B.C. woman hopes to inspire creativity, kindness with 'Wizard of Oz' Halloween display
It was almost like Deborah Briggs had been working in black and white.
“It was just a mundane job,” Deborah says. “The doldrums.”
There was certainly no opportunity for creativity. Until —like Dorothy waking up in the world of Oz — Deborah retired.
“It’s been just liberating,” Deborah says.
But instead of following a yellow brick road, the empty nester started turning one of her kid’s old rooms into a new space for her previously unexpressed creativity.
“It’s a joy to be able to do that,” Deborah says.
When she’s not making up for lost time by transforming ordinary wool into extraordinary animals,
Deborah’s turning thrift store finds and custom creations into one-of-a-kind Halloween displays.
“All the girls in the front,” Deborah says, pointing to a line up of green-costumed characters. “They are made from shower curtains and bath towels.”
There’s also a large structure with a door that was re-purposed after a neighbour was set to discard it during a recent renovation.
“It’s now the house that landed on the witch,” Deborah says before adjusting a pair of legs sticking out from under the door frame.
And it’s not just any witch — as you’ve likely already guessed — it’s the Wicked Witch of the East.
“It doesn’t have to be blood and guts and gore,” says Deborah, who hopes young families will wander around her brightly-coloured interactive displays. “Everything is a story for me.”
And the story that Deborah is telling in her front yard this Halloween, on Victoria’s Linden Avenue, is about a girl named Dorothy with a dog called Toto, who gets sucked up by a cyclone, dropped down in a magical world, and befriend by a trio of now-classic characters.
“Here we have the Tin Man. This is the Lion,” Deborah says, pointing to a pair of skeletons —one painted silver, the other wearing a lion’s hat — before fixing the straw on another skeleton dressed as the Scarecrow.
Sometimes her now-adult kids return home to dress up in the character’s costumes too.
Deborah says she spent a year designing the displays and constructing the elements. Hundreds of visitors are showing their gratitude by donating thousands of dollars to local charities.
“The world is a very precarious place right now,” Deborah says. “People need to smile a bit more and they need some joy.”
And if we can connect with our unique creativity, and use it to help out others, Deborah says we just might find that instead of longing to be somewhere over the rainbow, we’re celebrating that there’s no place like home.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
B.C. election results: NDP gains ground in latest release of mail-in ballot data
Elections BC released its first partial results of the final count in B.C.'s 2024 provincial election Saturday afternoon, and the data shows NDP candidates gaining in some tight races.
Ontario man tells police he harmed two family members, three found dead
Huntsville OPP and the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) are conducting a homicide investigation after three individuals were found dead in a Huntsville neighbourhood Friday evening.
Trump refers to CNN's Anderson Cooper by a woman's first name
Former U.S. president Donald Trump has repeatedly referred to CNN anchor Anderson Cooper with a woman's first name in recent days as the Republican presidential nominee focuses his closing message on a hypermasculine appeal to men.
Lawsuit alleges Ontario man died after given 10 times prescribed dose in hospital
Angela Salvatore had been away from her father's hospital bedside for just over an hour when she says she got a frantic call from a nurse, pleading with her to calm him down.
15-year-old found dead in eastern Ontario, teen facing second-degree murder charge: OPP
Ontario Provincial Police say a 16-year-old has been charged with second-degree murder after a 15-year-old was found dead at a home in Perth, Ont. Friday afternoon.
Lizzo's Halloween costume draws inspiration from 'South Park' episode that referenced her and the weight-loss drug Ozempic
Lizzo has taken a rather silly reference to her on a recent 'South Park' episode and elevated it to a hilarious Halloween costume.
Witches walk among us — but they're not like the fictional ones you grew up with
Two witches talk about their daily rituals, from spell-casting to TikTok posting, and how they discovered their magic.
What we know about the Canadians busted in an international drug ring led by a former Olympic athlete
Canadian Ryan James Wedding finished in 24th place in the parallel giant slalom at the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City, but the snowboarder wouldn’t go on to improve his results in Torino four years later.
Israel's first open attack on Iran targets missile sites and apparently spares oil and nuclear ones
Israel attacked military targets in Iran with pre-dawn airstrikes Saturday in retaliation for the barrage of ballistic missiles the Islamic Republic fired on Israel earlier this month. It was the first time Israel's military has openly attacked Iran.