Our story
A few costumes and a very good reason
Northland Horror is not a company. It is a group of Whangārei volunteers who like horror an unusual amount and decided to point it at something useful.
It started with a borrowed hall
In 2019 a small group of volunteers in a few costumes joined a Heads Up Halloween event in Whangārei. It was meant to be a one-off. The first one the crew put on themselves, at Whareora Hall in 2021, sold 150 tickets, drew around 300 people and raised just under $2,000 for Heart Kids Northland. That was the end of it being a one-off.
Aaron Kerr founded the crew after a stint with Fear NZ while he was living in South Canterbury, building props and helping run events. His own costume of choice, for anyone keeping score, is Michael Myers.
A Hearty Halloween
The main event has grown out of the hall and into McKay Stadium on Western Hills Drive. It is a family friendly trick or treat day: bouncy castles, food vendors, face painting, prizes for the best costumes, and volunteers in full makeup handing out treats to several hundred children.
In 2022 it sold out - all 500 tickets - and raised roughly $5,000 for Kind Hands. That money went toward renovations at their respite care cottage, which let them take on another ten families. That was the year of the blacked-out maze and the scary houses. In 2025 we added an "Enter if you Dare!" walk-through alongside the daytime event, for people who wanted the other kind of Halloween.
Every year since is on the events page, from Whareora Hall in 2021 through to last October.
The rest of the year
Halloween is one day. The fundraising is not. There are horror walk-throughs, a Victorian gothic ball, horror quiz nights at Roost, and at least one raffle for a ride in a McLaren around Whangārei. Whatever gets people through the door.
Where the money goes
Every event supports a local children's cause. We have raised for:
- Heart Kids Northland 2021 - the first year on our own, at Whareora Hall.
- Kind Hands 2022 - toward the respite care cottage, helping ten more families.
- Children With Disability 2023 - toward the disability seesaw in Raumanga.
- I Have A Dream 2024.
- Glass Ceiling Arts Collective 2025 - inclusive performing arts in Whangārei.
It does not stay an abstract number. The 2023 money for Children With Disability went toward the disability seesaw in Raumanga, so there is a piece of playground in Whangārei that exists because a few hundred people paid to be frightened.
Nobody in Northland Horror is paid. The crew are volunteers, the props are homemade, and the money goes where we said it would.
In their own words
What the charities say
A huge thank you to Northland Horror for their incredible annual Halloween event for children, raising funds to give back to our community. Their generosity and commitment to helping others is truly inspiring.
Northland Horror is a force for good in our community. They stepped up in a huge way to help us fund a wheelchair accessible seesaw, ensuring children of all abilities can play together.
The team of Northland Horror are a highly motivated, community minded set of volunteers whose compassion and charity driven approach to incorporating their love for all things Horror into fun and fundraising events is truly unique.
Come and help
Everyone here started as a stranger in a bad wig
The crew has grown every year on volunteers and local sponsors. If you want to be one of the monsters, run a stall, lend a gazebo or put your business name behind an event, we would like to hear from you.