Fire burn and cauldron bubble: Kevin Groves tricks out both sides of street for Halloween

For a Halloween display you'll not soon forget, head to Brookwood Drive behind Dennis Scivally Park in Cape Girardeau after dark. Holiday enthusiast Kevin Groves' 20-year passion for witches, clowns, bloody fake body parts, tombstones, jack-o'-lanterns and fake skeletons riding a hearse fills the front yard of his home -- and the yards of five neighbors on both sides of the street.

This year's theme is "Halloween Town," made obvious by the welcoming committee comprised of lifesize 3-D characters from the movie "The Nightmare Before Christmas." But that's not all you'll find behind the dilapidated white picket fencing.

Kevin Groves surveys the multiple lawns he decorated in elaborate Halloween garb Wednesday at his home Halloween display in Cape Girardeau.By Tyler Graef ~ tgraef@semissourian.com

Scattered throughout, projected images reveal bewitching activities and faces on witch silhouettes and jack-o'-lanterns with classic Halloween melodies as the soundtrack. Between two of the homes a small field of dried stalks hide jack-o'-lanterns with eerie grins made from papier-mÃche. And across the street sits a skeleton playground, complete with a hearse and teeter totter.

"I guess I'm kind of creative, so it's a way to express that," Groves said in a skeleton-themed tie, a jacket and slacks. "And it gives me something to do; it keeps me occupied."

In his yard, a repurposed two-room Santa workshop sits next to a "rotten candy" stand and doubles as a spooky house with clowns peeking out to greet trick or treaters.

For the clowns, Groves said he bought the masks and made the bodies. "One of the first years I was here, I wanted to do clowns; I made a lot of them. I just had to add a few more and refurbish the ones that had fallen apart over the years."

Through the years, more of his neighbors agreed to offer their yards for the display, he said. And with all the yards perfectly synchronized to Groves' seasonal plan -- aside from set-up time -- it takes nearly five hours to connect the needed wiring, he said.

"I take a week's vacation," he said. "I would get up at 8 a.m. and I'd quit out here about 8 p.m. Then I'd work in the garage getting stuff ready to put out the next day or I'd see something that wasn't functioning right and I'd work on it."

In years past, passersby asked who they could donate money to for the "time and effort" it takes to construct such a display, Groves said. So new this year, all donations will benefit the Humane Society of Southeast Missouri, he said.

"I'm hoping to raise at least $300 for them," Groves said pointing to a donation box positioned next to a ghoul. "If you figure 30 days, that's $10 a day."

The display continues through Halloween.

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