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Community Corner

Blog: Gory Display's Fun, but for a Good Cause, Too

Cherie Kowalski Riley does her annual Halloween display in memory of her son, but also because it brings families together and it helps her collect food for a local pantry.

It literally takes guts to create a must-see Halloween display at 25013 Brigade Lane in Plainfield, what with nearly 100 monsters in varying positions and lots of bloody scenes. My favorite is the crash involving a Power Wheel vehicle and many corpses. 

But the display that Cherie Kowalski Riley and her family designs each year does not go without its heartaches or a cause to support.  

“I’ve been doing it for about five years now and it gets bigger every year,” Cherie said.

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It’s the appreciation of the families spending time together outside of her home that

What keeps her motivated to bring the seasonal gore to the neighborhood is how much it's appreciated by the familes who spend the time outside her house looking it. She uses the display to pay tribute to her Halloween-loving son, whom she lost when he was just 15.

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Cherie’s passion doesn't stop there, though. She also uses the display to collect food for the in her “Haunt against Hunger” campaign. She asks those who stop by to drop off nonperishable food for her cause.

Check out the display during the daylight or at night, when the 60-plus spotlights illuminate the gore. 

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