If you live in the Clifton/Montclair area or visit it during Halloween, you might be aware of the expansive single-house Halloween display that Wayne Gangi ‘treats’ us all to this time of year…or I should say used to treat us all to. Wayne just posted that “due to the burden of dealing with multiple penalties triggered by the construction of this year’s creation. It is sickening to me that my efforts to create a free, Halloween Go To Experience that parents bring thousands of children to enjoy and be rewarded with a treat has been sabotaged by erroneous complaints.” Wayne, who has been trick-or-treating us to his display on the corner of Grove St. and Robin Hood Rd. for a quarter of a century (go figure, it’s been that long?!), won’t be trotting out the spiders, webs, and other goolies this year because of those penalties and complaints.
I wrote about Wayne and some problems with a display he had a few years ago (see this FU blog: https://fuimfromjersey.com/just-jersey/these-are-the-mannequins-in-my-neighborhood/), and I know he’s had complaints about the noise and the mad traffic buildup around his corner house; I have seen Clifton’s finest out there directing traffic. And while yes, I know it could seem a blight on a quiet little corner and maybe some of the neighbors don’t much like it (all legitimate complaints), but being a huge fan of Halloween and indeed seeing how much folks enjoy what Wayne usually treats them to, I feel bad that this tradition is stopping.
Too many holiday traditions have come and gone in my lifetime. Those wonderful TV Christmas specials that used to be broadcast on network TV only once a year are now strewn across various channels, or Apple TV has claimed them. Kids don’t trick or treat well into the evening hours anymore like we used to (or trick or treat at all). And Thanksgiving is all but forgotten in the October rush for trees and tinsel.
But I can go on and on about how I feel things have changed and not so very much for better, in almost all aspects of my life. Hell, this is mostly what I write about here in this blog!
What I am on about here mostly though is that I am sorry to see an All Hallows Clifton-based tradition die. Again, I am a huge fan of Halloween. As mentioned in a blog a couple of weeks ago, my birthday is the day before the 31st; the fall smells and colors spark a special longing in me, and I really love candy; so what could be better than this holiday? Wayne losing his desire to put up his fantastic display (the guy really did litter his corner house and yard with so much stuff) hits me hard.
As I have to assume it will for lots of people.
Well, Happy Halloween, the best you can make of it. Save me candy apples.
