A10
LOCAL
Wallowa County Chieftain
Wednesday, October 28, 2020
Ghosts, ghouls and
‘Alice in Wonderland’
Misty McNall’s
home transforms
into a decadent
display during
October
By RONALD BOND
Wallowa County Chieftain
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
Misty McNall prepares a joker Monday, Oct. 26, 2020, to go along with the “Alice in Wonderland”
theme with a ghoulish twist for Halloween she’s been preparing at her Depot Street home in
Enterprise.
ENTERPRISE — Hal-
loween is when Misty
McNall, of Enterprise, really
expresses her creative side.
“For an artist, a canvas
is pretty wide open when it
comes to Halloween,” she
said.
For more than two
decades, that canvas has been
her home at 500 S. Depot St.
which annually gets turned
into an eye-popping display
both ghouls and goblins are
likely to enjoy.
McNall said she fi rst dec-
orated her home 21 years ago
after getting some decora-
tions when her daughter got
her fi rst Halloween costume.
“I found these cute little
pumpkin lights when she got
her fi rst pumpkin (outfi t),”
she said. “I started adding on
from there.”
As the years went on,
the decorating at her home
— both inside and out —
became more extravagant.
Now, it fi lls her entire front
yard, and lately has carried
with it a theme.
Her setup this year is
inspired by “Alice in Won-
derland,” and contains
everything from a fl oating
Alice, to a rabbit hole in the
sidewalk that cuts through
her yard, the Mad Hatter at a
tea party and more.
“Last year it was clowns,
and I hate clowns, but it was
a lot of fun,” she said. “I
think next year is going to
be ‘Beetlejuice’ — I don’t
know. I found a lot of fun in
the themes.”
McNall also is resource-
ful. She makes most of her
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
Misty McNall declined to say who was in the coffi n Monday,
Oct. 26, 2020, at her McNall Slaughter House Wonderland she’s
made at her Depot Street home. She’s employing an “Alice in
Wonderland” theme with a ghoulish twist for Halloween.
own decorations, and often
will fi nd ways to reuse an
item over and over.
“I save a lot of money.
I recycle and reuse on just
about everything,” she said.
“A lot of my dummies are
made out of plastic jugs and
branches.”
Decorating in recent
years also became a way to
channel her creative energy
to remember her dad, who
died in 2014.
“I’ve always been one
who goes all-out anyway —
my kids’ birthdays, I make
the pinatas and cakes any-
ways,” she said. “Putting all
that (into it), and fi nding that
in Halloween, I get really
happy when I’m decorating.”
She added of her dad that
“he loved my creative side.”
McNall, who described
herself as a “little kid in a
candy store” when she is out
decorating, also enjoys get-
ting in costume and integrat-
ing herself into the display.
“The funnest part is stand-
ing there like you are part
of the decorations and then
scaring (trick-or-treaters),”
said McNall, who will dress
up as the Queen of Hearts
this year.
Halloween is the day she
invests the most time deco-
rating for, saying she usually
tries to be done setting up by
mid-October, though she at
times is working on details
days later. She noted in a
Sunday, Oct. 25 interview
that she was still decorating
earlier in the day.
“The cobweb is the fi nal
touches,” she said. “It’s what
kind of ties it all together and
gives it the creep factor.”
She also decorates for
Christmas, and while not
as extravagant, it also is a
day she does get into for
decorating.
“I like Christmas, but
Christmas is different and
elegant and pretty,” she
said. “I don’t get to have the
crazy fun I do with Hallow-
een. We do this new thing
with Christmas with a funny
theme.”
For McNall, part of the
enjoyment is the reactions
from passers-by and getting
others involved, which she
said recently she’s been able
to do.
“When people go by and
they stop to enjoy the deco-
rations, it’s a good feeling,”
she said. “We used to be the
only people that decorated
in the county. Finally other
people started decorating.
I think it’s fun for the kids.
They have a lot of fun com-
ing through my yard.”
Cliff Bentz
for Congress
RANCHER. FARMER. BUSINESSMAN.
Paid For By Cliff Bentz For Congress
CLIFFBENTZ.COM