TEXARKANA MAGAZINE
cool is that?’ It’s funny that we then ended up being neighbors,” laughed Samantha. Jon elaborates, “It was the middle of summer when we actually bought our house, but we remembered that they were the ones who decorate for Halloween and said to each other, ‘Hey, that’s the fun house!’ So, when Halloween came up that year, we knew we had to do something. We started with the big inflatable pumpkin.” From there, the pair of neighbors has continued to grow their collection of decor. They spend all year with their eyes open for anything that could be added, and they even make some decorations themselves for a more personal look, like a collection of tombstones honoring Texarkana’s bygone landmarks that Jon created. Overall, the focus on both yards is over-the-top family fun, sometimes a little scary, but never gory according to the Quinns and the Stokes. “When we first started, my mom was concerned. I told her it wasn’t going to be scary, but then we got the 12’ skeleton,” said Jon. Concerned for the kids, Jon’s mom had to be reassured. “They have been drawn to it!” he said. Both couples are shocked when people all over town know where they live and comment on the decorations. Sha shared a memorable incident. “Once we were out to eat and talking about the decorations and this lady completely turns around and goes, ‘You’re the house on Pine with the big skelly and the dragon?’ And I just couldn’t believe someone in town knew our house like that. The lady even said that they drive by all the time and that it’s her favorite house. After hearing this, we just knew that we wanted to start building it and
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LIFE & STYLE
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