If you walk past 126 Fleetwood Rd this Halloween season, you’ll meet the neighbourhood’s most durable skeleton dinosaur who has survived six Winnipeg winters, and who stays up in the yard all year round. He’s the real MVP of the Mayhew family’s Halloween display — and, these days, of a food drive that keeps growing with it.
Micaela Mayhew and her family moved to Whyte Ridge six years ago, and the first display was modest: a couple of blowups, the dinosaur, one other animatronic, and a stack of hay bales. Then her parents started adding their decorations, and her brother’s business, Decor & More, added more still. The crowds grew with the display — from the usual 50 to 75 kids in the early years to last Halloween, when the family ran out of 1,000 bags of chips. This year, Old Dutch has donated 2,000 bags of chips, and Matrix Massage has donated boxes of chocolate and candy.
Halloween has always been one of Micaela’s favourite times of year. She remembers being a kid, going
house to house with her siblings collecting candy and dressing up as whatever she wanted, while her parents went all out decorating their house. When she had her own boys, she knew she wanted to give them that same feeling — and share it with the whole community. That is what started the building, year by year. As she puts it, she really wanted “that feeling of magic to happen for all the kids.”
But the display was never only about the display. Micaela grew up watching her parents volunteer, and her family did Christmas Cheer Board hampers every year — a tradition she carried on with her sons. A couple of years ago, she realised the yard could do more.
“Not everyone has the time or means to do hampers… but if everyone can chip in an item or two, that really adds up,” she says.
It has. Last year, visitors filled at least 12 full-size boxes with donations and gave about $800. The food went to a few places, among them Harvest Manitoba and Fort Garry Women’s Resource Centre — and the money went to Homes For Heroes.
This year, the food will go to Harvest Manitoba and Fort Garry Women’s Resource Centre, chosen from suggestions neighbours made on the neighbourhood app. The money will go to Immaculate Conception Church on Euclid, where Micaela’s dad, Rick, volunteers every Sunday. The parish puts together food packages and feeds 500 people; the money will buy the items that go into the pre-made packages.
How to give
there’s a bin on the corner of the yard for drop-offs. The family is taking canned and other non-
perishable food, toothpaste, toothbrushes, and new gloves or socks — no used clothing, please. Monetary donations go into a jar the family will have out with them Monday to Friday from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m., and on Halloween from 4:30 to 9:30 p.m. If you can’t make it by, email Micaela at rmtmayhew88@gmail.com to arrange a drop-off time.
It’s a whole family event. Micaela’s dad does the majority of the setup, with Micaela pitching in when she’s available, and her brother and sister-in-law coming to help. Her sons love to help when they’re home from school: on Halloween, oldest son Maddox walks visitors through the yard and hands out candy at the end, while younger son Hendrix dresses up in a scary costume and plays the part of a Heebie-Jeebies actor, scaring as many people as he can.
“We hope everyone enjoys our Halloween walk-through as much as we love putting it on,” Micaela says. “And thank you for all of the continued support and donations over the past few years.”
The display is at 126 Fleetwood Rd — stop by, enjoy the walk-through, and bring an item or two if you can.
