Nightmare on Hillcrest Ave

Happy Halloween, peeps!

GLBT people aren't the only folks that like to celebrate what we jokingly call in the community the 'Gay National Holiday'

One fast growing tradition here in Da Ville is checking out a group of Crescent Hill homes by the reservoir on Hillcrest Ave. It's a must walk through destination for pint sized ghouls, goblins and costumed candy seekers of all ages.

For twenty years those homeowners in that stretch have done lavish decoration jobs for Halloween. It has grown so popular that they draw crowds of up to 20,000 people from all over the Louisville metro area to see them. Some of the owners bought their homes specifically so that they could participate in this annual neighborhood frightfest.

My favorite in that four block stretch of homes between Frankfort Ave and Brownsboro Rd is 'Dante's Disco Inferno'.

The owner of this house puts down an authentic flashing lights disco floor, has mirrored disco balls, has tombstones with death dates for disco and Tony Manero (John Travolta's character in Saturday Night Fever) and plays disco hits all night long. Usually people walking along that stretch will hear a song they like, stop and shake their booty's.

Themes range from the Peanuts gang Linus welcoming the Great Pumpkin to ghostly cemeteries. Freddie, Leatherface and various Hollywood horror monsters pop out from behind trees at inopportune times to scare you.

They spend tons of cash on candy, and sometimes to one up each other. One memorable Halloween Dawn and I stopped by this house that rented a 16 piece orchestra. They played Halloween and Christmas music as they served hot chocolate and passed out candy on a clear but cool night.

Others will show screenings of classic and current horror movies. The Peanuts themed one runs the classic 'It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown' cartoon all night long.

Many of the homeowners say that the annual project has helped them get to know their neighbors and built a close knit community in the process. Neither they, the civic association or any group gives out an official prize for the best decorated home, but it's obvious there's a little bit of a competitive streak going when it comes to putting together these themed decorations.

And it's deeply appreciated by all of us looking for interesting stuff to do on Halloween night.