2105 Fairmount Ave. – Yard of the Month (October 2015)

Fairmount’s Halloween Yard of the Month is 2105 Fairmount Ave., a 1920 Craftsman bungalow owned by Mary and Larry Harms. The Harms’ yard has won by Facebook vote two years in a row for their imaginative and witty Halloween décor.

Mary said that she began to shop for her 2015 Halloween decorations and found a white polyester suit paired with a black shirt in a thrift store and instantly thought of John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever. From the inspiration of Travolta dancing to the Bee Gee’s “Stayin’ Alive,” the disco theme took over.

The Newly Deads, a skeletal bride and groom propped up in their coffins returned again this year. For their “first anniversary” the Harms gave the pair a disco twist and stationed them on either side of the porch stairs. They are joined by ghoulish wedding guests boogying on the dance floor: a male guest wears the Travolta leisure suit, and next to him is his date wearing a floor-length, black and white graphic gown evocative of the ’70s version of a flapper dress complete with a metallic handbag. The yard was punctuated by tombstones with pop music references such as “The Day the Music Died” and “Died of Boogie Fever, 1978.” The final touch was maintaining the scene as a living-dead vignette during trick-or-treat hours. The Harms played disco music and danced with passing children and their parents on Halloween night.

“This will always be my favorite Halloween no matter what I do in the future,” Mary said. “Seeing so many people, young and old, dancing and laughing was a blast. The kids were great showing off their Travolta moves and doing ‘YMCA’ together. Children and their parents had terrific costumes this year, too.”

The Harms thank everyone who voted, but our thanks goes to them for their creative seasonal display. The Harms received a wine-tasting for eight at the Rosen House Inn, a $35 gift certificate to C. C.’s Touch of Nature and a Fairmount Community Garden logo T-shirt.

The Yard of the Month committee is Susan Taylor Harper and Bonnie Blackwell