Tucked away in a quiet Southwest Bend neighborhood, don’t be surprised to see throngs of trick-or-treaters, and plenty of adults, too, stopping for an extended visit on Brianne Place.
On Halloween night, Kevin Tucker and Lara Matheny transform their yard and garage into a spooky walk-through experience that’s family-friendly and draws people from far and wide. In fact, they expect about 300 people to visit this year’s attraction, which includes a graveyard, haunted forest, evil gingerbread house, spooky swamp and other immersive delights.
“Halloween is the best holiday of the year,” said Tucker, 52, with a big smile. “You get to dress up. You get to be someone else. And you get to go get a bunch of candy.”
They do hand out candy, and adult treats, at the end of the walk-through, which features creepy, spooky decorations and scenes that the couple have mostly built themselves, save for some of the skeletons and other figures that they purchased. They also have a cadre of friends who help them each year. Out front of the house, to the side of the haunted graveyard entrance guarded over by Chuckles the Skeleton, there’s a stockade for people to use for photo ops, but don’t worry, it doesn’t lock and it’s big enough that one won’t get stuck.
The couple has been putting on the neighborhood attraction for 18 years. They arrived in Bend in 2002 and decorated their first home for their favorite holiday. However, they didn’t really get into their decorating groove until moving to Brianne Place.
“We started this, a much smaller version, at our old house. Each year, it’s grown. We just keep adding something or changing something,” said Tucker, explaining that after the Covid-19 pandemic, they began incorporating a fundraiser into the Halloween-night attraction as a way to give back to their community. The walk-through is free, but donations are encouraged. All money raised goes to the Family Access Network, which provides essential services such as food, shelter, heating and health care to Central Oregon families in need.
This year, Movement Mortgage, for which Kevin is a loan officer, will match all donations. Last year, they raised several hundred dollars and hope to do even better this year. One thing they won’t do, however, is intentionally scare anyone. They want young and old alike to enjoy the experience they work hard to create every October.
“We do creepy. We don’t do jump scares,” Kevin said. “Jump scares are cheap. Creepy is way more powerful.”
The couple did consider canceling the one-night attraction this year, after the Silver Rail Elementary School shooting on Oct. 15 that left a teacher and three students dead. However, they opted to forge ahead to hopefully bring some joy to their community.
“We want kids to have a normal trick-or-treating experience,” Tucker said. “What happened is a tragedy, and it’s horrible, but I want kids to have some normalcy, as well.”
Haunted Yard Halloween Walk-Through and FAN Fundraiser
Sat., Oct. 31, 5-8pm
Brianne Place in Southwest Bend -- look for the graveyard!
Free but donations encouraged. Benefits Family Access Network
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