The scariest thing in an election season is a silent electorate. So think the folks at Kelly Family Homestead Farm up north of Crooks (46908 254th Street), who are mixing Halloween and democracy to scare up some informed and eager voters.
Along with collaborators Full Circle Book Co-Op, Let Sioux Falls Vote, and Sioux Falls Underground, the Kelly Family Homestead is hosting “The Town That Went Silent“, a Friday, October 16 event advertised as a “haunted barn experience and get out to vote event”. The sponsors will decorate the Kellys’ restored 1896 barn as a town with no voices to depict the real horror of what happens if we let democracy disappear:
The premise is simple. Guests walk into a town where people stopped speaking up, and eventually lost their voices altogether. It is a real haunted house, built to be fun first.
“I can’t think of anything spookier than ceding our right to express our frustrations with politicians over the affordability crisis and current policy gridlock at the ballot box this fall,” said Liz Renner of the Kelly Family Homestead. “By not voting, you’re allowing Big Tech corporations like Flock, Meta, SpaceX AI, and Alphabet to continue shaping our collective future with their massive campaign donations and targeted algorithms designed to suppress dissent. We are haunted by the existential threat of an increasingly-intrusive surveillance state every day, so we’re hosting this event to draw attention to the importance of upholding our democratic values in a time of mass surveillance and corporate control of our three branches of government” [Jordan Deffenbaugh, press release, 2026.09.28].
Event hosts will help guests check their voter registration status, help folks who aren’t registered understand what they need to do to register (better hurry! deadline for registering to vote in this year’s general election is Monday, October 19!), and encourage everyone to get informed and go vote. Toward that informational end, the haunted barn will feature sample ballots, information about the four constitutional amendments the Legislature put on our ballot, and any candidates who aren’t afraid to accept the organizers’ invitation to attend and talk with voters determined not to be silenced by our corporate/AI overlords.
Renner says the event has no partisan axe to grind; it’s just building civic engagement:
“I wanted to help organize this because I love bringing different people from across our community together, especially when we can make it fun and a little spooky. Voting should feel exciting and empowering, not intimidating. If we can get people together, have a great time, build some community, and get more people excited to show up at the polls, that’s exactly the kind of civic engagement I want to be part of” [Liz Renner, in press release, 2026.09.28].
The organizers welcome your help in making “The Town That Went Silent” a hit. They have a sign-up form inviting volunteer “builders, painters, mask-makers, performers, writers, designers, parking crew, sponsors, and people with ideas” to join them Monday evenings at Full Circle Book Co-Op (123 West 10th Street, downtown Sioux Falls) for community potluck and meeting at 6 p.m. and haunted barn work and brainstorming at 7 p.m.
Democracy has been looking a little ghostly under the current regime. Don’t let democracy go silent: have fun at the haunted barn, and then go vote… and bring ten voting friends with you!