By Cam Lucadou-Wells
The horrors of lockdown have been turned into a home garden Halloween treat in Narre Warren North.
Over months, Brooke McGowan-Grills has toiled on her macabre art park that sprawls across the Fontaine Terrace front yard.
A playground/graveyard, a haunted dollhouse, a lit-up spider, witches, giant pumpkins, gnomes and a skeleton cooking on a barbecue are among the head-turning attractions.
She has been inspired by her childhood passion for the Goosebumps series, as well as the need to give neighbours a “pick up”.
“It gave me something to focus on rather than wondering what to do.
“I watched the old movies and the series, and just got carried away.”
A visual-arts graduate, Ms McGowan-Grills has made good use of everyday materials.
Making a witch out of trash bags and a tomato-growing cage, or a fence out of an old cot.
“People love it. I get lots of people do really slow drive-bys – they drive here because they see it online.
“I let the kids run amongst it. I made it to be enjoyed.”
On Halloween, Ms McGowan-Grills will don a costume, face-paint and hand out lolly-bags for trick-or-treaters from her Goosebumps park.
“I might have to make a few extra this year.”
