Has Freaky Frights on Forest become just too big?
Approximately 40 neighbors turned out last week to discuss the issue before a Committee of the Whole meeting of the North Riverside village board.
Elaine Skowronski complained that the crowds that come from all over to see the spooky decorations on Halloween have become just too much for the neighborhood to handle.
“We had broken glass bottles of beer and tequila on our front lawn,” said Skowronski, a resident of Westover Avenue.
The crowds and the traffic that come to see the scary sights made it impossible for residents who live on Forest Avenue and adjacent streets to even drive to their homes, Skowronski said. The street was gridlocked with cars and people.
“I sat in my son’s car for 15 minutes before I could pull up,” said Skowronski. “Our streets can’t accommodate that. They’re too tiny.”
She and others complained of handing out hundreds of dollars worth of candy on Halloween night.
“I can’t afford the candy any more,” said Skowronski.
Many complained that most of the visitors came from out of town.
“I think the major problem is this is so well publicized that you have people from all over coming here,” said Charlotte Burns.
Some said that it was so crowded and chaotic on their block that they had to take their own kids to the west side of North Riverside to go trick or treating.
One person thought the displays went too far.
“The displays are too gory and graphic for young children,” said Sylvester Hartigan.
But other neighbors defended the celebration of Halloween, which has evolved from just a couple of neighbors putting up elaborate decorations to a two-block corridor of multimedia displays running from Cermak Road to Traube Street on Forest Avenue that seems to get bigger every year.
“It’s not just two guys putting up decorations,” said Marietta Gorniak, who lives in the 2200 block of Forest Avenue. “It’s a neighborhood. It’s a community thing. There’s a lot of good that comes out of it.”
Gorniak added that her three children look forward to the event all year.
Freaky Frights on Forest began more than 20 years when Mark Sajatovic began putting up displays at his house in the 2300 block of Forest Avenue. When Jim Currie, who lives in the 2200 block of Forest Avenue, got involved in 2003 the event, and the displays really took off and expanded. More and more neighbors put up displays that attract crowds from all over the Chicago area to see the displays which are up throughout the month of October.
Currie has gone so far as to line up corporate sponsors for the event, including a Chicago TV station as a media sponsor.
Currie defended the event and said that he welcomed the large crowds even if many were from out of town.
“I want this for anybody who wants to be entertained in a free and safe environment,” said Currie.
Cindy Sajatovic was at the meeting; Mark was not. She cried when some of her neighbors complained about the event.
“I think it’s gotten quite big,” said Cindy Sajatovic. “I don’t know how you can stop it. Kids just love it.”
But she did admit to misgivings about how large the even has become.
“This is our tradition, but it’s gotten so big,” said Sajatovic. “It’s spoiling what Mark started to do. I don’t like to upset all these people.”
North Riverside Mayor Richard Scheck agreed that the even has grown larger than what anyone ever anticipated.
“This started out as a neighborhood event,” said Scheck. “It got bigger than we all envisioned. We’ve got to scale it down.”
The village has taken steps to control the crowds. As Halloween approaches Forest Avenue and adjacent streets are made one-way to aid traffic flow and has set up porta-potties to serve visitors.
The village also makes yellow police tape available to people who don’t want people coming to their door or on their property. The residents can put the tape around their front yards.
But Skowronski said that the yellow tape didn’t deter the trick or treaters, many of whom were adults.
“Both of my neighbors had the yellow tape, and it didn’t help,” said Skowronski.
Others said they didn’t know the tape was available from the village. Scheck said after the meeting that the village will probably go back to having block captains ask their neighbors who wants the tape and then the block captains would pass it out to them.
Scheck and village trustee, Randall Czajka, the chairman of the committee on streets and alleyways, described the meeting as a good one. Now they will meet with village staff and work out ways to preserve the event while making it less bothersome to residents.
“We wanted to hear what people had to say,” said Czajka. “Now we can go back and talk to department heads, talk to the chiefs, and come up with a decision that’s going to benefit everybody.
“We’ve always encouraged the celebration. We’re going to come up with a common ground. We’ll meet together and we’ll manage this the way it’s supposed to be.”
Scheck said that the village and event organizers may need to cut down on the advertising of the event.
“We’re probably going to come to the conclusion that word of mouth is good from now on,” said Scheck. “Don’t put it on television.”
Scheck also said that the parking issue must be addressed.
“We’ve got to address the inconvenience to a lot of folks, because we heard that loud and clear tonight,” said Scheck. “The parking was a definite problem. We have a lot of seniors over there, and when seniors can’t park close to their homes, when they have to park three blocks away, that’s a problem.
“We have to address that, and we will address that.”
Czajka said the village will probably announce its plans to manage the event sometime in the first two weeks of February.