Long Islanders are decorating bigger, brighter and earlier for Halloween

Halloween came more than a month early in Westbury when, on Sept. 26, David Sawicki hit a switch and brought his “Dead End Graveyard” to life.

Neighborhood children counted down to the big moment at the house — on a literal dead end — before witches, werewolves, a mad scientist, nurse, bride, vampire, bartender, maid, card player and other mechanical monsters lit up the lawn.

While calendars still say Halloween is Oct. 31, the holiday season is starting much earlier for Long Island’s devoted decorators and spooky season superfans. Trick-or-treaters won’t knock on doors until then, but as animatronics, inflatables and 12-foot skeletons have caught on, homeowners are spending more time and money — sometimes thousands of dollars — and kicking the season off in late summer. Fueled by social media and the availability of high-tech decorations, some might consider it a kind of Halloween arms race with houses vying to be the best, biggest and most brazen on their block.

“Several homeowners I know start decorating for Halloween as early as August, especially if they’re building their own props or animatronics,” said Samantha Pearce, of Sound Beach, who runs the Facebook page Holiday Houses of Long Island.

Pearce believes the increased interest in Halloween decorating took off during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic “when people couldn’t really go to regular haunted house attractions or Halloween-themed locations, but still wanted to enjoy the spirit of the holiday.”

The Sawickis’ Halloween display includes more than 40 animatronics, 30 tombstones, dozens of homemade objects easily totaling 100 elements designed to provide a happy pre-Halloween.

“We have people who come in and say, ‘Why isn’t it up?’ ” said Teresa Sawicki, 55. “They expect it up by the end of September. Halloween’s become like Christmas without the gifts.”

BRING ON THE GUILLOTINE

In 2005, the Sawickis' daughter Jennifer, then 6, made a request that turned into a tradition. “She said she wanted something scary,” Sawicki said. “I try to make my kids happy.”

The holiday has since turned into a labor of love for them and others — emphasis on the labor. Sawicki, 56, has built a guillotine, moving heads, plywood gravestones and more.

“I’m good with my hands,” he said. “My father was very handy growing up. I learned it from him. I can cook up small motors, basic electric and carpentry.”

Chris Gray, 56, a union electrician, and his girlfriend, Jennifer Ricciardi, 55, a high school teacher, transformed their Commack home into what they call “Stonywood Scare” well before the big day.

“Building the props takes a long time, laying out the electric, the lights. It’s very time-consuming,” said Gray, adding that he spends five weeks setting up the lawn, starting in early September. “I have to climb on my roof to put spiders up.”

His career skills come in handy when animating his lawn. “I know how to balance the circuits properly, so I don’t trip breakers,” Gray said. “I make my own extension cords. All the props come with an adapter. I figure out the layout and the wiring.”

Stephanie Giancristofaro, a public defender who lives in Centereach, started setting up in early September and turned on the displays later that month.

“You sort of make it your own and create scenes. I am not a fan of haphazardly throwing stuff randomly on your lawn,” said Giancristofaro, 38. “I try to do different scenes and change it up every year. Everybody gets a new look every year.”

THE PRICE OF FUN

Building these elaborate displays isn’t cheap. Homeowners spend hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars each year.

Giancristofaro declined to give exact figures but said she has spent “a lot” on 50 animatronics along with hay bales, pumpkins, jack-o’-lanterns, skeletons, coffins and fog machines. Animatronics typically run between $50 and $350, according to the website for Spirit Halloween, the pop-up store. While the bills can be the scariest part of Halloween, Giancristofaro said she budgets for it.

“The thing I spend the most money on all year is Halloween,” she said. “I save and do what I have to do and budget for this throughout the year.”

Gray said he redesigns his lawn show each year. “Every year we buy and do a different design, so it’s never the same,” he said. “Everything’s placed in different areas.”

Two years ago he bought about 20 props and last year purchased an additional 15, each typically costing $150 to $400, plus wires and lights, corn stalks, hay and other fall decor.

The Sawickis said they spend about $2,000 a year on new items, and David Sawicki maintains the small Halloween army. The Sawickis don’t rent storage space, but have a shed and additional space in the backyard.

“Storing the stuff is difficult,” Sawicki said. “Collecting things together like a jigsaw gets so expensive.”

Gray said he rented a storage facility two years ago, costing more than $3,000 a year, and rents a truck to transport the items there and back.

“It’s a lot,” he admitted. “It takes three weeks to take down. It’s harder to put it together than to take it apart. Building everything takes three times as long.”

FUNDRAISERS, SPONSORS

To offset costs, the Sawickis now have sponsors — local companies that donate $100 to $500 in exchange for their names on faux tombstones.

Sponsors include D & A Sand and Gravel based in Mineola (Sawicki’s employer), East Norwich-based United Paving and others. The Sawickis also turn their haunt into a fundraiser, collecting donations for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital via QR codes and collection boxes.

The neighborhood has gotten involved as well. When someone a few years ago stole a bride holding her groom’s severed head, neighbors sprang to the rescue.

“We posted about it,” David Sawicki said. “The neighborhood got together without our knowing and purchased us a new one.”

Gray, who said he has raised more than $11,000 for charities, also puts signs with QR codes linking to charity websites, as well as a cash box.

“I make up a QR code,” Gray said. “It’s a lot easier than cash. If people don’t have cash, they scan it and boom.”

In 2021, he raised money for the New York Bully Crew, a pit bull adoption group; in 2022 for St. Jude (about $7,000), and in 2023 created three scholarships for seniors in the Farmingdale High School marching band and kickline. The Wounded Warrior Project was the beneficiary last year.

He is raising money this year for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

Giancristofaro said she doesn’t have a charity element, but may add one. “That’s our plan for next year,” she said.

HAUNTING STORE WEBSITES

The larger displays could be attributed in part to the recent availability of animatronics, as lawns fill with mechanical creatures.

“Thousands of people wake up early, at 2 or 3 in the morning, and wait for the animatronics on the Home Depot website,” Giancristofaro said. “You sort of make it your own and create scenes.”

Sawicki said he adds more each year.

“Then we started buying animatronics,” he said. “It grew over time. Everyone in the neighborhood expected it.”

The Sawickis purchase objects from The Home Depot (Lowe’s has them too, of course), the perennial Spirit Halloween pop-ups and other sources, constantly expanding their exhibition.

Gray, who has been doing his Halloween house for seven years, said it’s only become huge recently.

“The past three years has exploded,” Gray said of a display with more than 100 animatronics, seven fog machines, music, props and lights. “I want to attract more people and be the best in Commack.”

GOOD NEIGHBORS

Display exhibitors said they try to be good neighbors, not playing sound or staying lit all night. The Sawickis shut down by 10 p.m., while Gray turns his displays off by 9:30 p.m. on weeknights and 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday. He said he used to keep the display on every night in late October, but may scale back.

“Not a lot of people come during the week,” Gray said, noting he may stay open or “on” only Thursday to Sunday. “There’s a lot of wear and tear on the animatronics. Then they don’t work on Halloween.”

David Sawicki said he doesn’t use displays that blow air. “The air compressor is very loud,” he said. “I don’t want to have that sound. It’s too much.”

Most exhibitors don’t invite the public to walk on the lawn and ask that spectators keep a distance.

“All our neighbors seem to love it. They embrace it,” Gray said. “[Only] one person complained that people park in front of his house.”

FANS FROM FAR AND WIDE

As Long Island’s Halloween displays get bigger, they tend to attract more neighbors and onlookers, thanks to Instagram, Facebook pages and online maps, homeowners said.

Giancristofaro said she gets visitors from Holiday Houses of Long Island on Facebook, as well as her house’s own Instagram page and TikTok and Facebook pages.

Even a visitor from the United Kingdom drops by, she said, saying it’s part of his Halloween ritual.

Teresa Sawicki said someone dropped by who said they were visiting New York from France.

“Word gets out. People come by the house all day long,” said Angela Puglisi, 68, a business owner and the Sawickis’ neighbor. “They park their car, get out of their cars. It’s absolutely fun. It’s wonderful. It brings the neighborhood together.”