Halloween on Highway 92
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| Hailey and Alyssa Lucas with their brother, Caleb Matznick, stopped for lessons at the Ghoul School, one of the many Halloween displays that are open for public viewing at the Sturtevant home east of Walnut on Route 92. (BCR photo/Linda Graff) |
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WALNUT — Once again, Halloween takes a new and twisted turn for travelers on Route 92, east of Walnut.
For the past 10 years, Lisa and Skip Sturtevant have decorated their yard and home with everything from ghosts to headless mannequins to headstones and ghouls playing cards, to everything spooky in between.
While some people search throughout the year for Christmas bargains, the Sturtevants search for anything and everything that can be twisted and propped into their annual Halloween extravaganza. The couple has gotten numerous old mannequin heads from beauty schools, along with piles of clothes and odds and ends from thrift stores and garage sales. As the popularity of the Sturtevants’ Halloween display has grown, the couple has also received donations from community members, family and friends for their annual Halloween happening.
Most anything can be transformed to capture the Halloween spirit, Lisa said in an earlier interview with the Bureau County Republican.
The Sturtevants began their elaborate Halloween display several years ago after becoming a blended family. The couple was looking for a fun thing to do with their children, Lisa said. The more the Sturtevants filled their yard with goblins and ghosts, the more the family enjoyed it, and the more travelers stopped to have a closer look, she said.
“When we became a blended family, we started celebrating holidays that weren’t important to everyone else,” Lisa said. “With your major holidays, you are pulled into going 20 different ways, so this was our special day.”
The Sturtevants begin decorating their yard for Halloween in mid-September. The ideas for their numerous displays have come from their own thinking. Each year, more things are put together and expanded.
As in previous years, there are lots of things to see and experience at the rural Walnut Halloween spooktacular, including the Road Kill Cafe, which serves up specialties like Rack of Raccoon, and the Mary Decaying Beauty Parlor. Other displays include a disco dance party, in full swing with a disc jockey, Frankenstein, the invisible man and women and werewolves.
Another favorite site for a stroll on the Sturtevant property is the cemetery, which includes rows of headstones. Among those “buried” in the cemetery are Hal O. Ween, Ben Nicetoknowyou, Y.Z. Stilliving, Otto B. Alice, Ima Gone, and Doug M. Upp.
Other displays include the Ghoul School, a bowling and golf displays, and a medical clinic.
There is no fee required to walk through the grounds of the Sturtevants’ Halloween display. However, there will be donation boxes set up to help defray the costs of electricity, supplies and storage.
The Sturtevants estimate hundreds of people take advantage of their Halloween display each year. The couple has received calls from various groups to come to see the display, including area nursing homes, Quad Cities groups, school groups and Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts.
The biggest enjoyment they get from all their hard work is the comments and compliments they receive from their visitors, both Lisa and Skip said.
With a speed limit of 55 mph on Highway 92, the Sturtevants encourage visitors to pull into the driveway for a better and safer look around. The Halloween display will not be dismantled until the week after Halloween.
BCR Senior Staff Writer Donna Barker contributed to this report.
