Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
Desiree Ross in front of her business, Second Treasures on Big Horn Avenue in Worland. She is posed with an alien skull, a prop that she plans to use to decorate her store for her favorite holiday, Halloween.
To those who know her, it came as no surprise that Desiree Ross found herself entered to compete in the Face of Horror contest.
Surrounded by costumes and trinkets in her store, Second Treasures in Worland, Ross explained the details of the contest.
This contest consists of over a month worth of rounds of fans from across the country voting for their favorite contestant, judging from pictures and responses to questions that they submit to their profile. After nine rounds, the grand prize winner will be announced on Sept. 17. They will receive a $13,000 cash prize, paid travel expenses for a three-day trip to Los Angeles, California, for themselves and one guest, and an exclusive photo shoot with Kane Hodder – an actor known for his role as Jason in the "Friday the 13th" series – for Rue Morgue magazine. The photo shoot will take place in the Woodbury House, a notoriously haunted filming location in Altadena, California, known as the setting for horror shows such as "V/H/S" and "American Horror Story."
Additionally, there will be a "Kane's Choice Winner" selected by Hodder out of contest finalist video submissions. The winner of this prize will receive a trip to Los Angeles to meet Hodder with one guest.
An avid fan of all things horror and Halloween, Ross is a perfect fit as a contestant. She said, "My buddy out of Salt Lake sent me the link for the contest and he told me 'You gotta try out for this, it's right up your alley. If I know somebody who's going to win this it's you, you should try out.'"
Ross told the story of how she used to be obsessed with dressing up as a witch for Halloween, to the point that she did it for several years in a row and practiced her witches cackle to perfection. She said she even called into a radio contest while she lived in Utah that challenged callers to do their best scary voice, and she won it with her cackle.
"I definitely got my love of Halloween from my mom," said Ross. Ross's mother, Linda Kiser, who started the business Second Treasures, always made Halloween a priority at the store. Ross said, "I remember one year, a week before Halloween she had me helping her in the store, and she had me dress up as something different every day."
Ross got on the contest's website and registered as a competitor. She uploaded a single picture of herself, and she responded to the question of what she would do with the $13,000 in prize money. She wrote that she would use it to transform her home into a haunted house for the Halloween season, something that she has wanted to do since she became the owner of the house that was Worland's original hospital.
This entry was good enough to get Ross entered as a competitor in Face of Horror. As for what's next, Ross said that she would be curating her contest profile with costume pictures ahead of the first round of voting, which begins Sept. 5. Ross added that Sheena Tilley, owner of Sheen Nail Salon, would be doing her nails and makeup for her contest entries.
Ross is excited to participate in the contest, and shared that if she won she would take Tilley with her on the Los Angeles trip. You can support Ross by voting for her at faceofhorror.org/2023/desiree-ross starting Sept. 5. Votes can be cast once every 24 hours for free, or you can pay to cast multiple votes with no restrictions. Face of Horror has pledged at least 25% of their proceeds to the Andrew McDonough B+ Foundation, a non-profit organization fighting against childhood cancer.
