For 30th Year, Severna Park Home Enlivens Neighborhood With Festive Halloween Display

Spiders, ghouls and maniacal pumpkins – these are incarnations that most families could do without. Severna Park daycare operator Linda Williams has welcomed these manifestations to her home, and although they may not be the same real monsters that keep people up at night, they still invigorate the Evergreen Estates community with a spirited and frightening presence.

For each of the last 30 years, Williams has decorated her abode for Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Fourth of July and Easter. But because 535 children and 100 infants have enjoyed care at the local home, it’s only fitting that the kids help with the displays.

“I started doing it for therapy because when you are in a house with children all day, it’s very grueling sometimes,” Williams expressed. “The kids like to help out, so they will help make the scarecrows. It keeps them focused on what they’re doing to learn more.”

Scarecrows are not the only thing that passersby will notice. A ring of ghosts sits near the front of the yard and surrounds a tree branch festooned with purple and orange lights. The nearby bench features scarecrow-and-pumpkin-themed crafts, and beyond the driveway, trees are enveloped with webs and thick, furry spiders. Pumpkins on the front porch give way to more branches, these ones adorned with lights, miniature ghosts and witch hats.

This sight welcomes boys and girls every day as they enter Williams’ house, and the children couldn’t be happier, because they helped with every aspect. They created scarecrows from ornamental grasses found in the backyard, and they used a dog collar to modify a witch hat that overlooks the living room fireplace. Williams emphasized that the seasonal project is fun and educational for youth.

“The kids helped me make the ghosts with Styrofoam balls, and they thought it was cool how we used our tomato stakes because we had a children’s garden this year. So we recycled [the stakes] and used them for our ghosts,” the daycare operator indicated. “They all helped carve the pumpkin on the front porch. Even a 2-year-old helped paint the pumpkin, which was cool.”

Other members of the Evergreen Estates community have taken notice of the decorated home, and joined in the spirited effort, too. “It’s cute because the neighbors like it too, and it started a nice tradition,” Williams mentioned. “Nobody on this street would decorate, but now we all compete. As soon as I put mine up, you can watch and predict what neighbors are going to start putting decorations up. So it’s been nice because it has brightened up this whole section of the street.”

While there are only a few days left to view Williams’ Halloween decorations, she said the Christmas display should be up by the first week of December. Over the years, the daycare owner has developed a following of people who are curious to see the local holiday home.

“A couple years ago, I was talking to a real estate agent, and somebody gave her directions to my house,” Williams recalled. “She said, ‘I know where you are.’ And I said, ‘Well, how do you know where I am?’ And she answered, ‘You’re known as the holiday house in Severna Park.’”

After 30 years of elaborate displays, the reputation of Linda’s home is finally carrying past the Evergreen Estates neighborhood. “It’s nice that everyone is jumping onboard because it makes it feel more community oriented,” Williams observed.