It was a banner year in ‘Haunted Hasbrouck Heights’ as a record number of Hasbrouck Heights residents decorated their homes for what has now become the start of the Holiday season. ‘In our town of Halloween’ we searched for the best ghosts and ghouls and things that go bump in the night to find the best house and merchant that best represents the spirit of the Halloween holidays. This is my forth year as the Chairman of the Hasbrouck Heights Halloween House Decorating Contest and I have never seen so much creativity in our town.

We found that our winners were two members of the community that had been winners in previous contests, who really stepped up their game and created displays that dazzled the judges unanimously, Heights Floral Shoppe for a third straight year and the Fiduccia family of 85 Woodside Avenue for a second year since winning two years ago. The judges were blown away by their creativity and ingenuity in creating such fantastic displays.

Our Merchant Division is starting to grow with more of our Downtown merchants decorating their windows for the Halloween season. We wish more would get involved but the clear winner is now a three time winner with not just the most amazing windows but interior as well.

The Heights Flower Shoppe dazzles during day and night

‘I love Halloween,” owner Ray Vorisek said. “We like to use our creativity in the windows. I am always adding on and looking for new things for the display. We have been so busy lately that we were not able to finish adding some of the newer pieces for the store.”

The witches, goblins and ghosts in the display at Heights Flower Shoppe

The windows were decorated with flying witches and beasts smiling on their journeys while a howling wicked witch of the west stood guard in the front of the store. The interior was a wonderland of Halloween decorations and candies perfect for any Halloween event and party.

The inside is decorated for a Halloween get together

The candy selection for you little goblins

The store both inside and out was decorated to the hilt with items for sale and the displays.

Three time winner Ray Vorisek with HHMA Halloween Chairman Justin Watrel

Winner and owner of Heights Flower Shoppe Ray Vorisek in front of his store.

Our runner up the year was Healing 4 the Soul, the gift shop and café that is one of the newer additions to our business district. The business is owned by residents Renee and Dawn Pikowski. The windows were simple and creative and elegant.

The enchanting windows of witches and pumpkins

The spiritual windows up close

“We love to decorate our windows,” said co-owner Nicole Pikowski “ we strive to be creative. You will always see different displays at each holiday.” The store was decorated with beautiful witches wishing everyone a Happy Halloween.

The inside of the Cafe for Healing 4 the Soul

The enchanting gifts at Healing 4 the Soul

There are a lot of lotions and potions and sweet treats to eat inside that are all handmade in house. The Halloween fragrances abound the store. More of our merchants got very creative this year and we are hoping to see more next year.

Chairman Justin Watrel presenting the Runner Up Merchant award to Co-Owner Renee Pikowski

HHMA Halloween Merchant Decorating Winner Renee Pikowski

In the House Decorating Division it was a difficult decision for judges who drove around many days both day and night to see the houses. Of all the wonderful houses we visited all over Hasbrouck Heights, one home was on the top of every list of each judge and that was 85 Woodside Avenue.

The Fiduccia family had been our winners in the Second Annual contest and stepped up their game by adding all sorts of new elements to the yard to be the winners again in 2024. The vote was unanimous amongst all five judges.

85 Woodside Avenue at night

These are some videos on the winning home’s video display that won the contest. These were amazing and so spooky:

Video of the display of the Archway in the yard:

Video of the window display on the second floor of the house:

Video on the yard and video displays:

Ghosts and ghouls lined the yard performing all sorts of interesting acts

Skeletons lined the yard awaiting the crowds of Trick or Treaters visiting on Halloween Night

The Fiduccia family in their family ‘skeleton’ costumes

The Fiduccia family with their second year win!

The display during the day was just as impressive as it is at night

Matt Fiduccia said that he really wanted to add new things to the display. “We found a lot of new items that became available and added them to the display. I created the arch for the ‘Ghostbuster-like video’. We added the projectors to the windows on the second level of the house as well. There are a lot of new decorations on the market now for Halloween.”

The house not only had sculptures and mannequins of all types but creatures, skeletons and ghouls that lines the yard. In the archway in the front yard was a running video of apparitions from movies like ‘Ghostbusters’ and ‘Poltergeist’. In the upstairs windows of the home were running videos of desperate souls and violent blows. Each part of the house had its own storyline. It was a well-deserved win.

The Fiduccia family together with their second win for the Halloween House Decorating Contest

The Judges Marc Mancuso, Chairman Justin Watrel and Vinnie DeCicco from the Hasbrouck Heights Men’s Association with winner Matt Fiduccia

With so many wonderful houses to choose from, the judges narrowed it down to three homes as the runners up. There were so many that we liked but each judge was asked to narrow it down to three and it was pretty much unanimous amongst the five of us. Just like the winner, the judges had a short list of the runners up and three homes captured our imagination.

The first two were previous runners up who upped their game and had extraordinary displays of creativity. One was at 36 Hamilton Avenue, the home of Alex, Laura and Scarlet Pena. The other was at 115 Ottawa Avenue the home of Dennis Hall. The displays were both intriguing and imaginative both during the day and night. Like the winners, everyone stepped up the decorations with lights and sound effects and added that special touch to their homes that made it stand out.

Our third was a house on the Hasbrouck Heights border in Lodi that captured the imagination of each judge at 236 Paterson Avenue. The house had a bevy of creatures displayed both in and out of the house. All the judges kept passing it at night so impressed by it we did not realize that it was on the border of Hasbrouck Heights in Lodi, NJ.

“My grandfather used to decorate his house and people used to travel to visit it, so I wanted to keep that tradition going,” said Runner up Jay Logan. “We keep dreaming up new ideas for the display and we keep adding to it.”

Jay and Ann Logan of Lodi were one of the three Runners up for the contest

“We didn’t even know that there was a contest going on,” said Anne Logan. “We live right on the border of Hasbrouck Heights and Lodi, so we feel like we are part of both communities.” The Logan’s turned their display on and lit up and roared. The Logan’s are active members of both communities and were surprised and very excited about their win.

236 Paterson Avenue at night

The ghost and ghouls in front of 236 Paterson Avenue

236 Paterson Avenue during the day

Chairman Justin Watrel awarding the Logan’s their award.

At 26 Hamilton Avenue, Alex and Lauren Pena and their daughter, Scarlett added at lot to their and their display had more horrors in each section of the yard and house. “We have a lot of fun decorating on Halloween and everyone is impressed by the front yard display,” Lauren explained.

26 Hamilton Avenue was Runner Up last year as well

36 Hamilton winners Lauren and Scarlet Pena in front of their home with Chairman Justin Watrel

The Skeleton surgery in front of 26 Hamilton Avenue

36 Hamilton during the day

The mother and daughter Runner Up winners Lauren and Scarlet Pena

The last house on the Runner Up list was 115 Ottawa Avenue which had an honorable mention last year in the contest and has been noted on the list since the first year of the contest. Owner Dennis Hall accepted the Runner Up award with much excitement. “I love decorating the house for Halloween. The kids really seem to love it when they come here Trick or Treating. We are a very popular house. I added the sound effects and have several new pieces that I did not have time to put out for next year. You will have to come back next Halloween.”

115 Ottawa Avenue

115 Ottawa Avenue by the doorway

Runner Up and previous Honorable mention winner Dennis Hall Second next to his ghoulish display that was lit for the night of the presentation

115 Ottawa Avenue drinking the day

We want to thank all the members of the Hasbrouck Heights community for their wonderful displays and with a little extra decoration here and sound effect there can make a big difference in the judging.

I want to thank the judges in the contest Vinnie DeCicco and his kids, Ed Gumbrecht, Marc Mancuso, Joe Salib and his kids and Pat Fass and his daughter, Maggie. I also want to thank HHMA member Steve Feuss for creating the signs every year for the contest. This really makes it special for the winners to display their signs and awards on Halloween night.

I want to thank HHMA President Steve Palladino for all his support on this annual contest.

Happy Halloween everyone!

Boo!

Some of Honorariums that we thought were impressive:

House One 304 Roosevelt Avenue

House Two 344 Harrison Avenue

House Three 250 Cleveland Avenue

House Three 233 Passaic Avenue

House Four 155 Henry Street

House Five 10 Passaic Avenue

House Six 257 Henry Street, our first winner and Honorary House twice

257 Henry Street keeps getting more creative with new props

82 Burton Avenue has the same display every year but it is still interesting

House Seven-85 Woodside Avenue-our winner for Year Two

The Ghosts and Ghouls of 85 Woodside Avenue

The foliage in the late Fall in Hasbrouck Heights is just spectacular. I saw this tree when I was driving around Division Avenue. The sun hit it just right.

The town is so beautiful in the Fall

House Eight 226 Walter Avenue

House Nine 26 Hamilton Avenue one of our Runners Up last year

The skeletons doing surgery at 26 Hamilton Avenue with a Mad Doctor

House Ten 143 Kipp Avenue

House Eleven-510 Henry Street Last year’s winner

The horrible ghoul protecting the house at 510 Henry Street

Last year’s winner, Frank Blunda, welcomed us inside to see his Halloween paintings

I revisited some of our past winners at the end of the day as the sun went down to see the displays lit at night. It was mighty gruesome.

Winner of the first year 257 Henry Street

Winner of the second year 85 Woodside Avenue

Winner of the third year 510 Henry Street

We still had a lot more judging to do but our previous winners did a good job upping their game.

House Twelve 123 Washington Avenue

House Thirteen 42 Central Avenue-one of last year’s runners up

House Fourteen 117 Ottawa Avenue

House Fifteen 115 Ottawa Avenue-one of last year’s runner up

115 Ottawa Avenue really upped their game in 2024

House Sixteen 236 Paterson Avenue (we never realized this was in Lodi, NJ, the next town over that borders us)

236 Paterson Avenue was very impressive

House Seventeen Lots of inflatables but the monster on the porch was a horror at 219 Paterson Avenue

We thought she was pretty terrifying at 219 Paterson Avenue

House Eighteen 310 Bell Avenue

I hate evil clowns at 310 Bell Avenue

House Nineteen 118 Bell Avenue

It knows what scares you! at 118 Bell Avenue

House Twenty 533 Burton Avenue

House Twenty-One 219 Longworth Avenue

More evil clowns plotting their ways at 219 Longworth Avenue

House Twenty-One 446 Burton Avenue

House Twenty-Two 431 Kipp Avenue

Than you to all the residents of Hasbrouck Heights who captured the spirit of Halloween. We want you to know that we saw all of your homes and the amazing job you all did. Please keep it up and on Halloween night you might ‘get visited by three judges’ bearing ‘a treat’ for you with our annual award. Good luck in 2025!

In between exploring every street in town for the perfect home, we had to walk the Boulevard to look for the perfect business. I wish more businesses downtown would decorate for the holidays. The ones that did did a good job. What I enjoyed seeing was all the window painting that the kids did downtown. These kids are really talented.

Bill O’Shea’s Flower Shoppe with windows at 231 Boulevard

Bill O’Shea’s Flower Shoppe windows and painted windows

Some of the paintings just stood out

I thought this was clever

The Grooming Cove windows

The window painting at Heights Flower Shoppe

The Maki B Shushi windows

The windows snd the puppet outside the new Heights Burgers

I really liked this one

The IDesign windows

More fun paintings

More creative artwork

Things that are headless that. Reel and crawl

This was interesting

More headless things that go bump in the night

My across the street neighbors yard right before Halloween

Their maze of pumpkins decorated the lawn

Their pumpkin path filled with Jack-O-Lanterns beasts

The path of pumpkin people fascinated me

Then there is their evil scarecrow, Giggles, does mischievous things around the neighborhood when they are not looking. I still can’t find my garbage can lid!

The Legend of Giggles, the Scarecrow:

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