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Halloween Night: It had been a constant downpour over the previous 24 hours and everything was soaked. At roughly 6 pm, the temperatures dropped into the 40s and a fierce, whipping wind kicked up. The utter misery was compounded when as the night ended, I actually saw wet snowflakes floating down from the incessant grey clouds above...
Luckily for us though, our new neighborhood had its trick-or-treat on Sunday, four full days before Halloween night! For once, we had outsmarted old Mother Nature, and after four years of getting rain on our Halloween display, we were able to finally catch a break.
Sunday nervously started with slight drizzle and strong gusts of wind. According to my weather app, both should have subsided by noon, but by 3 pm the winds were still a lingering problem.
Add to that the stress of basically starting over in a new neighborhood and wondering/desperately hoping that trick-or-treaters would actually come down our cul-de-sac road, and my nerves were completely frazzled.
But shortly before trick-or-treat started at 5, a wonderful thing happened. The clouds broke up, giving way to unexpected rays of twilight sun, and more importantly, the winds stopped. Not just died down, but completely stopped. It was incredible. It looked like the Pumpkin Gods were looking down upon us favorably this year!
And as the clock struck 5, we saw our first trick-or-treaters making their way up the street.
We were ready...
For two hours, we ended up having a fairly steady stream of trick-or-treaters, parents, and curious neighbors coming to check out our Halloween display. And although we didn't set up all of our props this year, everyone was surprised and excited by what we had done.
Overall, I couldn't be happier with our first display here. With the weather finally cooperating, the total lack of wind gave us the best fog effects we had ever achieved, allowing thick, creeping fog to roll around the cemetery tombstones, across the sidewalk, down over the curb, and eventually down the street. I couldn't believe it. Check out this photo to see what I'm talking about.
Yes, there are things that I'll need to address for next year, like better tombstone lighting, a few more figures and animatronics, and a new cemetery fence, but I was pleased with the ways things came together and we were able to present a display unlike anything else in this neighborhood.
The next morning, we were the talk of my son's school bus. The seed has been planted, and Highbury Cemetery will be back bigger and bolder for 2020.
We're down to only 363 days until Halloween, so it's time to get started again! But for just a few moments, pull up a chair, sit back, relax and enjoy my photos of Highbury Cemetery, 2019...
My 2018 tombstone creep, complete with rotating upper body. I built it last year, but rain (of course) prevented me from ever putting it up in the display. He had his grand reveal this year and his Spider Hill Prop Works Compact Prop Turner worked flawlessly all night! Next year, I want to put more focused lighting on him and at some point, I'll post a full tutorial for this build...
I absolutely LOVE the red leaves that were dropping from this tree in the front yard. I was able to rake them up and use them as an added natural, organic element sprinkled around my tombstones!
As always, a HUGE Highbury thank you must go out to Mrs. Highbury, brother Scrapes, Sharon, Karen, Laurie, Stacey and Vince for coming over, helping set up, running the haunt, and then tearing down all in one day. Without you, this haunt would never happen. (And yes, your delayed thank you shirts are being printed and will be delivered shortly!!)
And this year, I also wanted to thank everyone from Hillside Estates, our new neighborhood, for coming out and making Halloween a fun success. We had a great turnout of 180 trick-or-treaters in year one, and I'm looking forward to great things next year. Bigger and badder, so be ready!!
It feels weird sitting here on October 28th, penning a quick recap of the previous night's trick-or-treat display.
For the first time in over 16 years, we aren't celebrating on Halloween night (as I firmly believe we should be), due to our new neighborhood's schedule: Sunday night, from 5-7 pm. It really doesn't make much sense to me, but I'm not here to complain about it.
After finding out when our trick-or-treat actually was (there were conflicting reports of Saturday or Sunday), I got to scheduling everything in order to be ready for the big night. Being that it would be our first Halloween in the new neighborhood, I wanted to make sure we made a BIG first impression.
By Saturday night, I had everything (albeit in a scaled-back version from last year) staged and ready to go. The only thing posing an issue was the torrential downpouring of rain accompanied by gusting winds.
As I woke up on Sunday morning, I quickly checked the weather forecast. The rain would stop by 9, and the winds would die down by 10. Perfect. Except that didn't happen...
We started setting up at 11, only to be hampered by gusting winds throughout the day. Tombstones were swaying and blowing around and my stomach was in knots. Not to mention the nagging fear that we'd go through the trouble of setting this all up and we'd get no trick-or-treaters. The stress was weighing heavy on me.
As we got closer to show time, the winds finally began to slow down, allowing us to quickly put the full cemetery together. As I stepped back, I took a second to take it all in. It actually looked pretty damn good! The knot in my stomach began to release, but I realized that I still needed to put my costume on with mere minutes to go.
As the clock struck 5, we took our places within the cemetery. And slowly trick-or-treaters showed up. Not as many as I was secretly hoping for, but they still came.
As we really got into our groove, a strange thing happened. The wind died down completely. And the sun broke through the clouds. It's as if the Pumpkin Gods were rewarding us!
And then I noticed my fog machine and chiller setup. PERFECT, lingering plumes of thick, chilled white fog rolled across the entire cemetery, creeping around my tombstones and stretching out into the street, creating the greatest fog display I have ever been able to achieve. It was AMAZING!
Mrs. Highbury snapped this photo as the sun began to set...
Perfection!! I was giddy with what was happening.
Trick-or-treaters, their parents, and neighbors began to file down the street, checking out this new display in their neighborhood. We ended up getting a nice turnout and I was pretty happy with this year's setup.
As trick-or-treat wound down, it finally got dark enough out to get photos of the display bathed in its truly spooky lighting. I got a collection of great photos that I'll be posting up with a full review after Halloween.
Overall, our first Halloween was a huge success. The nervous planning and stressful setup gave way to a great weather, an ever greater display and a ton of fun with friends, family and new neighbors. We were the talk of my son's school bus this morning, and Highbury Cemetery has planted the first seed in becoming the new neighborhood "Halloween House."
Welcome. Here we are again. October 1st...
IT'S OFFICIALLY HALLOWEEN SEASON! And it's time to start our annual Countdown to Halloween! An orange-and-black blitz of 31 posts in 31 days, all leading up to our high holiday of All Hallows Eve!! This is our 9th year celebrating all things creepy and cool with the Countdown to Halloween blog party, and we are going stronger than ever. Can you feel that crisp, electric excitement in the air!!??
We've got a long list of blog posts all lined up and ready to go. A full month stuffed with tricks and treats, so be sure to check back daily because this party is going nonstop through the 31st! And you don't want to miss out on the good candy, do you??
So let's get this thing started, shall we!?
Every year, I like to kick off the October countdown with some art. Since 2003, I have created an increasingly defined and prominent Highbury Cemetery haunt logo for the season. The logo is used on posters, stickers, and a very small batch of t-shirts. Each year, the t-shirts are hand printed here at the Cemetery and then given out as a thank you to everyone who helps put on the yard haunt on Halloween night.
The logo is the perfect way to get the October creative juices flowing and a perfect symbol to kick off the haunt season. I'm really happy with the way this year's logo turned out and I'm really excited to reveal it now.
So ladies and gentlemonsters, boils and ghouls, I proudly present the ghastly and gruesome logo for Highbury Cemetery, 2019:
This year, Highbury Cemetery is in a new location and after 15 years, it sure felt weird typing the word "Copley" instead of the word "Akron."
But really, it all lends itself to a new, nervous excitement. Year 16 is a blank page and a brand new chapter. I'm not sure how much I'll be able to set up in this year's display or how many people will even show up in this new neighborhood, but either way, I'm ready to shock my unsuspecting neighbors on the big night with a display unlike anything they have ever seen around here! I only get one chance to announce the arrival of Highbury Cemetery, so I had better get it right!
So here we are again.
One down and 30 more to go. The days will go by fast, so let's be sure to make the most of them. (And if you get a minute, please check out all of the other crazy and cool blogs participating in this year's Countdown to Halloween! Every year, the celebration gets bigger!) I hope to see you tomorrow and the day after that and the day after that for some more Halloween madness and fun! The 2019 Halloween countdown has begun!!
