South Ward’s Halloween Haunt thrills again - Storms, screams and standout scenes

Deborah Gooden’s “Spooky Goddenville” on Church Street earned the title of Most Festive, with her detailed miniature Halloween village display that takes more than two months to build.

Rubyyy Jones

Cultural Correspondent

South Ward’s Halloween House Decorating contest returned this year and, while contending with weather, the World Series and a new event format, it turned out to be a spooktacular event. 

This annual community happening, organized by Paris business owner and Halloween enthusiast Tiffany Martin, is such a fun and frightening initiative that engages the locals in a friendly competition and boosts the spirit of the season. 

This year’s event was unique, in that, the judging was delegated to Devil’s Night - partly because yours truly was running a Halloween-y event in downtown Paris and because it gives more people a chance to enjoy the decorations and installations created in the South Ward area. However, the torrential rain made it a bit tricky and so the judging stretched over two days with Big Cityyy Arts adjudicating on Devil’s Night and Tiffany Marting covering the creepiness on Halloween evening. 

Everyone went all out, above and beyond! It was incredibly difficult to choose this year’s winners with so many people creative – and surprising - entries. The winner of Most Festive goes to ‘Spooky Goddenville’ by Deborah Gooden on Church Street. It’s a garage-based installation of miniatures that takes over two months to build and display! The winner of Spookiest goes to the kids of ‘Ghoul-ant Cemetery’ on Amelia Street. They brought wit and wickedness to their scary cemetery which delighted many, congratulations kids!

The winner of Best Surprise was 31 Amelia Street with their creepy corridor of shocks and scariness. In fact, it was so scary it sent kids screaming out of the backyard! Don’t worry, they were giggling by the time they reached the sidewalk. It was the peak of Halloween fun, so congratulations crew! 

Honourable mention for Best Surprise is going to a third, unknown, house on Amelia Street that skipped candy but instead decided to downsize, giving out home decor, knick knacks, books and other random items; no word on whether those items are haunted or cursed. 

This annual event is already in the works for next year so make sure you follow South Ward Cemetery - Hallowe’en Haunt on Facebook so that you can be kept in the loop about the 2026 edition. A huge thanks to Tiffany Martin for bringing so much fun to this spooky season and the South Ward of Paris.