The Frenchtown parking lot turned into a dance floor last Sunday. The St. Thomas Source described the scene at the Humane Society of St. Thomas' first OysterFest on the Harbour. Charlotte Amalie Harbor was the backdrop, DJ Pete kept playing as the afternoon turned to evening, and the night ended with a raffle of 18 restaurant gift certificates worth $100 each.
The party was a fundraiser, and it opened the shelter's October. Over the rest of the month, the Humane Society is running a free Trunk or Treat and three nights of its Nightmare Manor haunted walk-through on its New Herrnhut campus. Together they make up most of what St. Thomas has for Halloween this year. Each one also helps cover services the shelter had to stop for a while this summer.
The summer that set up this October
On July 1, the Humane Society stopped taking in animals and paused other services it provides under government contracts, including its high-volume spay and neuter work. At the time it was caring for 163 cats and 27 dogs. The reason was late payments. The organization said it had received none of $181,250 in fiscal 2026 grant awards for work it had already done. According to the St. John Source report, Finance Commissioner Kevin McCurdy said $37,500 had been processed on June 30 and the remaining $131,250 was under review.
In the same report, board president Randy Knight put the society's budget at about $1.8 million and said it should receive at least $1 million for services under its government grant awards. A later St. Thomas Source report described the government contract as only a small portion of the overall budget. It also said the shelter had warned it could no longer keep paying for services it performs on the government's behalf while waiting for money that had been due since December.
The pause was short. On July 10, the society said it had received $131,250, which covered three overdue quarterly payments of $43,750 each, originally due Dec. 1, 2025, March 1, 2026 and June 1, 2026. It started taking in lost, stray and abandoned animals again on July 11, as the St. Thomas Source reported. Knight said a separate $50,000 spay and neuter grant was still $12,500 short, so that program would be scaled back until the balance came in.
Then came the territorial budget. Shereé Haubrich, the Humane Society's manager of community engagement and development, told the St. Thomas Source that the shelter's yearly government allotment was cut in the recently signed budget. No dollar figure for the cut has been published.
"Right now we are in a climate where it's unpredictable. That means that we have to reach out to our community. We have to take care of one another."
Haubrich said that to the Source in early October, and the October calendar follows from it.
What the money from each event pays for
Haubrich was specific about where OysterFest money goes: spay and neuter clinics, transportation for pets being adopted by families stateside, wellness visits, and other veterinary care offered at low or no cost. Spay and neuter work was one of the services paused in July. A ticket to a Halloween fundraiser now helps pay for a program that was scaled back this summer while a grant balance went unpaid.
Knight, speaking after OysterFest, gave the operating budget as roughly $2 million a year. He said finding creative, sustainable ways to raise money is becoming more important for the organization, which has served St. Thomas since 1957. His July figure was about $1.8 million, so the number depends on who was counting and when. Either way, the scale is the same.
Local businesses have already joined in. Cuvée Bistro, which co-presented OysterFest with Frenchtown community partners, set up a sit-down dining area during the event and pledged all of its sales to the Humane Society. The raffle prizes came from restaurants across the island and beyond, including Bibi Wine Bar & Bistro, Fish Bar, Jolly Roger's Restaurant & Pirate Bar, Kim Long, Le Poshe Cafe, Pie Whole Pizza, Mim's Seaside Bistro, Oceana Restaurant & Bistro, Petite Pump Room Bar & Restaurant, Shorebird at The Westin St. Thomas, Surf N' Turf Bistro, Twisted Cork Cafe and XO Bistro. The society hopes to hold OysterFest every October from now on.
The rest of the month on the New Herrnhut campus
OysterFest was held downtown. The two events left in October are at the shelter itself, on the Humane Society campus at 4012 New Herrnhut in Charlotte Amalie.
| Date | Event | Hours | Cost | What it is |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sunday, Oct. 25 | HOWL-O-Ween Community Trunk or Treat | 4 to 7 p.m. | Free | Candy, games, prizes, food and Halloween activities for families |
| Thursday to Saturday, Oct. 29 to 31 | Nightmare Manor | 6 to 9 p.m. nightly | $20 adults, $5 children | Haunted walk-through on the shelter grounds |
The Trunk or Treat is free and works as an introduction to the place. Haubrich said she wants residents to become "more familiar and more aware of what it is that we do here at the Humane Society," and holding a family afternoon at the shelter itself serves that goal.
Nightmare Manor is the one that sells tickets. They are available through the Humane Society's GoFundMe page for the event, and the events page lists all three nights, Oct. 29, 30 and 31, from 6 to 9 p.m.
Nightmare Manor began as a volunteer project in 2019
The haunted house started in 2019 as the idea of Events Committee member Carole Arbour, according to the St. Thomas Source's coverage that year. Fundraising committee chair Dellia Holodenschi and a group of volunteers helped build it. That first year, the route began at the gated entrance and took visitors past animatronics and staged scenes. Arbour told the Source it was designed as a family event that would also raise money for the shelter.
The Source calls 2026 the event's eighth year. A 2023 Source story called that year's run the third, so the count depends on which years are included. The ticket prices have not changed. Admission was $20 for adults and $5 for children in 2023, with all proceeds going to the animals in the shelter's care, and those are the prices again this year.
This year, Nightmare Manor comes after a summer of late payments and a smaller government allotment. Haubrich has said residents should expect more fundraising and community events as the society adjusts to less government funding, so this October may set the pattern for future ones.
Other Halloween-week events, and one road to plan around
The Humane Society isn't the only group using the end of October to raise money. On Saturday, Oct. 24, Rooted in Rhythm, ElevateWi Inc., Every Body + Co. and KAM Experiences are hosting Wine Pon Mi, a '90s-themed party at KAM Experiences from 6 p.m. to 1 a.m. According to the St. Thomas Source, proceeds support an artist residency connecting New Orleans, the USVI and Jamaica.
For families with younger children, The Ritz-Carlton, St. Thomas lists a Ritz Kids Haunted House at the resort on the same three nights as Nightmare Manor, Oct. 29 to 31, from 5 to 10 p.m. It starts an hour earlier than Nightmare Manor, so families can fit an early stop in before the 6 p.m. opening at New Herrnhut.
If you drive Crown Bay Road, plan around WAPA's underground electrical work on Feeder 9A. It runs from Saturday, Oct. 10 through Saturday, Oct. 24. The work zone stretches from near the Port Authority entrance to just past the Crowley Shipping entrance, with traffic alternating in a single lane. WAPA says access to businesses and properties will stay open, per its notice in the St. Thomas Source. The scheduled end date falls on the night of Wine Pon Mi, and the lane work is set to be finished by the Humane Society's Trunk or Treat the next afternoon.
The October calendar at a glance
- Saturday, Oct. 24: Wine Pon Mi at KAM Experiences, 6 p.m. to 1 a.m. This is also the last scheduled day of Crown Bay Road lane work.
- Sunday, Oct. 25: HOWL-O-Ween Community Trunk or Treat at the Humane Society campus, 4 to 7 p.m., free.
- Thursday, Oct. 29 to Saturday, Oct. 31: Nightmare Manor at the Humane Society campus, 6 to 9 p.m., $20 adults and $5 children. The Ritz Kids Haunted House runs at The Ritz-Carlton, St. Thomas, 5 to 10 p.m.
At Clear Water Realty, we manage homes for owners who live off-island as well as on it, and we keep track of the local events and road work that shape a week here. If you're a remote owner and want to know what's happening around your property this fall, or you'd like someone on the ground to handle it, get in touch with our team.
