East Brainerd resident Keegan Chitwood is launching his business, Keegan Chitwood Events & Design, with his first special event, Night of Fright: Spooktacular Halloween Gala. Chitwood is transforming a historic church building in downtown Chattanooga into a haunted mansion for the 21-and-over event, a Halloween-themed costume party set for Saturday, Oct. 27 from 7-11 p.m.
Night of Fright will feature a costume contest with prizes and live music inspired by the movie “Hocus Pocus.” Character performers from Magic Lamp Entertainment will resurrect the Sanderson sisters, the three witches from the 1993 movie.
The $60 tickets include a “Pick Your Poison” open bar featuring beer and wine, and two signature creepy cocktails mixed by James Heeley, owner of new Chattanooga speakeasy London Calling. Guests can also enjoy cupcakes from Johnny Cakes and a dessert bar catered by A Silverware Affair.
A portion of the event’s proceeds will be donated to the MaryEllen Locher Scholarship Foundation, a college scholarship program for the children of breast cancer patients. Chitwood, the oldest of three children raised by a single mother, was 8 when his mother, then 29, was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer. She went into remission after battling the cancer for two years, and became a two-time breast cancer survivor after being diagnosed again during his senior year in high school.
He received a scholarship from the foundation to attend the college of his choice and, at 22, recently graduated from the New York Institute of Art and Design, where he majored in interior and event design.