KAPAA — Skeletons, a bloodied bride and bodies crawling with spiders adorn the Cantu family’s yard, a maze of fun and fright. On Friday afternoon, as the clock neared 24 hours to show time, the family adjusted the mannequin’s limbs
KAPAA — Skeletons, a bloodied bride and bodies crawling with spiders adorn the Cantu family’s yard, a maze of fun and fright.
On Friday afternoon, as the clock neared 24 hours to show time, the family adjusted the mannequin’s limbs and faces, putting the finishing touches on “The Haunted Yard,” a Halloween tradition 31 years in the making.
Every Oct. 31 the Cantu family invites trick-or-treaters large and small into their yard, a labor of love and community spirit.
There are two zones. The front yard, decorated with Disney characters and a scene straight out of Michael Jackson’s Thriller music video, evokes more smiles than scares. But enter the full-on scare zone at your own risk, if you dare. In the backyard, all bets are off.
“The best is hearing big men scream,” said Stacie Fernandes Cantu, whose mother made a Halloween tradition of inviting the neighbors over for a good scream starting in 1984. “They don’t know what is living and what is not.”
Over the years, the decor grew more elaborate as tradition was passed down from generation to generation.
These days Ishmael Cantu, Fernandes Cantu’s husband, uses clay, plaster of Paris and fiberglass to hand molds the masks of characters like Edward Scissorhands and Elsa from the Disney movie “Frozen.” He has started teaching his daughter the craft, and her handiwork can be seen on the face of Frozen’s Anna in the winter scene.
Almost every character in the yard is up-cycled or handmade. Most of the mannequins were donated from neighbors and friends. All year long the family scouts garage sales and thrift shops for costumes as well as dolls, so that, come Halloween, they can take out the eyes and pop them in to holes Ishmael Cantu carves into the mannequin’s heads.
The Haunted Yard has grown to include dozens of characters, sometimes luring more than 500 adults and children from all over the island.
“We do it because we love Halloween and we want to give back to the community and, for us, it’s a tradition and it’s fun,” said Fernandes Cantu. “We love sharing. Why not? Life is so short.”
It’s not only Halloween that has the Cantu family going all out. For Christmas, the family decorates 25 trees ranging in size from six-and-a-half to 12 feet tall.
“At Christmas our house looks like a forest inside,” Fernandes Cantu said. “We’re kind of crazy about holidays, but we have fun.”
This year’s The Haunted Yard is in a new location: 5112 Ioana Street in Kapaa. All are welcome, rain or shine, from 5 to 10 tonight. It is free. Parking is available on Ohu Street. The Cantu family discourages alcohol, drugs of any kind and pets.
