The iconic theme song to the ’90s show “Goosebumps” rang through the air Saturday afternoon as monsters, Star Wars characters, Harley Quinn and all kinds of ghastly characters walked gleefully through downtown Greeley for Monster Day 2024.
Among the monsters were adults and families enjoying the day despite the terrifying triple-digit temperature. The day wasn’t created to be a prelude to Halloween or a summer scare fest, but as a day to celebrate monsters and show they’re not so bad after all.
Ed Edmunds founded the event eight years ago, and itap grown in the number of vendors but has remained a day to celebrate the offbeat and good causes.
Edmunds and his wife, Marsha Taub-Edmunds, own Distortions Unlimited, 517 13th St., Greeley. It has been running in Greeley for more than 40 years, creating rubber monsters and Halloween decor that has been featured in movies, TV shows and in the yards of homeowners across the country.
“Oh, man. Itap probably one of the biggest events we do,” said Nicholas Melton, the general manager of the 13th Floor Haunted House Denver. “We absolutely love coming out here.”
Melton said the 13th Floor, a nationally known haunted house, is associated with the “Don’t Be A Monster” bullying prevention campaign. Monster Day has benefitted the campaign since the eventap first year, aiding their cause of anti-bullying.
Don’t Be A Monster, based in Denver, does outreach events at schools and other events to speak to children about the dangers of bullying, as well as to provide support and awareness.
“We take donations and make efforts to scare away bullying for good,” Melton said.
As families walked around downtown, some parents reminded their children that all the monsters and scary makeup they were seeing were just pretend. Itap not real.
Some of those monsters walking around in the heat were from Fritzler Farm Park and Scream Acres at Fritzler Farm Park.
When the spooky season and Halloween start creeping into our lives soon, Fritzler Farm, 20861 Weld County Road 33, LaSalle, will be a local place to get your scare fix. However, on Saturday, their monsters weren’t in scare mode, but rather in a social mode as they took pictures with people of all ages and waved at everyone.
Bri Fritzler, a manager at Fritzler Farm Park, said they’ve been a part of Monster Day for the last few years. The day allows them to reach more community members about what their park is all about, she said. The Scream Acres monsters have come each year, but this year, they brought more.
“We love the Greeley community,” Fritzler said. “We’ve been a big part of it for the last 25 years. Just getting to come out here (to Monster Day) and interact with people that we also see in the fall is a fun way to ramp up into the (fall) season.”
To learn more about the Don’t Be a Monster campaign, go to .
The Fall Fest at Fritzler Farm opens Sunday, Sept. 15. Scream Acres opens Saturday, Sept. 21. For more information on both events and to purchase tickets, go to .
