My focus this year is on
what I see, as I drive around a lot, and have seen much of the town. Granted, I'm based more on the north side, with my house near Broad and Mary, the epicenter of trick-or-treating and possibly Halloween decorating too.
First, to separate out political decorating from fall decorating. There seem to be equal numbers of Harris signs and Trump signs. Harris ones have ones that go with it: Eric, Amor, etc. while Trump has Judge Joe, etc. Never have I seen crossover, which used to be common: someone liking a Democrat for President, but a Republican for a lower office. No, that doesn't happen anymore. These signs are common but are never mixed with fall deco either.
On the fall deco front, it occurs to me that there is an old-fashioned direction for fall deco. This includes real pumpkins, bales of hay, old cornstalks, scarecrows, etc. This is very rare but still out there. Actually it's my favorite; I could do with a single ear of indian corn. But it is rarely mixed with the flashier stuff or with the political signs. No not rarely, never. A very small minority of houses have a small traditional fall display.
The problem with the balloons and statues is that once people get started they have trouble stopping. Some houses have twelve, up to twenty statues or balloons. Among the balloon statues some don't make it and lie like humps of plastic; maybe somebody has punctured them. These statues can be anything but are usually not fall-themed (pumpkins). They are more likely ghosts, vampires, dragons, skeletons.
Speaking of skeletons the obsession with death is really one of the strongest themes. In fact some decorators have taken joy from mixing death with even the most joyful occasions: a bride covered with blood, or a child, or a woman and baby carriage, blood all over it, etc. Express yourself! I think it's kind of gruesome, but I'm also curious what they are thinking. I guess Halloween gives you permission to
be death, put it out there in all its forms, show the world that death trumps everything. There is not a lot of vandalism on these massive displays, that I can tell; the punctured balloons are just as likely to be leaky or defective. One can decorate, or over-decorate, or fill up one's lawn. No problem.
The dragons and the purple are what I detect as a slight innovation from last year. One house on my street has all purple lights; very pretty. I always thought of purple as a Mardi-Gras color, but it can be fall too I guess. Brown, black, orange, white, those are the usual. Brown and green started appearing last year as ones to help highlight the white, black and orange. But my question is, where did the dragons come from? Are they just because you're allowed any fantasy you want? Is there some association with fall or something else?
People who carve pumpkins now (Oct. 10) will find them good and rotten by Halloween, and though that's not all bad, those who wait to buy them after the middle of the month may find it's too late, all the pumpkins are gone. Some people buy them by the wagonload. This one house in Abingdon sells whole wagons of them as far as I can tell. They come in from the countryside in wagonloads, and who has any idea how sincere they are? I bought one - as I said, I'm a minimalist, and traditionalist. Actually I don't really believe in deco at all. I'm just kind of studying it, and enjoying it. Maybe if I'm in this town long enough, it'll win me over and I'll start going all out too.
