Edgar Allan Poe Fall Festival

When you have a relatively old building (1906) where there used to be a basement mortuary for a number of years (20), its reuse could be rather limited.

Perhaps you could hold some ghost tours there or even duplicate a Victorian wake as a theatrical event. Maybe, if you were a big fan of Edgar Allan Poe…

…you could even put on a festival there.

The first annual Edgar Allan Poe Fall Festival took place at the Warehouse on the Canal (Canal Fulton) where the ghost tours and Victorian wake do take place (along with Edgar Allan Poe Theater performances) when there’s not a festival going on.

And while I admit that I hesitated with the $8 admission, I knew I wouldn’t be able to resist the festival in the end…

…because Poe so close to Halloween just rocks.

Being entirely an indoor event (except for one of the ghost walks taking place outside), the festival occupied three rooms.

In the main room, or lobby, you could find vendors…

…who sold monster mugs…

…Poe dolls…

…Poe shirts…

…and some great Poe art work (James Bennett).

There were even some creative monster food choices to keep with the theme.

In the second room, festival goers could pull up a seat and enjoy the varied activities that took place there.

Included in activities were lectures on cryptology, Poe-related theater (monologues and poetry recitals), movie makeup artistry…

…and even a Poe-related fashion show.

When you wanted to get an adult refreshment…

…you could escape to the bar in the third room for two signature drinks…

…the Ghost Girl (rum/peach schnapps, apple/orange/pineapple juices, grenadine) and the Hop Frog Apple Grog (cider, cranberry, whiskey, rum, apple pie liquor, cherries, cinnamon).