Halloween busy, fun affair for Marohl family

Shawano home attracts over 1,000 people annually with inflatables, tombstones and treats
By: 
Lee Pulaski
City Editor

The line didn’t let up Halloween night at the home of Scott and Lynn Marohl on Briarwood Lane as hundreds of people shuffled through for cookies, candy, hot chocolate and a spooky stroll through the backyard.

This is the ninth year that the Marohls have hosted a Halloween celebration for folks strolling through the southern Shawano neighborhood seeking treats. Scott Marohl, who works as a middle school teacher and athletic director for Sacred Heart Catholic School, said that his family moved into the home around Halloween 10 years ago.

“It gradually got bigger and bigger,” he said.

Marohl had an aunt and uncle who used to live in the neighborhood where his family resides, and they would have large crowds on hand as they handed out candy. He remembered helping out on those Halloween nights and felt it would be good to resurrect the tradition.

“If you ask anyone who knows me, I don’t do things small,” Marohl said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s work-related or at home. I figured if I was going to do it, I was going to do it good.”

Marohl punctuated that point by having Terryoke’s Mountaintop Entertainment blasting tunes like “Let’s Do the Time Warp Again” from “Rocky Horror Picture Show” and Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” as the lines progressed. He noted that usually he has games set up for children to play, but with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, he opted not to do that this year for health and safety reasons.

However, that didn’t stop the Marohl family from putting up spooky inflatables with ghosts, spiders and monsters, along with tombstones with funny names like “M.T. Casket” on them and a pallet showing severed body parts and skulls that people had to walk across.

“I just try to put a nice setup for anybody that comes through,” Marohl said, noting it takes him a week to set up the lights and an additional day setting up the inflatables and other decorations. “I have a bunch of family and friends who also come in and help make sure everything runs smoothly.”

A donation box was set up for anyone who wanted to help defray the costs, but Marohl enjoys spending time and money making something that makes people happy on the holidays.

“It’s the same I do with my Christmas displays,” he said. “The goal is to do something fun for the community. I know it takes a lot of time and costs a lot of money, and we kind of budget for that.”

Marohl enjoys seeing the happy faces — at least the ones not covered by masks — as they come through his backyard and enjoy the Halloween holiday spirit. On average, about 1,000 people come through during the three-hour celebration, he said.

“It’s just exciting to see all of the people happy and taking pictures, whether it’s the pumpkin patch in the front or the graveyard in the back,” Marohl said. “It just makes it all worth it. It’s always a fun time.”

Next up is setting up the Christmas display. While Marohl doesn’t do a big party with that like he does for Halloween, there is consistently a bunch of items lit up and on display, along with a holiday message on the roof. Last year, he had “Spread peace, not germs” to coincide with the pandemic impacting the Christmas season.

Christmas used to be the holiday Marohl went all out for, but he admits that Halloween has taken over as his favorite.

“I like to see what we can put together,” he said. “Now that my son’s really into it, that makes it even more exciting to do.”


lpulaski@newmedia-wi.com