Northern Screams Attractions is pretty well-known in the area for their scare-your-face-off haunted houses during the Halloween season.
But what you might not know is that Northern Screams owner Robbie Lavoie opened something called a “rage room” back in December and he’s been welcoming folks to the space in Blezard Valley ever since.
As Lavoie and co. explained, a rage room “is a fun, controlled environment where people break stuff. It can be an adrenaline rush and a form of stress relief although the therapist would rather you see them if you have that much anger to deal with lol. We are seeing date nights, girls night out and families giving it a go.”
The concept is pretty simple: pay them money; sign a waiver (very important); don protective gear; choose your weapons, and; get smashing.
“We supply a variety of presorted items of different sizes to break such as ceramics and glass, cassette tapes and VHS tapes,” Derek Young of Derek Young Marketing said. “Customers can upgrade and purchase TVs, microwaves, vacuums, toys, larger ceramics and glass, DVD players, coffee makers, small kitchen appliances on site.”
Northern Screams provides coveralls, hardhats, face shields, safety glasses, gloves and goggles. Customers can wield a variety of weapons from baseball bats and sledge hammers, to golf clubs and frying pans. Lavoie even custom builds some more fanciful weapons involving circular saw blades.
Much of the material for smashing comes from local thrift stores.
“Oftentimes they have to pay to have these damaged goods disposed of, so we collect this stuff once a week and add it to our inventory,” Young said.
While the rage room is located in Blezard Valley, Northern Screams doesn’t want us to say exactly where to preserve some of the mystery and danger of the experience.
A visit to the Smash Academy is by appointment only, which are available from Friday to Sunday evenings, from 6-9:30 p.m. Sessions are 30 minutes long. There are individual and group sessions available.
Once you’ve booked your session, you’ll be given the address of where in Blezard Valley to go.
During January and February, Smash Academy has opened a hockey-themed “smash lane” where folks can get a bucket of pucks and a hockey stick to smash at a TV in the goalie net..
Learn more at NorthernScreamsAttractions.com.
