Community News

Ghosts, goblins and graveyards. Zombies roaming the streets, skeletons, giant spiders and bone-chilling frights lying in wait for the unwary in eerie, cobwebbed front yards …

Welcome to Halloween, Ghoul Coast-style, at The Surrounds.

Each year, The Surrounds together with its Leisure Centre throws a monstrous Halloween Spooktacular. Not only is it a shivery neighbourhood favourite, it’s also a high-tech sensation.

Jason and Silvia have won the coveted Spookiest House title two years running. They’re committed to the cause and well aware it takes more than a few hanging puppets to rake in the votes.

A year of planning, two weeks of preps, days of intensive set-up, and their front yard becomes a terrifyingly high-tech fright-fest with digital projections, light shows and animatronics.

This year, a laser shooting upwards created an aurora visible way down the street. Dancing skeletons, strobe lighting and sound effects set the spooky scene as digital projections of ghosts floated across the garage.

Trick or treaters earned their sweets, forced to navigate whispering ghosts and creepy crawlies including snakes, cockroaches and spiders. Lucky souls who reached the front door met an animated werewolf which jumped out at them with a final paralysing fright before they were rewarded for their bravery with candy.

All in a day’s community work at Villawood, where tight-knit neighbourhoods and traditional neighbourhood values flourish. Creating opportunities to get actively involved, to engage with neighbours, is always a priority.

A community that bands together in tough times only happens when bonds have forged through fun and uplifting times. Jason and Silvia say that’s what they’ve experienced first-hand. The Halloween Spooktacular’s fun and fright-filled night is both a highlight and a delight for them.

And scooping top prize for their relentless dedication to frightening the dickens out of their neighbours is the cream on top.