While Halloween is usually a time for spooks and scares, there has been a lot of generosity surrounding the frightening holiday in Orillia this year.
On Oct. 2, Lisa Petrie and her family dressed a skeleton animatronic as Michael Myers and put him on the front lawn of their Bond Street home. Just two days later, the costume on the prop went missing.
"We were all home when it happened," Petrie said. "We came outside with the dog and Michael Myers was gone."
Petrie and her two adult children, who are 23 and 19, were devastated by what had happened.
"My son Taylor had just gone and bought the animatronic for $80 and his mask was another $100," she explained. "We had decided we were just going to take the rest of our Halloween decorations down at that point."
Petrie says her family decorates for Halloween each year for the children in the neighbourhood who trick-or-treat, but after they were the victims of the theft, they were all out of Halloween spirit.
"We were thinking why should we do Halloween if people are going to come and ruin it," she said.
Petrie made a post on Facebook asking for anyone with any information about the costume's whereabouts to come forward, stressing there would be no questions asked. The post was shared by many of Petrie's friends.
Bill and Lindsay Griffin, who have the impressive Ghostbusters Halloween display on Ashton Street, saw the post and reached out to Petrie.
"They said they are sorry that had happened and offered to make us a new Michael Myers," Petrie explained. "They said they really wanted to do this for us and wouldn't accept any payment."
The Griffins hand-crafted and painted a seven-foot wooden Michael Myers cut-out prop and dropped it off to the Petries on Saturday morning.
"We were so excited," Petrie said. "We were speechless when we saw it. They are so talented."
The new Michael Myers decoration will now be the centrepiece of the Petries' Halloween display for years to come.
"I was utterly impressed with their talent and generosity," she said. "They fully restored our Halloween spirit."
Lindsay says Petrie was feeling violated and disheartened when they first reached out to her.
"They were just going to take down their Halloween decorations and that is the last thing we wanted to see," she said. "I don't know Lisa personally, but we couldn't just let this be knowing we had the resources to make her a new Michael Myers."
Lindsay says Halloween displays like the Petries' are important for children and help build a sense of community.
"Our intention was to really bring the spirit back to her," Lindsay said. "They were very thankful, grateful, and it was well worth it for us."
On Halloween night, the Griffins will be hosting volunteer firefighters who will have a fire truck parked outside their Ashton Street home. They will be collecting food and monetary donations for North Simcoe Victim Services, Red Cross, Salvation Army, and The Sharing Place Food Centre.
Bill says Halloween includes everybody, which is why they love being involved with the holiday locally.
"There is something for everyone in regard to Halloween," he said. "Whether it's handing out the candy or dressing up in a costume, it's such an amazing experience to watch all the people have a good time."
Over on Lily Drive, Bethany Debassige and her partner, Devon Tomkinson, have set up another incredible Halloween display to collect donations for local animal shelters.
"We both just really love Halloween," Debassige said. "We started doing it three years ago with a decent display and from there it just kind of snowballed into something bigger and better."
Last year, the Lily Drive home caught the attention of many community members who would stop by every night in October to check it out while it was all lit up.
"We started to think that it would be great if we could do something with our passion to help the community," Debassige said. "That's how we decided to start doing a charity drive for animals."
Debassige and Tomkinson are collecting dog and cat food, toys, cleaning supplies, accessories, and monetary donations this month for the Ontario SPCA Orillia Animal Centre, Ralphy's Retreat Animal Sanctuary, and Street Cats Rescue.
"Anything you think a shelter could use we will take," Debassige said. "We have somebody who donated laundry soap because they don't have any pets which is great because they can use that at shelters."
Debassige and Tomkinson are dog and cat owners, which is what makes them passionate about helping animals.
"We don't want animals to be forgotten about," Tomkinson said. "That's why we want to keep growing this every year."
Ren's Pets in Orillia has already donated more than 200 pounds of pet food to Debassige and Tomkinson for their fundraiser.
"It's been awesome," Debassige said. "We will have a huge truckload to take to the different shelters. It's been really good and every day it grows more and more," Tomkinson added.
