Family claims rusty nail to blame for puncture wound at Halloween event in Winnipeg

What should have been an enjoyable trip to a Halloween attraction in Winnipeg became a scary situation for one family after their little’s one face suffered a puncture wound on a hay ride this past weekend. 

Cautioning other parents, Kristyn Boubard said she was left in tears after learning her six-year-old son had sustained an injury at Witchy Wonderland this weekend. The young boy attending the event, billed as a “not so fright fest” is being put on by the Red River Exhibition and Boubard says the incident left her, and her son, son shaken up. 

“It punctured his face. It punctured his skin,” said Boubard. “My dad called me and said he was on the hay ride and somehow, a nail hit him in the face.

“He was upset when he got home. He was upset Sunday, and he was still mad this morning and we were planning to go to Boo at Zoo, and he was like: ‘Well, I don’t want to go anywhere.'” 

Boubard claims a worker told family members they had to go to the first-aid station for help, but when they got there, no one was present and now, she has questions as to why, as when the family could not find help, they took the blood-soaked young boy home. 

“I was really upset. Like my son’s jacket is covered in blood, it was dripping down his shirt, and for there to be nobody there. It’s a first-aid stand and it’s a kid’s event. There’s hundreds of kids there at once … I wanted his face to be looked at and bandaged,” said Boubard. 

Garth Rogerson is the CEO of the Red River Exhibition. He says it’s possible paramedics on-site may have been in another area of the park when the family was looking for help, and says the equipment used in the ride is regularly checked, the incident with the boy’s injury the only one reported so far.

“The safety and health of our patrons is very important to us,” said Rogerson. “We’ve gone over it and over it and as part of safety procedure we go over it regularly, because with any kind of moving vehicle things can work loose and so fourth, so before each day, we go through it.

“Rub our hands over it — make sure there’s no big slivers sticking out, or nails or screws, or those kinds of things. We’ve done that, and have not been able to find it, but that doesn’t mean that we’re not continuing to be vigilant about that.”

To make sure that this little one can still have a happy Halloween, officials with the Red River Exhibition Association, which hosts Witchy Wonderland, say they’re working to connect with the family to try and make things right.