{"id":30549,"date":"2025-11-06T15:21:46","date_gmt":"2025-11-06T20:21:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/?p=30549"},"modified":"2025-11-06T15:21:48","modified_gmt":"2025-11-06T20:21:48","slug":"huge-halloween-display-a-labor-of-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/06\/huge-halloween-display-a-labor-of-love\/","title":{"rendered":"Huge Halloween display a labor of love"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By BOB SHRALUKA<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

WZBD.com<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s quiet again these days on the southeast corner of Mix Ave. in Decatur, just off Washington St., but for a month each year it comes alive with a Halloween display that is like no other \u2013 and which draws onlookers on a daily basis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To Alicia and Cale Shields, Halloween is like the Fourth, Memorial Day, Christmas, Thanksgiving and all the rest wrapped up into one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you haven’t seen their yard full of skeletons, ghosts, witches, goblins, et al, then mark it down on your 2026 calendar for a visit next October.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy husband (Cale) and I have had a love for Halloween for many years,\u201d Alicia says. \u201cEvery year for the last nine years we have had a Halloween costume party with friends and family. When we started seeing these large props, we knew we had to have them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe love Halloween so much my husband and I decided to get married last October 26 and turned our Halloween party into our reception.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was a blast \u2026 We knew last year we wanted to go big and this year we went even bigger. Halloween holds a special place for both of us now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They went big, alright. Maybe \u201chuge\u201d would be a better description.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the stuff is all theirs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe own all of our props; either we purchased them or built them,\u201d Alicia explained. \u201cWe have been collecting these large displays for the last four years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c We started doing large props four years ago, but the last two years have been the largest by far. Every year we add more large props and change the dynamics of the display.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Alicia and Cale \u2013 a quality assurance manager and a welding supervisor, respectively, with Strickler Trailers of Monroe for 10-plus years \u2013 do all the work setting up the display.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe usually have a game plan or strategy already planned out before we set up each year,\u201d she said. \u201cWe try to make it different every year. Depending on the size of the display it can take anywhere from one to two weeks with us adding small things each week afterward until we are finished.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then, of course, that is always that remorseful day that inevitably comes around each year. This year, it began the Saturday after Halloween.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen we tear the display down we usually recruit a friend’s son to help us and we can get everything down and put away in two to three days.\u201d Alicia explained. \u201cOnce everything is boxed or bagged back up, we store it all here in our shed and basement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAny larger of a display and we will have to buy another shed!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The display has, as one can imagine, numerous onlookers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDuring the evening, Cale and I would sit out in the garage and watch people drive by wave and video the display,\u201d Alicia noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMany people would stop and ask if they could take pictures with their kids. Some nights we would have 15-20 cars after turning the lights on, depending on which night of the week it was. But many people would drive by during the day as well, just to tell us how awesome it is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe had multiple parents bring their children almost every night to the ‘spooky house,’ or take the long way home just to drive by because their kids enjoy it so much!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those who have seen the display can appreciate how much work \u2013 and cost \u2013 goes into it. But for the Shields couple, it is a labor of love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe work so hard on planning, making props and setup\/tear down that this (story) and the hundreds of compliments we have received this year make it all worthwhile,\u201d Alicia exclaimed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By BOB SHRALUKA WZBD.com It’s quiet again these days on the southeast corner of Mix Ave. in Decatur,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":30551,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[17,14,15],"class_list":["post-30549","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","tag-community","tag-decatur","tag-featured"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wzbd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Mix-H-ween-night.jpg?fit=677%2C304&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30549","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30549"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30549\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30553,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30549\/revisions\/30553"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}