Businesses offer extended hours for ghost hunting, PAC-12 race

With hundreds of people expected to visit Colfax this weekend for Haunted Hospital tours and the Pac-12 Cross Country races, some downtown businesses plan on adding extra hours and offering specials.

Thursday and Friday, free tours will be offered of the upstairs of old downtown buildings. These tours will be offered from 5-8 p.m. by the Colfax Historic Preservation Commission. Tour guides will be positioned outside of the buildings on Main Street for the tours.

Normally closed by 3:30 p.m., Fonks Coffee House will re-open after regular business hours from 6-9 p.m. on Thursday and Friday. Manager Amy Warwick said the downtown coffee shop will offer chili in a bread bowl, beer, wine and hot drinks for guests, in addition to their regular menu.

“I am thinking people are going to get a lot of business,” she said.

Also planning for additional hours is Events on Main. Owner Kari Rimbey said she plans to open tonight and tomorrow from 5-8 p.m. for the ghost hunters and Pac-12 visitors. She said the café will have its usual menu and add desserts, snacks and holiday treats.

“We will also have a $2 16 ounce hot cider,” she said.

Rimbey said she thinks the attractions on Halloween weekend will boost business to the downtown area.

“I hope so,” she said. “We will have all those people hanging out in town.”

Tick Klock Drug is also planning for extra hours, staying open until 8 p.m. tonight and tomorrow night rather than closing at 5:30 p.m.

“We'll just be open if people are wandering around town,” said Mark Johnson, owner of Tick Klock.

The Hyde Out, which is usually open until 2 a.m., will offer specials for the ghost hunters.

Hyde Out owner Liz Mann said there will be a flyer in the tent expected to be set up outside of Fonks which will detail the specials.

She said tokens will be given out to the ghost hunters there, and anyone who brings a token in or comes in wearing the hospital gown provided on the tour will receive $1 off any alcoholic beverage and $3 off food.

“Somehow they have to show use they are on the tour,” Mann explained.

The St. Ignatius Haunted Hospital opened Wednesday, Oct. 21, with nightly three-hour ghost hunts. Guided ghost tours of two of the floors are scheduled for tonight and tomorrow, beginning at 8 p.m. each evening, with each tour expected to last about 30 minutes.