the lonely forest
A few weeks ago, we threw our first event.
We as in, my brand, Lonely Ghost.
I could have never pulled this off on my own.
To be honest, I’ve tried many times.
I’ve known the harsh reality slap of no one showing up to my 17th birthday lunch all too well. (Happy RED week)
But a fun perk of having your own business, is the guarantee that when you throw a party, at least the employees will come and bring their kids.
With this confidence, I decided to finally start building my legacy.
You see, I’ve always wanted to be known for one of my parties. Like how Zach Bennett always threw the best last day of school parties in elementary school. Or how Kris Jenner is hailed as the Supreme of Christmas Eve parties. I dreamt of an annual event I could make better year after year.
And in a move that will shock absolutely no one, I landed on Halloween.
I have a ghost tattooed on my arm! Plus, birthday parties were too much pressure.
So I declared this to be the year that I would cement my spot as the Queen of Halloween.
Choosing the location for your party is crucial, which is why we decided to throw ours at a local haunted haunted theme park.
What do you mean you don’t have a local haunted theme park?
Kindly put some respect on THE HAUNTED MOTHAFKN FOREST!
If you’re from anywhere other than Utah County, this will probably mean nothing to you.
But walking through the Haunted Forest is a rite of passage here.
It was where I held a boy’s hand for the first time!
Renting out this massive venue seemed a little ambitious coming from the girl who couldn’t round up 8 girls for a birthday brunch.
It also had never been done before.
But at Lonely Ghost, we go big.
Everyone on our team was so excited when the idea was brought to a meeting. This terrifying place held such a sweet spot in all of our hearts. Many of our employees had similar fond memories of flirting other 8th graders in line. Rory even worked the Haunted Forest as a rambunctious teenager.
Everyone on our team was so excited when the idea was brought to a meeting. This terrifying place held such a sweet spot in all of our hearts. Many of our employees had similar fond memories of flirting other 8th graders in line. Rory even worked the Haunted Forest as a rambunctious teenager.
But in my favorite full circle moment, I discovered that the owner of the forest, Rob Ethington, is good friends with my Grandpa, Eldon. They ride horses together.
Utah!
I really love this aspect of our brand. From our grocery store, to ghosted garments, our Tru Fru collab and even our pickleball tournament we held last summer. We are always incorporating things, places, and people we actually love, especially when it comes to where we are from. We are ride or die Utah lovers. So having our first major event here, somewhere that has such a sentimental value to our team, was a no brainer.
It’s truly peak Lonely Ghost.
No matter how big Lonely Ghost gets…I hope we can always keep this hometown feeling within our brand.
Leading up to the event, pressure was rising.
We’ve always wanted to do events.
When Bronson & I started Lonely Ghost, this was the type of stuff we talked about.
From the start, we were clear that we didn’t want to be just another clothing brand. We’d use the clothes as the connector.
But that was all we really wanted the whole time.
Connection.
One year after launching our brand, the pandemic hit.
In many ways this collective shift to online strengthened our community more than ever.
But we have honestly been counting down the days until we could meet you all in person.
Of course, in true LG fashion, the marketing was top tier. We went all out.
There was a viral horror movie style trailer announcing the event.
An eerily life-like replica of my left hand, ring and all.
Our employees dressed up as ghosts and drop off PR boxes around town.
Bronson & I even went on tv to promote the party.
But my favorite part was how we got the ghost gang in on the hype.
We sent out little “ghost crossing” signs to our most loyal followers across the country, to hide around the town they live in. They would take a picture of the sign, and we’d post it along with location. Whoever found it was offered either a ticket to the event, or an item from the shop.
I make note of these things because in my opinion, this is what breathes life into our brand.
The little things!
I think people sometimes forget how new Lonely Ghost still is. A year ago, we were running around desperate to hire anyone for our store opening.
We’re still slowly building our team, our resources and our connections.
Truthfully, we’re just barely getting started.
The little things are what keep us motivated. It keeps the spark keep alive.
So it really means a lot when you guys not only notice and appreciate all of these details, but you also participate.
You’re part of the team.
A few weeks before the event, some of us went to The Haunted Forest to “test it out” if you will. It was a 45 minute walk through “scream park” and we figured if we were going to promote it, of course we had try it ourselves.
A real team bonding experience if you ask me.
While waiting in line, my heart started to race.
And not because of the theater kid dressed like a zombie that was standing right behind me.
I looked around at how many people were there.
In only a few weeks, I realized those people would be Lonely Ghost supporters.
The weight of it all fell on me at once.
We had already sold 800 tickets at that point. 800 people were coming to our party.
The even crazier part? HUNDREDS were flying in from out of state.
That felt insane to me. As if hundreds of people were flying in for my birthday lunch at the cheesecake factory.
I wanted to write them all back and say, “okay! but are you sure??”
I was getting messages from girls saying all of the hotels in all of the neighboring towns were booked for the week.
There was no where to stay!
Our online community was quite literally taking over our real life hometown.
It was crazy, mind blowing and incredible all at once.
But suddenly, I was faced with a new problem I had never come across in all of my years of attempted party throwing.
My problem always used to be,
“What if no one shows up?”
Now, it was,
“WHAT IF EVERYONE SHOWS UP???”
I started to spiral.
What if it all goes terribly wrong?
What if it isn’t cool enough?
Big enough?
Warm enough?
What if it rains?
What if the lines are too long?
What if they get bored?
What if people aren’t scared?
What if it doesn’t meet their expectations?
What if *I don’t meet their expectations?
What if they are disappointed in me?!
I came back to earth and quietly expressed my fears to my team,
“This is sooooo much pressure.” I said, craning my neck to get a better view of the crowd surrounding us.
A few of them nodded in validation, but Rory shut it down fast.
“Are you kidding?” he said smiling.
“In a few weeks there will be hundreds of Lonely Ghost fans in these lines.”
He said almost the exact same sentence that had just ran through my head.
But instead, he said the phrase with exhilaration and not dread.
“They will all have that in common. Lonely Ghost. It’s not like they’re strangers.”
2 weeks later, the day finally came.
When I walked in to set up for our event, I was greeted by 20 of our biggest supporters who had been waiting in line for hours.
The biggest smile came over my face and all my nerves washed away.
We transformed the Haunted Forest into the Lonely Forest and it was truly a sight to behold.
We went with a pink and black theme because it was unexpected. Very LG. Also because I heard orange & black is cheugy??? Get back to me.
For weeks it had been raining, and it was killing me.
I checked the weather app every hour. Our team group message was manifesting clear skies all month.
And…it worked!
By some miracle, the weather was calm and warm for the first time in days.
We had the most gorgeous sunset lighting up our freshly snow capped mountains.
It was like Utah wanted to show off for all of these first timers.
I walked around the event grounds right before it all began.
It was golden hour, everything was set up to perfection, and I had a little moment to really take it all in.
I smiled at all of the workers were in their places with their iconic “I work for Lonely Ghost” jackets.
I spotted Bronson sitting on a log, finishing up some last minute touches on his computer.
I watched one of my best friends Jackson, in his element, capturing everything on film.
And through a hole in the fence, I could see the growing line to get in.
It was wrapping around the parking lot now.
Sometimes moments like that slam me with feelings of gratitude, emotion, even disbelief.
But at that moment, before all of the craziness began, just before the sun tucked itself behind the bright white mountains ahead, I was calm.
It felt right.
All of the pieces fell into place and it was really special to take a deep breath and appreciate everything it took to get there.
I was ready.
And then it began!
I am forever thankful for Ian Kirby and Tanner Jackson, the photographers of the event. Without them, I’d be unsure if it was all a dream or not.
The night was perfect.
Girls meeting their long distance friends they had found through Lonely Ghost.
The infamous grave…the hand! THE RING!
We had tarot readers & mystics!
A tattoo artist! *The bEST tattoo artist!
Smores!
Scares!
Celebrity guests!
So. Many. Ghosts!
And wait for it…
A GODDAMN ENGAGEMENT!
The highlight of the night for me was when I put on the ghost costume and wandered around incognito for a while.
While I wandered through the forest, talking with faces that were once only usernames, I heard some amazing things. I heard the names of states that people drove/flew from. I heard “since 2016” a lot.
But the best thing I heard while eavesdropping through my ghost costume, was people making real life connections.
I was taking a photo with some girls, assuming they were all in the same group. They weren’t, but after talking in line with each other for an hour, they were more than fine joining each other’s picture.
Someone in passing said, “I just made a friend, she just made a friend, everyone is making friends!”
And that was the moment that slammed me with gratitude.
How amazing!
After two years of connecting likeminded people on the internet, I got to witness it happening in real life.
I was terrified for this event only a few weeks earlier. Sick to my stomach that 800 people were counting on me.
But when the night came, I remembered this event wasn’t for me in the first place.
It was for the 1400 (YEP! 1400!!) people that came for each other, whether they knew it or not.
Because maybe they came as strangers, but like Rory predicted, I saw people quickly realize they really weren’t at all.
Lonely but never alone.
Thankful to be the connector of so many incredible souls.
I don’t know what I did to deserve all of this, but I really wish someone could tell sad seventeen year old me about it.
Ind
