Local tour: Halloween enthusiasts committed to making memorable neighborhood displays

In July, Keri Lambertus began soliciting donations on the local “Buy Nothing” Facebook group for an upcoming Halloween display at her East Northport home. She asked for dark table settings (champagne flutes, goblets, plates and black tablecloths), as well as large bows, fake flowers, disco lights, fog machines and some bridesmaid dresses. The dresses wouldn’t be returned, she said, and would very likely be ruined.

The theme? A wedding, of course.

This is Keri’s fifth year going “bigger and better” for Halloween, a holiday she’s loved since she was a kid growing up in the same neighborhood and the same house she’s presently decorating. She recalls trick or treating when she was a kid, but Halloween displays weren’t as popular back then. Now people will drive by Keri’s house, slow down, stop to take a picture, and oftentimes share those photos on social media.

“They enjoy what I made,” Keri told the Journal in a conversation last week. “It makes them happy.” And that makes her happy.

This year, Keri’s Halloween display includes a skeleton bartender, a DJ playing live music, a dance floor, and a bridesmaid’s table at which passersby can sit down and take a selfie with Keri’s “ladies,” as she calls them. There’s a mailman delivering packages, large animatronic skeletons and, toward the backyard, a walkthrough with witches, reapers, and other creepy characters in a fog machine graveyard.

Most of the display pieces have been donated or thrifted, with many decorations made by Keri from repurposed materials. Her boyfriend Erik provides some extra muscle and helps with the overall vision; he built the DJ stand and bar out of recycled pallets, and installs the largest of decorations.

Not exactly as enthralled with Halloween (it’s growing on him, said Keri) is the couple’s 11-year-old son Rowan, who does like when friends stop by and may even be handing out candy on October 31. It’s a group effort Keri is grateful for; she hopes their hard work will create memories for local friends and families.

“With the help of the community and everybody assisting – they’ve really been helpful this year particularly – I’ve been able to make it better for the kids and the families in the neighborhood,” she said.

Keri’s Halloween display should be up and fully functional by Friday, October 14. Lights will be on every night until 11pm (and until midnight on Halloween), with the walk-through (on the side of the house) open until 11pm on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, weather permitting. Her address is 319 3rd Street in East Northport.

For anyone who’d like to take a tour of the countless elaborate displays across Long Island this Halloween season, check out the Holiday Houses on Long Island 2022 Facebook group. If you’re into staying local, here’s a list of more houses in the area, with a quick stop in Northport Village, then into East Northport, traveling south of Jericho into Commack.

226 Woodbine Avenue, Northport
Kids love to count the skeletons taking over this Northport Village home, from the pirate ship to the house exterior. Barely scary, very well done, a visual treat.

26 Rocco Drive, East Northport
A smaller scale display to begin your south-of-Pulaski tour with a giant skeleton, animatronic werewolf, the grim reaper, some dexterous skeletons climbing the house, and other fearful faces.

305 2nd Avenue, East Northport
Another small but well-arranged display with a very large ghost, werewolf, pumpkin skeletons, witches, killer tarantula, carnivorous plant, and some bare bones socializing on the driveway.

Corner of Clay Pitts Road and Lynn Avenue, East Northport
Two corner houses with too many inflatables to count. Perfect for a driveby with younger kids.

16 Field Daisy Lane, East Northport
Sixteen-year-old Josh Roseman’s East Northport display of Halloween inflatables runs every day from 3:30pm to 10pm. Josh works two jobs to afford to add to his display each year, and puts it together himself with all proceeds (scan the QR code on site to make a donation) going to Skeletons for St. Jude, a nationwide fundraising effort to raise money for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

4 Peppermint Road, Commack
The owner of this residential-turned-haunted house in Commack has been putting on an outdoor display beyond compare (pyrotechnics included) every October for years. Currently under construction, we consider this a must-visit as Halloween approaches. Live actors bring the display to life from 6pm to 10pm on Halloween evening, in a scary show suitable for older kids and adults (or younger kids ok with close interactions with costumed characters). (Photo of last year’s display.)

9 Speaker Street, Commack
A smaller scale cemetery theme with a flying witch, midnight reaper, mean jack-o-lantern and some animatronics.

UPDATED HOURS! 35 Stonywood Drive, Commack
The infamous Stonywood Scare House Haunt opens weekends beginning October 14, and features traditional giant skeletons and pumpkin heads, witches and werewolves mixed in with unexpected animatronics that will get you. every. time. Plenty of gore; worth the trip for horror fans and brave kids (my nine-year-old loved it; my six-year-old had to be held with eyes and ears covered for 85% of it). Open weather permitting 4-9pm Sundays through Thursdays, 4-11pm Fridays and Saturdays through October 30, and from 3-10pm on Halloween. Approximately 12 minutes from the Sagtikos Parkway (Pulaski Road entrance), or just 5-8 minutes south of Jericho Turnpike and Townline Road. Check link for details.