MUNCY – For nearly 16 years Dennis Dorward has decorated his historic family home in Muncy on the corner of Penn and Market Streets with creative critters and goblins to make it fun and interesting for the Halloweeners. He started with the wraparound porch, placing lighted skulls and pumpkins, a bat, then a witch. Every year he kept adding more. Now he has added a “Haunted Frog Lagoon” made with paper mache creatures that he sculpted and painted from scratch.

About 2 weeks before Halloween Dorward starts creating his front yard graveyard. “I don’t want to make it too scary,” he said regarding the fact that hundreds of trick-or-treaters show up at his front door every year. “We do it for the kids and the area,” he replied and also added how much he really enjoys doing it. “Adults seem to appreciate the set up too.”

This year he added 9 more characters, his favorite being “Sparty” that he dressed up in sneakers with real orange shoelaces. “He was made from odds and ends of left over paper mache projects,” added Dorward. His teeth are real too, with dentures Dennis ordered from the internet.

Finally he painted all of the figures with exterior paint and applied a coat of varnish to make them look shiny and wet. Dorward would come home every evening from his day job as a professor in Construction Management at Penn College to work on his hobby. He said he plans on leaving it up until one week after Halloween so the community can enjoy it a little longer.