Marble messages

Graveyard, tombstones embody Halloween spirit

Susan Schell

of the Gateway

It’s that time of year for all adults to become children. At least, that’s what Tracy and Daniel Perkins believe. The Gig Harbor couple has been decorating their front yard with tombstones and other ghoulish beings for All Hallows Eve for the past seven years. Each year, a little bit more is added.

“We start at the beginning of the month,” Tracy Perkins said. “We want to attract as many families as possible.”

The couple doesn’t have children, but they consider themselves big children.

“Halloween is our favorite holiday,” Perkins said. “It was such a fun thing when we were little.”

The Perkinses welcome visitors to their yard at the end of 31st Avenue off Briarwood Lane in Quail Run in Gig Harbor. The neighborhood is located just past Uptown Gig Harbor off Point Fosdick Drive.

The yard is spattered with homemade tombstones that bear humorous headlines. There also are several inflatable lawn ornaments, including a large black cat that guards the front door which hisses and thunders at anyone 5 feet or taller who walks underneath.

“This is so it won’t scare the kids,” Perkins said. “So kids will run through it without any sound, but when the adults go through, it scares them.”

Perkins said in the past few years, the house has averaged about 45 to 165 trick-or-treaters, depending on the weather. They said the hard work they put into their yard is rewarded when they see people laugh when they read the tombstones.

The pair also enjoys their brainstorming sessions to think up epitaphs.

“We sit down and just go crazy,” Perkins said. “Things are just too depressing these days.

“It’s more fun to play. We just want people to get a chuckle out of this.”

Reach Lifestyles Coordinator and reporter Susan Schell at 253-853-9240 or by e-mail at susan.schell@gateline.com.