It started 19 years ago with a gift of some surplus Halloween decorations.
And the Ayers has been paying it forward ever since, growing the spooky display around their Coquitlam home and the donations they’re able to make to Variety — The Children’s Charity.
This year, Lucille Ayers said the family is hoping to be able to donate $10,000 from contributions by appreciative visitors as well as the proceeds from the sale of Halloween trinkets like glow sticks and necklaces, laser pens and CDs of spooky music.
Preparation for this year’s display began before Thanksgiving so it would be set up in time for its first official visitors beginning tomorrow (Saturday). That entailed hauling out the dozens of large boxes and sacks squirrelled away in every nook and corner of their garage and home, and filled with all manner of creepy critters, ghastly ghouls, glowing skulls, cackling witches, dusty gravestones and giant hairy spiders. Some of them shake, rattle and screech, adding an extra dimension of fright.
Ayers said most have been donated over the years by friends and neighbours and businesses looking to unload some surplus merchandise.
She said planning and erecting the display has become a bit of a family tradition, with her husband Barry and daughter Vickie taking on a lot of the heavy lifting. The payoff is the squeals of frightened delight from kids who stop by between 6:30 and 9 p.m. nightly until Halloween, and the smiles on the faces of their parents.
“It’s become a social event,” Ayers said. “Some people stay for a couple of hours.”
Ayers, who brings some life to the display by dressing as a friendly witch to greet visitors, said the family takes pains to stay on good terms with their neighbours, shutting down the display at a reasonable hour. And they want to make sure the display is accessible to all, so even visitors in wheelchairs can roll right into some of the creepiest sections of the haunted house.
• The Ayers’ haunted house is located at 443 Draycott St. in Coquitlam. The scariness begins at 6:30 p.m. every day from Oct. 20 to 31, and ends at 9:30 p.m. For more information go to www.coquitlamhalloweenhouse.com.
