Like a kid in a candy store, Mike Larios spends hours trying to find just the right touches for his Halloween display.
This year, the bulk of his personal holiday shopping spree took place over the summer.
While others scan the Internet and store sale bills for Christmas shopping, Larios puts as much effort — if not more — into finding items for his elaborately decorated yard.
Over one stretch in July and August, Larios averaged one major purchase a week, usually in the form of an automated ghoul or monster who now stands guard at the Larios household at the intersection of Sycamore and Irwin streets. On one side is an automated Dracula, another ghoul cut off at the waist struggling to find his legs and a mummified victim trapped in a gigantic spider web. On the other side is a fortune-telling witch, eager to forecast tales of woe to anyone who appoaches.
But the centerpiece — and brand new to the Larios display — is a morbid butcher shop scene.
A freakish butcher surrounded by his “merchandise” — severed body parts of his victims — greets all who dare enter the Larios property.
“I’m pretty happy with it,” Larios said.
The display was judged the best in Iola by the Iola Pride Committee, the third straight year he’s earned the designation. For his efforts, Larios earned a candied pumpkin pie.
Other finalists for the Halloween award were Brenda and Lyle Kern, 417 E. Jackson Ave., Terry and Sandy Zornes, 409 E. Jackson Ave., Michael and Alyssa Blevins, 104 S. Third St., and Lewis and Debbie Clark, 317 N. Fourth St.
WITH MOST of his purchases on hand by August, Larios began working in earnest on the display the last week of September.
He wouldn’t have it any othe way, wife Kim said.
“He gets excited about it,” Kim said.
The Larios display has garnered more attention from the community as it grows from year to year.
“I’m not sure how much my neighbors like it,” he said. “We have quite a few more trick-or-treaters around here than we used to.”
When the Larioses moved to their new house a few years back, they went from one Halloween extreme to the other. They formerly lived on Jackson Avenue, part of Iola’s vaunted “Halloween Row” in which the street was blocked off so children could trick-or-treat safely for each lavishly decorated home.
“We were used to giving out Halloween candy to hundreds of kids,” Kim said. “Then we moved here, and we have eight trick-or-treaters.”
But as the notoriety of his house grows, so do the trick-or-treater numbers.
MONDAY MARKS a special event in more ways than one. It also is the Larios’ first wedding anniversary.
Mike and Kim have been a couple for more than 20 years, “but we finally decided to make it official,” Mike said. “Of course we picked Halloween.”
