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IN THE SPIRIT

by Sharon Smith

For Halloween, most of us just try to get our costumes ready for the big day itself. Not so for one family on Tyndale Avenue in SouthPark. Beth Guynn and her husband, Brian Tarkington, plan for Halloween months in advance so they can delight neighbors with a new, good-natured fright each day of the month.

Their skeleton crew, Glenda and Dale, gets a daily wardrobe or theme change starting Oct. 1. “I try to avoid duplicating themes, so in the last two years, we’ve created 60 unique themes and had two encores of the most popular themes of 2020,” Beth says.

It all began as a way to meet neighbors during the heart of the pandemic, when they were new to Beverly Woods. “We were inspired from boredom during quarantine and started the idea just to entertain ourselves,” Beth says. She had two skeletons from Costco and thought, Wouldn’t it be fun to dress these guys up and put them on the lawn? It was so well received, they kept going.

Beth jots down ideas and builds themes around what she has at home. “Find a pizza dog toy? It’s pizza night. Broken vacuum and TV? They’re doing chores and watching Netflix,” she says.

Last year, their favorite vignettes centered around a weeklong theme: Time of Our Lives - Meet Glenda and Dale. Each vignette told a story, starting with the first day of school to their engagement, marriage and starting a family.

Now the Tyndale Skeletons have a following beyond Beverly Woods with their own Instagram account, which Beth initially started to keep neighbors updated on all the fun. “Some neighbors have even started contributing props and ideas, so it’s become more of a neighborhood project. That’s the main reason I keep doing it.”

Beth says people have asked if they are artists. They’re not. She and Brian both work in tech. “We just have a unique sense of humor.” SP

You can keep track of Dale and Glenda’s daily antics during October by following @tyndaleskeletons