Forget the candles, chocolate bars, and coupon books. A local youth group is raising funds for an upcoming trip, but what it’s selling is far from conventional. The youth group, which over a dozen East Noble students attend, belongs to St. John Lutheran Church, and it’s bringing a cool new attraction to Kendallville for a short time: an escape room.

Escape rooms have been a rising trend in recent years; in fact, there are four escape room businesses in the Fort Wayne area alone. They follow a simple concept: groups of friends pay to be locked inside a room for an allotted period of time, and their challenge is to get out of the room before the time is up. The room is full of locked boxes, tricky puzzles, and hidden objects that hold the key to their escape—sometimes literally.

“It’s a great team working experience,” said Lucas Gurtner, an EN junior who helped design the youth group’s escape room over the past few weeks.

He worked alongside fellow EN junior Michael Lehman, former EN student Jaden DiGirolamo, and youth leaders Nick and Zach Hayden, who’ve named their room the “Old West Jail.” Groups who visit this room will be given an hour to escape an old sheriff’s office in the West.

“We’re always looking for new, outside-the-box fundraisers, the type where the people paying the money don’t feel like it’s a hassle,” said Nick Hayden. “After experiencing our first escape room at Zach’s bachelor party, we thought, ‘Hey, with a little work, we could make one of these.’ And that’s how the idea started.”

The Old West Jail officially opened Friday, April 22nd, and will be in operation for at least the next four weekends, depending on the response it receives from the public. All bookings must be made in advance at www.KendallvilleEscapeRoom.com. Admission is $15 per person, and no more than six people can participate at one time. Nine sessions are available each weekend:

Fridays from 6:00-7:00 PM, 7:30-8:30 PM, and 9:00-10:00 PM
Saturdays from 4:30-5:30 PM, 6:00-7:00 PM, 7:30-8:30 PM, and 9:00-10:00 PM
Sundays from 2:00-3:00 PM and 3:30-4:30 PM

The escape room itself is located inside St. John Lutheran Church (301 S. Oak Street) right here in Kendallville. Parking is available in the church’s back parking lot, and groups should arrive 10 to 15 minutes early and enter through the south set of glass doors. More information can be found here.

“We’re excited to bring this to Kendallville,” said Zach Hayden, “and we hope it will help people find something fun to do on the weekend right here in our community.”