Working a Grind Show: My Hunt Club Farm Days

  

When I was 18, I was hired to perform and work at Hunt Club Farm Market in Virginia Beach. It was an unforgettable introduction to a “grind” show: performing the same act repeatedly as one audience moves along and another takes its place.

The farm was known for its haunted hayride, haunted forest walkthrough, and haunted corn maze. My job covered both sides of the operation—entertaining schoolchildren during the day and helping create the scares at night.

Twelve Minutes of Magic, Then Start Again

School field trips ran from about 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. I stood on an elevated stage dressed as Fred the magic scarecrow and performed a 12-minute magic act while the children lined up.

As soon as I finished, I started again. With more children waiting farther back, there was always another group ready to see the show.

That is the grind: the routine reaches its ending, but your work keeps going. Each group deserves the same attention and enthusiasm, even when you have already performed the act several times that morning.

After the last group, I walked around the farm while the children enjoyed their picnic lunches following their hayrides. I performed close-up magic and did a little juggling, bringing the entertainment right to them.

                                     Here I am with my mom who visited me during the at the farm

Then the daytime work wrapped up. I would return at 6:30 p.m. for a very different assignment.

Creating Magic for the Haunted Forest

At night, I worked in the haunted forest, where I created scary illusions involving apparent decapitations, impalements, and other impossible sights.

I also developed magic for a fortune-teller character. She floated a table and performed a tarot reading in which the Death card kept appearing. It did not matter who shuffled the cards or how many times they cut them—the result was always the same.

Magic gave those scenes something extra. An impossible moment could become part of the character and the story, giving visitors something more to encounter as they moved through the attraction.

Here I am eating fire before leading forlks to the gypsy

Keeping the Illusions Working—and Everyone Safe

Creating those effects came with responsibility. I needed to stay near the actors to make sure they performed the illusions correctly, kept the magic looking convincing, and avoided injuries.

The performance and the safety of the people involved both mattered. An illusion needed to work properly every time another group came through.

I was also an actor in a separate scene, so I had my own performance to give alongside those responsibilities.

And the nighttime work had its own grind. As soon as one group left, you could hear the next group approaching. The scene would begin again, and that rhythm continued until 2 a.m. on operating nights. Rain meant the event was canceled.

It was demanding, and it was a blast.

What the Grind Means to Me

Show business is a different animal. During a busy run of performances, coffee breaks and lunch do not always follow a conventional schedule. The next audience is arriving, and you have a job to do.

I was being paid well to do that job, and I took the responsibility seriously. Repeating a show means finding the energy to make it worth watching every time. For the people arriving at your stage or walking into your scene, this is their turn to experience it.

Farm entertainment has remained part of my performing life. I have shared both a later visit to Hunt Club Farm in my Magiclife vlog and another chapter of farm-show life at Round Hill Farm.

Looking back, that Hunt Club job gave me daytime magic, close-up performances, juggling, illusion creation, and haunted-attraction acting—all in one job.

There were long hours and plenty of repetition, and I got to spend my days and nights making magic. To me, it is the best job in the world.

Of course, I might be a little biased.