home the first place trophy with their prison outbreak scene. Buffalo Corral's headless horseman came in second place, with U.S. Army Garrison Honor Guard's haunted hospital in third place.
"It just gives them a chance to get out and do a little networking, a little team working together, build that healthy competition, and they love the bragging rights," Sandlin said.
Sgt. Jo Enamorado, Pvt. Joseph Longo and Pvt. Luis Alfaro, all of Alpha Company, 2-13th Avn. Regt., planned and coordinated the winning scene.
"I've worked about 38 to 40 hours," Longo said. "I'd say on average we've all spent a good three to four days of very hard work on it, and I hope people enjoy it."
"I passed through the previous ones and it seems like they're putting in the effort, but not as much as we are," Alfaro said before the event started. "We actually enjoy doing this and there's a lot of enthusiasm. We would like for the tradition to keep going."
Alpha Company didn't use as many props as other units on their scene. They spent one night going out and collecting wood, but mostly their time consisted of prepping their costumes. They took a trip to Tucson for their replica prison jumpsuits.
"The actual theme of it is to say that two hayrides have already come through, we've attacked it, and we're still trying to escape," said Longo. "We decided to build a broken down hay ride with the tires busted out, and that took us about six or seven hours to do."
The unit knocked all of the nails out of the wood in the hayride tractor, which took another five hours.
"The day after we built it, we brought it out here and propped it up," he said. "We made boards to fit into the tires and actual axles to fit under the hayride to stand it up and tilt it. Under the hayride, we'll have people actually hiding and ready to jump out."
Longo said the "prisoners" were doing all of the "killings," and they'll be acting cannibalistic.
"Alpha Company 2-13th won the last two years, so they're out literally for blood this year," said Sandlin before the event.
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