If you wanted to get a sense of just how popular Halloween is in Weehawken, you had to look no further than 43 Clifton Ave., the home of Ralph and Lorraine Irizarry.
For the last 10 years or so, the family has decorated the home, located on the corner of Clifton and Potter Place, to look like a haunted house, complete with spider webs, tombstones, and sound effects.
“My husband has a great time doing it,” Lorraine Irizarry said. “He just loves it. He makes it a big deal, but he has a lot of fun out there. My husband is a musician, so he has all the equipment.”
Even most of the music was original, provided by the band Xanity, which features Lorraine’s two sons, Kyle and Ian Gruttaduria.
And when the trick-or-treaters made their way to the front door, there sat two an adult and child dressed as a skeleton and a mummy. The skeleton was Ralph Irizarry and the mummy was 5-year-old Elias Hunt, Ralph’s grandson.
“Kids kept going up to them to see if they were real,” said Lorraine Irizarry, who is a teacher at Weehawken’s Webster School. “They walked right up to them to see if they moved.”
High turnout
Several observers said the turnout of candy collectors was at an all-time high in the township. Every street was packed with kids holding bags and buckets of goodies.
The 70-degree temperatures may have been the reason.
“I love the weather,” Natalia Estevez said, as she walked Park Avenue with her little brothers, Maxi Bermudez, age 4, and Marco Bermudez, age 3. “God blessed us with this weather.”
Natalia and her two brothers were all dressed as pirates together.
“I took them out for a little while, but I have to buy a camera,” Estevez explained.
Little pirate Marco then chimed in.
“And we have to get a bucket,” he said.
Jay Savulich brought his 2-year-old son, Miles, around to take part in the fun. Miles was dressed as a “doggie,” as his father put it. He was amazed at the work that the Irizarry family did.
“This is like a movie set,” Savulich said. “I’ve never seen anything like it and I’ve never seen so many kids out and having fun. It’s amazing. A night like this makes me proud to be a Weehawken-ite. Disney has nothing on Weehawken.”
Neither, apparently, would a candy store.
“We went through $150 worth of candy, and it went fast,” Irizarry said.