Jeff and Kay Jabusch are ready with their motion-activated witch for this year's Halloween decorations at their home. The couple is excited to share their new selection of ghoulish decorations with trick-or-treaters after a garage fire last year destroyed their display.
Calling all candy lovers - a year after a blaze destroyed the Jabusch garage, the family's renowned Halloween decorations are back from the dead, with enough inflatable monsters and spooky skeletons to terrorize an entire army of trick-or-treaters.
Kay and Jeff Jabusch aren't certain what caused last year's fire, though they suspect an old light bulb may have overheated and ignited nearby drapery. Instead of their usual festive fare - lights, grinning skulls and ominous signage directing trick-or-treaters into the decked-out garage - Jeff and Kay put a smoke machine in the wreckage on Ocean View Drive and passed out candy from a card table on the side of the road. "The candy was still in the house, so it got saved," said Jeff.
Many beloved decorations were lost to the fire, including a homemade coffin, a stuffed vulture and assortments of bones, skeletons and toy rats. This Halloween, the couple has begun to rebuild their collection of Halloween décor, though they are starting almost from scratch.
"We had some decorations - not much - that were stored over in a shed," said Kay. "So we were able to bring that in. ... But most everything you see is new." Holiday visitors can look forward to encountering a life-sized cackling witch statue and a Medusa head with glowing eyes and moving snake hair.
"We're still experimenting," added Jeff. He and Kay will add more decorations each year and slowly build up to their display to its pre-fire proportions.
Now that they have built a bigger and better garage, Kay and Jeff are taking extra fire precautions - the decorations are farther apart, all the lights are LED and a fire extinguisher is conspicuously placed near the garage's side entrance. "That's not a prop," joked Kay, pointing to the extinguisher.
Massive inflatables are the centerpieces of the pair's new decorative strategy. "This time," Kay explained, "we went with bigger stuff since we have a bigger area to cover."
The couple is excited to share their new space with kids, families and nostalgic teens this season. Their Halloween turnout is usually quite high, from 100 to 180 children and parents. Jeff is particularly proud of the turnout since the Jabusch home is not centrally located. "(Parents) have to drive out here," he said.
On Halloween night, the couple plans to spend the entire evening in the garage, since the steep flight of stairs up to their door could be a tripping hazard for kids wearing masks or robes.
They started preparing their decorations in early September.
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