Haunted Car Wash

Haunted Car Wash 2025 

To our customers and the community, 

It is with great sadness that I announce our difficult decision to end our haunted car wash event. This idea spawned during COVID in 2020, a time when many events were canceled and we were very isolated. We wanted to give everyone in our community a chance to do something fun while being able to remain safe in their vehicles and forget about everything going on in the world for a little while. 

We had no idea what we were doing and had no prior experience in creating this sort of event. By the end of the first event, we were all exhausted but were so excited by the memories that were created and the amazing response from the community. Each year we continued to add more scenes, more people, and more props. Some years it rained, some it snowed, and some were hot….but that never stopped people from lining up almost a mile along Main Street and it never stopped our team from having an absolute blast. 

There are several factors that come into play when making a decision like this, but the biggest factor that has the most influence is that we simply do not have the number of people that it takes to effectively create this event the way we want it to be, the way it should be. There is a saying, “quit while you’re ahead”, and we would rather end on a high note, than try to continue this without the proper resources and end up putting on more events that don’t meet the expectations of us or you. 

Lastly, I’d like to publicly thank everyone that made these past 5 years so memorable for so many people. Our neighbors (HEP, Canandaigua Motors and Eric’s Office), the Ontario County Sheriff Department, our team at Auto Wash, their spouses and kids who volunteered, the Canandaigua Academy Drama Club, to anyone else who lent a helping hand, and most importantly to the community that attended the event and made this so much fun for us. We will never forget these memories! 

Sincerely, 

Robert Marchenese & The Auto Wash Team