A local yard has garnered a lot of attention over the past few years, as each October a more and more impressive display is featured on the property. This lawn belongs to Robert Oliver, who is a local attorney. Oliver stated that he has always loved Halloween, even when he was young.
“I loved dressing up, always as something scary,” Oliver stated. “I bought my first animatronic, the werewolf, back in 2017 and have added more animatronics each year.”
Oliver’s two boys, aged seven and 14 at the time, greatly enjoyed assisting in the set up and watching the animatronics for hours. It was their happiness that led Oliver to purchasing even more animatronics, and the decorations have turned into a family affair, including his wife Trisha.
The animatronics are purchased from a number of businesses, such as Spirit Halloween. Oliver also now has a real coffin that was donated by a former mortician, who happened to drive by in 2022 and asked if he had use for it. “Of course, I did!” Oliver said. “At first, he was lending it to me, then after the season, he decided to just give it to me.”
A lot of effort goes into the set up each year by the Oliver family. Initially, setup takes about three days, which consists of two nights of building the animatronics in the garage, and then a full and very long day of running power and setting everything up on the lawn.
There is then the added stress of watching the weather for wind and rain. If it looks like there will be wind gusts over 25 miles per hour or rain, the family unplugs the animatronics and stores them in the garage.
“We have it down to a science,” Oliver stated. “We mark their positions on the lawn with stakes and then move them. Trisha and I can take everything down in 25 minutes and replace everything in about 45 minutes. On Halloween, I always spend an additional day setting up extras: light strobe lights, colored lights and fog machines.”
In regard to the response received from the community, Oliver stated that the decorations are very well-loved, though there are some naysayers. There are lines of cars that stop by, takes pictures and marvel at the animatronics. Particularly, children love the display. There are about 30 large bags of candy that the family goes through each Halloween.
“This year, when we put up the decorations, I have about 15 children from the neighborhood watching as I set them up,” said Oliver.
He then shared that the positive community response is what is driving them to continue and make the display even bigger. This year, they plan on expanding into the backyard and doing a Halloween walkthrough.
-
- Photos Courtesy of Robert Oliver
