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'The kids grew up with a 7-foot Jason Voorhees statue in the living room' (8 photos)

Even with the changes and challenges surrounding Halloween this year, it's still a special time of year for many people, like Brian Gallacher

Thankfully, Halloween wasn’t officially cancelled this year, because one south-end Barrie family would have a hard time removing all of their 200 decorations from their yard. 

In 2005, Brian Gallacher and his family moved into their home at 20 Violet St., near Mapleview Drive and County Road 27, and, with the new corner lot, started to expand an already extensive collection of decorations. 

“Now we just add two or three pieces a year, because we’re starting to run out of space,” Gallacher tells BarrieToday

Gallacher and his wife, Heather, have three children, all grown up now (20, 16 and 15 years old), who enjoy the spooky time of year. It's not like they had a choice.

“They help out when it comes time to decorate. They love it. We’re big horror nuts anyway, so we’ve always had things around the house,” Gallacher says. “The kids grew up with a seven-foot Jason Voorhees statue in the living room.”

Voorhees, the hockey-masked and machete-wielding murderer (or whatever weapon was handy) from the Friday the 13th movies, is a Halloween favourite for many. 

Gallacher has been a horror fan most of his life, getting into it the way most do and remembering his first scary flick.

“I remember sneaking into a room where my older cousin and my older brother were watching Day of the Dead. I remember it scaring the living crap out of me, the little scene that I saw,” Gallacher says. “But I just kept sneaking back in to see it so I just became in awe of it.”

The Gallachers' yard takes approximately two to three weeks to set up, starting in the last week of September. A path leads visitors through the many decorations, even ending up at a shack that was at the side of the house, likely for storage originally.

But being an Evil Dead fan, Gallacher added a porch to it and made it look like the cabin from the movie.

“My wife and I have been together since we were 16 years old, so we’ve enjoyed sharing this love for the genre for many years,” Gallacher says. “I think too many adults forget what it is like to be a kid, like they’re trying to minimize the holiday. Get out and have fun!”

Gallacher believes now more than ever that people should be decorating and enjoying the little things, as COVID has significantly limited parties and gatherings.

“We usually have a big party to celebrate Halloween; obviously, this year we won’t be. I doubt many will, despite Halloween being on the weekend,” Gallacher says. 

As a destination house, though, Gallacher believes their property will get close to 100 people by to see the extensive set-up, despite COVID likely keeping most people home. Usually, they see 150 to 200 trick-or-treaters in a typical year. 

“We’re doing everything we can to take the proper precautions this year. Even through my work, every year we give away pumpkins; we did it again this year with 150 being handed out,” Gallacher says. “People came out to see the displays and get a pumpkin, there was appropriate spacing, people were masked and pumpkins were sanitized.”

Candy will be handed on Saturday in a safe and sanitary manner by the Gallachers.

And for parents worried about the displays, they need not be.

“It is definitely more Scooby-Doo than Scream,” Gallacher says. “The first year we moved in here, the kids were kind of scared. I felt like such an ass. So it's been toned down and it is fine for the kids.

“However, we are looking at the backyard in the future as a place for older kids and adults to walk through and that will be a little scarier.”