Halloween preparations in Moncton underway as holiday approaches

For the fifteenth year in a row, Christine Murray’s front lawn in Moncton, N.B., has turned into a Halloween spectacle.

“Probably with my husband and I working at it together, we usually do two or three straight eight- to nine-hour days and then after that, it’s usually about another week of seven-to-eight hour days running lighting, fencing, making sure people are safe, that they’re able to get around places,” she said.

It started off on a much smaller scale for just her family, but it’s grown into a house to see each year for people all over the Greater Moncton area.

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“Through the month, the last several years have been very, very busy. We get a lot of car traffic and foot traffic, so over the whole month we get thousands of people come and see the decorations,” she said.

“The last two years, we’ve gotten about 1,200 trick or treaters each year. That’s just children coming for the treats.”

Throughout the month, Murray constantly adds different props and decorations to keep it interesting for people who visit more than once, and on Halloween night, she tries to keep her lights on for as long as possible.

“I start buying basically February/March and I buy different bags of candies, freezies and things so it doesn’t hit the pocketbook quite as hard,” she said.

“I used to give away, when I ran out, I would get granola bars and juice boxes and raid my kid’s treat bags because I never wanted to turn my lights out, so now we try to be more and more prepared.”

Christine Murray stands outside her decorated home in Moncton, N.B., on Oct. 25, 2024. (CTV Atlantic/Alana Pickrell)

With less than a week until the big day, costume stores in Moncton were busy on Friday as people got ready for the last weekend to dress up.

“We’re going to a house party,” said Marcia Weaver.

“My husband is going to be this guy, he doesn’t know it yet, he’s going to be surprised and I’m going as a scary scarecrow.”

Taia Gallant, Angelique Joshua and Ben Land were looking for last minute additions to their costumes on Friday, with Land looking for a full costume ahead of the weekend.

“We’ve been waiting quite a while for it now, so we’re pretty excited,” said Gallant.

The group is going as party animals and were hoping to add party hats during their shopping trip.

“We got our stuff on Shien mostly because it’s cheaper,” said Gallant.

Joshua added, “it’s a mix of Shien and Spirit Halloween for the better-quality prices.”

Being a bit behind, Land wasn’t sure what to expect when he started his search.

“I don’t know how much it’s going to be for me, but we’re going to have to see,” he said.

Glimpses of Halloween can be seen on nearly every street across the city right now.

On Pellerin Drive, Aimee Cannons was making some last-minute adjustments Friday morning.

“We have a kid friendly section and then for the people who are looking for more of a scare, they can actually do a haunted walk through,” she said.

The house has everything from climbing skeletons, to creeping dolls, to blow up inflatables.

They offer a haunted walk through during the month of October and this year are hoping to raise money for a new sound system at Moncton’s Birchmount Public School.

Aimee Cannons and Sarah Graham stand outside their homemade haunted attraction in Moncton, N.B., on Oct. 25, 2024. (CTV Atlantic/Alana Pickrell)

“We’ve got a house full of kids. We’ve got five kids, they love helping out and the neighbourhood just loves it,” said Cannons.

“We get a huge turnout. Last year we had about 600 people come through, hoping for a little bit more this year. Community loves helping, they’ll drop off treats and donations and stuff, so it’s really nice.”

For Cannons, the preparations started long before the calendar flipped to October.

“In July you could see me out in the driveway, and I was cutting tombstones and my daughter started painting them,” she said.

“I started the haunted house portion Sept. 1, worked on that for the month and then I start bringing the Halloween stuff outside Oct. 1.”

There are several Halloween festivities happening over the weekend including a DJ and haunted walk through at Cannons place, several haunted corn mazes and kid-friendly events.

Plus, multiple decorated houses throughout the city and area that are set-up and ready to celebrate early.

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