From year to year the question I often got about the displays was, “why don’t you do something scary for Halloween?”.  My response has always been that Halloween is about small kids as well as big ones, and that I try to think of and create themes that will make for a wonderful visit for everyone, every year.  In 2015, though, I let out my inner “scary person” by dedicating the theme to the fabulous AMC television drama, The Walking Dead. For those who don’t know the show, it is a post-apocalyptic ‘family’ drama: with Zombies. Many, many Zombies.  I’ve loved the show from day one; the characters are like family. 

For Halloween 2015 the Zombies (aka ‘Walkers’) came to Heddington on Halloween. In droves. We had excellent professional face painters in the afternoon and many friends, family and neighbours partook. Thus on the rain free (finally!) Halloween eve, we had both my herd of five ‘dead’ Walkers (one of whom was pulling itself out of a 200lb pumpkin) and an unrivaled herd of ‘live’ Walkers scaring the wits out of the 800+ trick or treaters braving Heddington on Halloween.  This year, we raised $2,000 for SickKids Foundation (online and donations at the event) which was a major landmark for our fundraising efforts.  The television networks and print press were onsite: morning, noon and night (literally).  The vibe on the street was amazing.

For those of you who know me well, this will be shocking – I was up at 5:30 a.m. to prepare for a two hour morning shoot with the fabulous Jamie Gutfreund of CP24.