Halloween Comes to Wilton's North Pole

In the 1944 classic "Meet Me in St. Louis" a Halloween scene leads audiences into the holiday season.    

Such is the case with a timely spooktacular collection at The Wilton Christmas Barn.  Halloween is less than a week away and decorating for the creepy holiday has become much more popular since the days of forgoing a trick in exchange for a treat.  Everyone seems to be getting into the spirit of the fall holiday and high-end Christmas artists are no exception.

Owners Gary and Jennifer Bean purchased The Wilton Christmas Barn on July 1, 2009 from Bob Merck and Rich Giger.  The couple were customers of the shop before making the purchase. 

Years ago, Merck and Giger had an additional shop next door called Tiny Tim’s that sold gifts and ribbons and treasures of that sort.  The fire marshal closed the Dickens-character-named shop down and the Beans dreamed of bringing it back. 

“My thoughts are I would like to bring a lot of Tiny Tim’s into The Barn,” said Jennifer Bean.  “I want to make it more seasonal.”

With the exception of the Fourth of July, which was only a few days after the Beans purchased The Barn, the first major holiday for the couple is the upcoming fun holiday Halloween.

“We have a huge collection of Byer’s Choice carolers,” said Jennifer, adding that this year the popular Christmas carolers company once again made singing witches for the spooky season.  The non-audible Halloween carolers, who carry festive props with them like a carved pumpkin, candy apples, and a broom and cauldron, are proving to be quite popular. 

“They’re almost gone,” said Jennifer.

Patricia Breen’s Halloween ornaments are also featured in the store’s Halloween collection.  An American who lives in Poland, Breen sells her creations to a select few retailers and The Wilton Christmas Barn is one of them.  The Barn sells Breen’s ornaments from this year as well as Halloweens past.  

In the Hooray for Halloween 2006 collection ornaments have creative names such as “Frank’s Flying Machine” and “Little Hot Head."  A Christmas evergreen just wouldn’t be fitting for the creepy season’s ornaments, so The Barn also sells black feather trees to be decorated accordingly. 

Upstairs in The Barn, surrounded by one lighted snowy Christmas village after another, is an entire Department 56 Halloween village.  Miniature ceramic kids carrying pumpkins in front of “The Candy Cauldron” share the same street as Dracula and “Black Widow Dating Service." 

According to Jennifer, The Barn has one of the biggest collections around and although she doesn’t know for certain how many people are aware of their Halloween collection, the popularity is surely growing. 

“We have sold out of so many pieces," she said.

In the upcoming weeks, The Barn will be holding many events such as a Byer’s Choice Carolers Party and a Snowman Weekend but there aren’t any Halloween specific events going on this year.  That doesn’t mean that there won’t be one for future Halloweens though. 

Said Jennifer of the possibility of a Halloween weekend in 2010, “Next year we very well may.” 

The Wilton Christmas Barn is located on Route 7 and more information about hours and collections can be found at historicalchristmasbarn.com.