Europa Village Extends Its Dark Circus Experience Through Sunday

TEMECULA, CA ? If you thought you missed out entirely on Europa Village's "Carn Evil Cirque du Mal," you're in luck.

Beginning Halloween through Sunday, C'est la Vie will stay open until 8 p.m. for guests to enjoy the winery's eerie circus decor, Europa Village confirmed with Patch.

In addition, the French winery will offer small bites and a pop-up bar in the middle of the haunt so guests can enjoy a drink while they explore the maze on their own. No scare actors will be in the maze, so visitors can go at their own pace.

Jayden Maciel, a banquet lead at Temecula's premier village of wineries, not only works full-time coordinating events and serving guests, but he also designed and built the clown-centric haunted maze that anchored the winery?s Halloween ball for two nights in a row last weekend, Oct. 24 and 25.

?It was the second year that Europa asked me to build them the haunted maze,? Maciel said. ?This year, they kind of gave me the entire event ? the inside and outside ? which I was super happy about.?

Maciel, who has worked at Europa for two years, first caught the attention of his supervisors after they learned he had been building elaborate haunted houses at his family home in Corona for about seven years.

?We noticed there were fewer kids walking through our neighborhood on Halloween, so my family and I started putting on a little haunted house walkthrough to bring it back,? he said. ?It just kind of blossomed from there.?

Read more about Maciel's story here.