Holiday decorating has always been big in Gladstone Park. There have been Valentines hearts on doors, St. Patrick’s Day Pots ‘o Gold on lawns, and flags and bunting hung for the Fourth of July. But like in communities across America, holiday house-and-yard decorating always been dominated by Christmas. Not anymore. Halloween gradually began coming into its own when people everywhere began supplementing the pumpkins and scarecrows on their porches with strings of hanging ghosts, animated witches, and flying bats. Then the possibilities escalated.

How did All Hallow’s Eve become so spectacular locally? It was when the COVID Pandemic shut down trick-or-treating in 2020 that Halloween displays in Gladstone Park became a major event. Socially-isolated homeowners bursting with energy and inspired by the towering 12-foot tall skeletons Home Depot had just begun selling, created more and more magnificent displays. Carved jack-o’-lanterns became cornucopias of hay bale harvests. All manner of ghouls from witches to zombies to ghosts to mummies—some lifesized—loomed over passersby. Tombstones, skulls, fuzzy rats, Frankensteins, flying bats, bubbling cauldrons, black coffins, spiders in giant webs, and grim reapers all made their appearances. Inflatables grew exponentially, ranging from 4-foot black cats to 8-foot Draculas to 15-foot pumpkinhead monsters. As the fun grew, the parameters of what you’d expect to see expanded to include dragons, octopi, unicorns, werewolves, gargoyles, clowns, farmers, aliens, and gorillas. There were famous characters such as Scooby-Doo, Bullwinkle, and Mickey Mouse. Some were animated. Twinkling orange and purple lights graced trees more used to holding red and green Christmas strands.

The 69 representative photos below were taken on 25 different streets of Gladstone Park, just a sample of the Halloween, 2024 decorations residents had on display in their yards by October 20. If you want a real treat, take a Decorating Tour through the community in person to see these “Fright Night” sights in order heading east to west starting at N. Central. You’ll experience everything from the gauche to the spooky to the tasteful to the absurd, made even spookier at night when everything’s cackling, growling, groaning and glowing.

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