ORANGE PARK, Fla. – With Halloween just two days away, one Orange Park homeowner is putting the finishing touches on a spooky — and surprisingly educational — front-yard attraction that’s become a neighborhood tradition.
Matt McCary calls it “Bearadise,” a free, walk-through Halloween display built along a paved pathway. Visitors enter through a homemade archway into a makeshift graveyard filled with DIY tombstones, towering skeletons, webs overhead and hundreds of feet of lights. Hidden speakers, sound effects and fog machines help set the tone for Halloween.
McCary said the project started small.
“So this started as a little pet project in 2019 with just a couple bales of hay and a pumpkin as a little Halloween display,” McCary told News4JAX.
McCary said the display grew quickly after 2020, when families were looking for safe, local ways to have fun.
Now, he estimates the setup spans nearly 5,000 square feet and draws about 250 trick-or-treaters each year.
“It’s awesome,” McCary said. “Even in the summer, you’ll hear kids running through here, they’ll be like, ‘That’s the Halloween house!’”
And getting it all in place takes a team effort.
McCary said it takes a team of about 14 people to unload everything — and weeks of setup to get all the electrical, lighting and details right.
Part of Bearadise’s charm is how much of it is made by hand.
McCary said many of the tombstones are DIY, and last year he even ran a neighborhood contest for funny tombstone names.
The goal, he said, is to keep it “fun and light” while still delivering some spooky Halloween vibes.
“Nostalgic for us and it’s a fun time of year,” he said. “I want to impart that fun and that excitement and joy onto other people and their mom and dad and grandma and grandpa and the kids for them to have a good time too.”
A personal connection to Halloween — and Salem
McCary said Halloween is “nostalgic” for him, a holiday tied to childhood memories and family traditions.
He also has a personal connection to Salem, Massachusetts — where he got married in October 2013.
That’s why one area of Bearadise includes QR codes that visitors can scan to learn more about the Salem witch trials — including information tied to people who were tried and executed.
While it’s primarily an evening attraction, he said they often turn on the lights earlier in the evening so younger visitors can enjoy it without being too scared.
You can learn more about Bearadise — including past-year videos, a Halloween livestream and additional information HERE.
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