Menlo Park’s most ghoulish Halloween front yard is ready for viewing

Starting when his twins were quite young, Greg Hyde has been decorating his front yard on Laurel Street (between Encinal and Glenwood) with a fascinating assortment of life-size goblins and ghouls. This year is no exception— although the process was a bit different.

“Bethany is in the fall musical [at M-A] and Devin is on the varsity football team,” he emailed.  “They really did not have time to come up with a new theme this year. They helped some but as teenagers they want their time.

“I mostly winged it based on what got pulled out of storage first. The house at 1435 Laurel St was sold this summer/fall so the former owner buzz cut a lot of the vegetative growth for curb appeal. This opened up our yard to more street visibility so we are able to spread out in our yard in that direction.

“We have also used more of the small yard next to the driveway for more cemetery space. I have added the orange moon which was donated to us last November by an old gentleman in a 1959 International Harvester pickup truck. I always appreciate donations..

“We added a few solar powered spot lights to have more light that is cost and hands free lighting. This year it took three full weekends to get everything up.

“Bethany said she did not want to do anything political this year. That is why the Zombie presidents are displayed in a more subtle location. She wanted to do something fun because things have been so burdened by the pandemic. She wanted things to be more normal. Last year a number of people thanked us for keeping the display going during the pandemic as a sign of normality.

“Devin’s big plan for a Zombie attack vehicle did not come to fruition. He says wait until next year!”

About those donations: A few years back we gave “Pete” to Greg. Pleased to see that he’s center stage in this year’s display—clown with red hair.

Photos by Robb Most (c) 2021