This midtown dad may be Toronto’s King of Halloween

For years, Toronto’s wee witches and mini monsters have had their sights set on one tricked-out midtown house: the lair of Glenn Zujew, Toronto’s self-styled King of Halloween.

No one in the neighbourhood delights in fright more than Zujew. Every year, he and his family treat Halloween like a spooky Christmas, mailing out greeting cards adorned with their portrait (this year in Ghostbusters garb); decking the halls with pumpkins, skulls and charred leaf boughs; and even decorating a gothic fir in their living room with black and orange orbs and a ghost in place of a star.

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The best part, however, is the front lawn. Zujew always goes big with the decorations, but this year he’s doubling down on being the zaniest house on the block. His pièce de résistance: a staged battle between a giant inflatable octopus and a seven-metre-tall Stay Puft marshmallow man. Their showdown is joined by Zujew’s signature singing pumpkins, plus huge eyeballs perched on the second floor and a synchronized light show.

“The big display brings so much joy to the street,” says Zujew. “Our neighbours say our decorations mark the official start of spooky season.”

Every costumed visitor will, indeed, get a big payoff for their efforts. “Last year we had over 500 trick-or-treaters visit, so we raided Costco’s supply of Coffee Crisp, KitKat and Smarties and stashed them in a closet—which has been hard to resist digging into,” says Zujew.

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Zujew has been a lifelong Halloween zealot, and he’s passed it on to his two kids, ages nine and 13. Case in point: their son’s middle name is inspired by Evil Dead. Zujew, who works as chief people officer at marketing agency Klick Health, got his first taste for spectacle about two decades ago, when he organized his company’s Halloween bowling party. Since then, it’s grown every year—and this time around he’s booked out Casa Loma for a massive monster mash.

Come November 1, the ghosts will vanish and the skeletons shall return to their closets. With them out of the way, the King of Halloween will surrender his crown to his wife, the Queen of Christmas, who begins a different kind of reign with twinkle lights and baking spices. Until then, the marshmallow man and the kraken will be duking it out in the yard, awaiting a barrage of sugar-hungry children.