Highbury Cemetery, 2011

Well group, after months and months of planning and building and taking trips to Lowe's, the big day finally arrived. Halloween. The nervous anticipation was palpable with everyone who was on hand to help out. And there were numerous people helping out this year!

As we started setting up, Mother Nature was in a foul mood and opened the skies with a cold, miserable rain. This stretched everyone's already worn nerves to the brink, but somehow our good karma must have cashed in, because an hour before trick-or-treat, the clouds retreated and the sun actually poked out to dry things up a bit. We kicked it into overdrive, setting up all of the props, running all the extension cords and taking turns in the bathroom-slash-makeup booth.

And after everything was said and done, the clock struck six and we were ready to go. The hordes of children, parents and curious neighbors descended upon the cemetery to see what we had cooked up this year.

All in all, it was another incredible Halloween. The weather cooperated, friends and family either worked the yard or stopped by to check things out and we totaled close to 300 visitors.

A HUGE, HUGE thank you goes out to everyone who helped put this thing on this year. Without your help I could have never done this. This year's t-shirt recipients are: Scrapes, Mrs. Highbury, MY MOTHER-IN-LAW!!!, Sharon, Karen, Neighbor Joe (who graciously let me spill into his yard this year!) Andrew and Peter. With the cast above assembled, we were able to set everything up AND tear everything down in one day. Unbelievable...

Okay enough of the rambling, onto the photos!!

Mrs. Highbury (right) and our newest member, my mother-in-law!! Two of the four witches from the new witches' den.

We all prayed for the rain to stop. And by trick-or-treat time...

My favorite shot of the night. The colors really popped in this shot and give a wonderful creepiness to the image.

Little Dustin Horner was playing his part all night. I saw so many people checking him out, poking at him, wondering why he wasn't moving. It was hilarious! I even caught a couple of kids "peeking" into his little pumpkin bucket. Shame, shame!!

Abigail Harrington (my new FCG) worked flawlessly all night, shrouded in a dense fog (except in this shot) within her crypt. A few kids asked if she was really flying.

This year, the front porch was transformed into a witches den, complete with 4 terrifying witches.

The witches' cabinet of potions and other curiosities.

Stick your hand in the cauldron to get your treat!

One of two new potter's fields, on either side of the main cemetery. It appears as though someone was not happy being buried without an identity...

The new Highbury Obelisk taking its rightful place in the center of the cemetery.

The shihatsu ground popper created last year. I will have to post a video and how-to on this one. Quick and easy with really great results.

Walk up the pumpkin path to get your treat...

Scrapes, Highbury and Andrew

 

And now we only have 364 more days until Halloween, 2012. Time to get back into the garage to start planning the props to top this year's display! I hope everyone had as great a Halloween as we did!