On the front lawn of Ghost Island Farm, situated under a gnarled black walnut tree, is a very large hornet’s nest, standing about 10 feet high and 8 feet wide.
Rusty Gordon, who owns Ghost Island Farm, was still hard at work on Monday adding the final touches to his annual Halloween display, firing strings of pressurized hot glue at the hornet’s nest, along with some bug-faced monsters standing behind bloody baby effigies. The glue, when dried, looks like eerie cobwebs and Mr. Gordon had no plans of being frugal as he continued to cover the display with the gooey spray just days before Halloween.
“I didn’t know if I would be able to pull it off or not, but it’s coming together,” he said.
Halloween is Mr. Gordon’s favorite holiday, and this is the 15th consecutive year he has constructed a haunting display on the lawn in front of the Ghost Island Farm. This year’s scene was created using recycled wood, chicken wire, glue, flour, water, sheet-rock compound and mashed up toilet paper.
“That’s the basis of the stuff,” said Mr. Gordon. “It makes a nice shell with the compound sheetrock and the glue mixed in.”
In the coming days, Mr. Gordon plans to add lights, bubbles and a fog machine to his alien wasp nest.
In the past he has constructed everything from monsters to time machines, jack-o-lanterns, big spiders and, perhaps his favorite, a sculpture of dozens of limbs protruding from a futuristic inter-dimensional box.
“It’s the only holiday I really celebrate,” said Mr. Gordon. “When we grew up it was always everyone’s favorite.”
This year, for the first time ever, Ghost Island Farm will also be hosting a Halloween party. The first annual Ghost Fest, Mr. Gordon said, is a costume party that is open to the public and will offer live music, games and a potluck. Ghost Fest takes place on Oct. 31 from 2 to 6 p.m.
Mr. Gordon isn’t yet sure what he will dress up as this year, he has been too busy running a farm and setting up his halloween display, but promises he will come up with something soon.