Saturday, October 29, 6:00pm-9:00pm, the Mare Island Heritage Trust and Vallejo based Astrobotanicals.com will Co-Host a “Dead End” Haunt and All Hallow’s Sanctuary Gathering. The Mare Island Heritage Trust founded, funded and operated the Mare Island Shoreline Heritage Preserve for 13 years until 2019 when they were abruptly dismissed by the city of Vallejo. Still, their volunteers continue to offer free public serving programming at the informal Preserve Gate Park just outside the Preserve gate, including serving a Mother’s Day Tea, San Francisco Bay Osprey Days and a Holiday Lighted experience. Astrobotanicals will arrange a truly magical experience with their "elegant, inflatable space plants shaped like classical ornamental flowers" art sculptures. Thousands of Preserve Users have experienced the thrill of literally crawling inside and lying within a giant inflatable flower lighted with ever changing colors.

Ghost stories of Mare Island will be told by Myrna Hayes, Co-founder and Manager of the Mare Island Preserve from 2007-2019. Beginning on the hour at 7:00 and 8:00pm each evening, Myrna Hayes, President of the Mare Island Heritage Trust and Volunteer Mare Island San Pablo Bay Trail Manager, will host her tradition of telling “true” as told to her, Mare Island Haunted Stories Gathering. Nature and History of Mare Island will also be woven into her story hour. Those who join her will be invited to share their own personal ghost stories, too. There is no registration required. Simply meet at the Gate at the dead end of Azuar Dr on Mare Island 6:00-9:00pm.

At night, the Gate Park is alive with great horned owls hooting from the ancient blue gum eucalyptus trees lining the street, coyotes calling in the distance and other sounds of nature. The area outside the gate will be decorated with Halloween themed lights and decorations. Volunteer actors may be present. If so, organizers encourage some spontaneous and playful, non-touch, scaring for those in attendance.

Volunteer organizer, Myrna Hayes says, “Since we opened the Preserve to the public for the first time in 150 years in 2007, we have been offering this type of gathering at the Preserve for both fun and education. We keep our events free. Like the hundreds of other events held over those 13 years at our visitor center, bunkers and gardens, this Haunt and Sanctuary will be quite homemade and not over-produced. No one should feel intimidated if they aren’t in costume.They are free to come out just to say hi, have a hot cup of apple cider or cocoa or sit together for our ghost story hours. This is our way of continuing to serve our Preserve Users in spite of not actually managing the Preserve, currently. I, for one, just love greeting and sharing together with our Preserve friends. It reminds them that they are not forgotten and that they are loved. We created a wonderful wildlands community at the Mare Island Preserve and we intend to continue to serve them.”

Hot drinks and Halloween themed snacks will be available for free.

Although the event is free, donations are appreciated. Donations are used to defray the costs of offering the free event.

For information about the Mare Island Preserve “Dead End” Haunt and All Hallow’s Sanctuary, contact Myrna Hayes at 707-249-9633 and visit the Mare Island Shoreline Heritage Preserve Facebook page.