While people across the province were gearing up to cast their vote in Sunday’s municipal elections, Portage-du-Fort residents had another vote on their mind on Halloween – whose house was best decorated for the spooky occasion.
The town’s first official Halloween house decorating competition was organized by resident and acclaimed municipal councilor Dominic Bisson.
He said when he and his wife first moved to Portage five years ago, they found an old newspaper article that described Portage-du-Fort as a Halloween town.
“We were all excited and wanted to bring back the same spirit,” Bisson said. “Portage-du-Fort is already known for a good candy haul. We wanted to bring the kids a good time, and help community spirit.”
By the end of Halloween night, the pumpkin ballot-box Bisson had set up at Dépanneur Thompson had received 108 votes, 32 of which went to the home of Darell and Lise McCorriston, giving them a decisive victory.
The McCorristons are no strangers to the art of Halloween decorating. They moved to Portage three years ago after 14 years in Bryson, where they dedicated every October to spooking locals with their walk-through haunted house – the Rottingwood Haunt.
“We just love Halloween,” Darell told THE EQUITY Saturday morning while standing outside his home, first place prize in hand.
“You know what it is, you get these children that come in, even adults, and they have these big smiles and they’ve had so much fun, they’ve gone through your haunt, and they say it’s the best night they’ve ever had. You know what that feels like? That’s amazing,” Lise said.
She said since moving to Portage, she and Darell have scaled back their operations, but it still took them a couple of days to set up their display, which this year featured a towering skeletons in their yard and a collection of spooky paraphernalia on their front porch.
Darell said receiving the community’s recognition of their decades-old craft still means a lot.
“We weren’t expecting it at all because the community really stepped up their game and a lot of houses got involved in it. And thanks to Dominic for his hard work for putting this on, it was really great.”
Bisson said he is already dreaming about organizing a bigger competition for next year’s Halloween, and in the meantime is thinking of organizing a similar contest for Christmas decorations.
