Mishawaka man seeks to spark joy in community with Halloween display

MISHAWAKA, Ind. -- If you've ever driven down West 9th Street in Mishawaka in the fall, you may have seen a large display of skeletons in the yard belonging to Greg Evans.

Evans has been doing this for about four years now, though not always to this degree. He says he typically sets up on September 1st, but this year he started a little earlier.

"I said, Why wait? You know? Why enjoy it for only 30 days when you can enjoy it for a couple months and have fun with it," said Evans.

Evans says it all started with his old neighbors.

"Their daughter, I used to put stuff out. And she would come out. I'd see her on the camera every morning, like the camera would go off, and she would be like, 'Oh, look, see he put this out today, he put this out today!' And as a joke, I kept putting more stuff out. Well, then it just became growing and growing. From there, I just kept looking for stuff to add. And then I started making my own stuff, like the puking skeleton and the grave skeleton," said Evans.

Greg says most of all he enjoys seeing the joy it brings to neighbors, but it brings him joy too.

"It helps me, you know, I'm a disabled vet, and my neighbors-- this wouldn't be done if it wasn't for my neighbors. They came out, helped me put a lot of this stuff up because I can't do it on my own. And it helps me with my PTSD and anxiety, and really, kind of, you know, hits home, it's just something I enjoy doing. But even more, is the enjoyment that neighbors get out of it in the neighborhood. You know, I see people excited. I see kids coming every day and looking at it, and it's just fun. You know, they like to see what new stuff's added, some scary stuff. There'll be more stuff added before Halloween. I've got some plans for a couple more big things coming," said Evans.

Greg’s neighbor, Larry Fike, who tells ABC57 he helps with setup if needed and even lets Evans use some of his yard. Fike says he always looks forward to the themes.

"Never know what kind of theme he's going to come up with. It's going to be skull, but you don't know where we're going to start up with," said Fike.