Ladera Ranch gets ready for Halloween

Lewiston Street residents decorate for Halloween. (Diana Tomseth/Lariat)

Parents and grandparents looking for an area to take their trick-or-treaters on Halloween night can turn to Ladera Ranch, located east of Mission Viejo.
The community goes all out for Halloween. Houses are decorated with suspending ghosts, large spiders and glowing lights. It holds a Halloween festival for its residents. Each neighborhood has a designated pocket parks, where neighbors gather. 
One neighborhood in particular really puts ghoul in All Hallows’ Eve. On Lewiston Street, you find yourself taken away, almost as if walking through Disneyland. Walking north, on Lewiston, the scares unfold on the left with a haunted house, just after it a life size pirate ship with a Pirates of the Caribbean theme is on the right, another gives away homemade scones. 
Lewiston Street residents Karrie and Ben Nix said some of the neighbors started the tradition years ago and they wanted to join in.
“I don’t like scary and I had little kids and so we decided to do something more like Disney themed, really cute for the little ones and it started its own following so we just keep doing it because it seems like everyone in Ladera enjoys it.” Karrie Nix said.
The couple first started with Alice in Wonderland, and later did works like the Hunger Games, Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella and this year they are doing Beauty and the Beast. Nix gets the help from her brother, Andrew Baier and together they work as a team to design and build the stage for that years theme.
She said it usually takes a week to build the stage, with the exception of this year, it will take approximately three weeks to construct the dance floor. Nix has three daughters, Sara,17 and twins Katelyn and Emily, 15 who help decide the theme, dress-up and help out on Halloween.
“I look forward to seeing all of the little girls dress up as princesses,” said Karrie Nix. “I love it, because they come in and it fills you with a lot of joy to see the little kids faces light up on Halloween.”
This street will bring back the little kid in you. Each year, large crowds are drawn to the neighborhood, ranging from 700 to 1000 people some years.

Comments

comments