Seven-year-old Zydra Grier, wearing a Sugar Skull costume, appears unfazed by the animatronic fellow with the glowing eyes and red hood. Zydra and the person in the dinosaur costume were two of many trick-or-treaters that made their way on Halloween to the Kingston home of Christa Michalek.
Mark Guydish | For Times Leader
Kingston woman decorates big time for ‘favorite holiday’
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A stream of smoke that changed from blue to pink enveloped 4-year-old Norah Gallagher when she, dressed as a yellow dragon, went trick-or-treating at Christa Michalek’s elaborately decorated home on Rutter Avenue in Kingston on Halloween.
Mark Guydish | For Times Leader
A flying nun with a skull face, a scarecrow, an ghostly sea captain and skeletons of all sizes were part of the decor for Christa Michalek of Kingston on Halloween which is, no surprise, her favorite holiday.
Mark Guydish | For Times Leader
An ancient mariner with glowing eyes, jagged teeth and a long beard grips the wheel of his ship. He was one of many Halloween figures decorating the porch and yard at Christa Michaelk’s home on Rutter Avenue in honor of Halloween.
Mark Guydish | For Times Leader
Four-year-old Norah Gallagher didn’t seem scared at all — well, maybe a little startled — when a stream of smoke shot out at her as she reached the porch of her neighbor, Christa Michalek, on Thursday evening.
The stream of smoke changed colors, from blue to pink as the little girl, dressed in a yellow dragon costume, clutched her Halloween treats and walked back to her mom, Megan.
“We helped set it up,” Megan Gallagher said, offering an explanation why her daughter wasn’t scared of Michalek’s display which included larger-than-life skeletons, a scarecrow, a grave digger and just about any other monstrous creature you might imagine. Many were animatronic, speaking and moving as trick-or-treaters approached Michalek’s Victorian-style home in the 300 block of Rutter Avenue in Kingston.
But, perhaps because night had not yet fallen when the Times Leader visited, the first trick-or-treaters of the evening seemed quite brave about approaching the display.
Seven-year-old Zydra Grier, wearing a Sugar Skull costume, went so far as to give a grim reaper’s sword a little slap. Take that!
“No, they’re not scared,” Joseph Medina said of his 3-year-old son, Josiah, and 2-year-old daughter, Honesty, who were riding in a double stroller. “I love Halloween,” the dad noted.
So does Michalek, who has been steadily adding to her collection of Halloween statues for years.
To mention a few, there was a dog skeleton on the lawn; a family of skeletons on a porch swing and a group of disembodied hands sticking up between the slats of a pallet on the lawn, as if some unfortunate souls were trying to escape.
“It’s my favorite holiday,” Christa Michale said, adding she and her mother, Carol Michalek, who lives nearby, had prepared enough treats for 400 trick-or-treaters.
And, Carol Michalek noted, even though she is quite familiar with the display, it can still scare her in the dark.