By Oct. 1, some families are dusting off their decorations that sit in the basement all year: the blood skulls, the flying witches, the glowing ghosts, and the enormous spiders. While some families simply place a single pumpkin on their porch, other have a bigger agenda for Halloween.
Amy Miers ’13 and her family run a popular attraction on the 31st. “It usually takes a month to set up, plus coming up with new ideas,” Miers said. “Every year we try to add on and change it up.”
She recalls that the whole ordeal began while she was at the ripe old age of 3. Every year it gets bigger and bigger – and every year it gets better and better.
Miers attributes most of the elaborate decorations to her father, Fred, who comes up with and builds most of the ornaments. Fred says that he loves to see his new ideas come to life every year.
“When you’re a kid and you have an imagination, you can make anything you want. It’s the same now, just with a little hard work and elbow grease,” Miers said.
If you go toJuniper Roadon Halloween, make sure you walk. The street is packed with cars, people, and excited kids, anxious to see what the Miers family has created.
“It gets more and more crowded on our street every year,” said neighbor Steven Greenberg, father of Ben ’12 and Daniel ’14. “There are actual traffic jams on Halloween. People drive from all over to see it.”
Currently, the construction features a maze in front of the house, with live actors dressed in costumes and ready to terrify.
There are multiple different aspects to the mini haunted house, including werewolves, vampires, mad scientists, and a ten-foot-tall zombie.
Maddy Seidman ’13 is one of these actors every year. She’s covered everything from swinging in a cage to posing as a decapitated head on a plate.
She says that it’s incredibly fun to scare kids once they realize that she’s not a doll, but a live person.
All Halloween night, the delighted screams of children – and even some adults – will be echoing through the neighborhood.
“You don’t remember the first day you lost a tooth or stopped sucking your thumb, but you’ll remember the day that Mr. Miers chased you down the street,” Fred Miers said.
He said that his favorite part is giving kids memories and knowing that they’re having fun. “If they go home with nightmares, then I’ve done my job,” he said.
However, adorning your house with scary supplies isn’t just fun for neighbors and trick-or-treaters. Decorating houses for Halloween is like setting up the Christmas tree for some families, people said.
Jack McFarland, the head basketball coach at Staples, loves working on decorations with his four kids. “They really enjoy decorating the house,” he says. “It makes them really invested in Halloween.”
He says that carving the jack-o-lanterns is his favorite activity; others, such as Gabriella Rizack ’13, opt for less traditional ornaments. Her family also enjoys a multitude of Halloween decorations, but she says that her favorite is a light-up train, filled to the brim with ghosts and skeletons.
“My mom goes to Halloween stores every year and buys new decorations to put up,” she says.
Rizack agrees with Miers that the effect on the kids makes all of the time and effort pay off. “When kids come to our house, they usually think it is really cool,” she says. “It can sometimes scare little kids and make them cry.” But she believes that this adds to the fun and excitement of the night.
Her favorite part of the prpcess is transforming her home into a “haunted” place. She says that her whole family loves it, especially since all the decorations really add to the “spirit of Halloween.”
For various decorated houses aroundWestport, Oct. 31 is constantly a busy night. Year after year, kids seem to be coming back in the masses.
Both the Miers family and various neighbors have noticed that the number of trick-or-treaters is constantly growing.
“There is a different exhibit around each corner,” Seidman said. “People always come back each year to see what new ideas [Fred] has come up with. It’s always bigger and scarier.”
Seidman says that each year, the family is able to produce very “realistic” and “spooky” decorations. What started out as a simple homemade graveyard has grown into an enormous production.
Fred Miers has become somewhat of legend inWestport. He says that even though it is weeks of work just for one night, it’s all worth it.
“It gives him joy to give a thrill to all these kids,” said Greenberg.
Halloween is a night of scary fun for people everywhere, but in this town it’s a little bit more than that.
“There aren’t a lot of opportunities for a sense of community,” said Greenberg. “But I think that’s what Halloween is inWestport, because of people like Fred that make it special.”
