Six Flags Great Adventure Conquers the Challenge of Scaring Safely

Recently April and I went to Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson to see their "Hallowefest" 2020 first hand. While we were there our tour guides from Six Flags told us how the park designers created special COVID 19 protective masks for the ghouls this year.

This year in the midst of the Coronavirus Pandemic Six Flags special effects makeup supervisor Andrea Kovalik  met the challenge by putting a new twist on an old Halloween tradition at the Jackson Township Theme Park.

According to the folks at Six Flags .... Kovalik, 27, was faced with the daunting task of maintaining Six Flags’ incredibly high standard of zombie artistry in a masked, COVID-19 world. Kovalik experimented with various ideas and materials until she landed on the perfect solution – a latex mask cover for a surgical mask that her artistic team could seamlessly blend with the rest of the actor’s face using their advanced airbrush and hand painting expertise.

Kovalik designed more than 40 different latex mask covers for 120 different HALLOWFEST characters. Kovalik created the masks from her own molds and sculptures, and hand painted each one. Ear loops from the medical mask slip through slits in the latex mask cover to keep it in place on the actor’s face. Both masks cover the actor’s nose and mouth. Each actor has their own latex mask cover that is sanitized daily. The medical mask is discarded after every use.

April and I thoroughly enjoyed Hallowfest and felt safe with this outdoor event and with extra measures done by the park to ensure safety. The ghouls look amazing!

Due to the global pandemic, Six Flags introduced an extensive, new safety protocol to keep its guests and team members safe. This meant that the traditional, in-your-face Fright Fest would have to be temporarily replaced by a less amped, more eerie HALLOWFEST. With thermal scanning, touchless bag checking, social distancing, enhanced sanitization, and masks as key elements of the “new normal,”