Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
DICK AND Arlene Vittone, of Bessemer, stand in the dining room of their home, Sunday. Each year, the couple decorates for Halloween, in honor of Arlene Vittone’s birthday on Oct. 29 and their daughter Peri Rund’s birthday on Oct. 30.
WITCHES LINE the window sill in Dick and Arlene Vittone’s home in Bessemer on Sunday. Each year, the couple decorates their home for Halloween in honor of Arlene Vittone’s birthday on Oct. 29 and their daughter Peri Rund’s birthday on Oct. 30, besides Halloween, as well.
BESSEMER — To some, Halloween is a time for dressing up, getting free candy and being as scary as possible.
But for Dick and Arlene Vittone, of Bessemer, Halloween is a time for birthdays, celebrations and showing off their spooky style.
Each year, the Vittone’s celebrate halloween over the course of three days in October. Starting on the 29th, they celebrate Arlene Vittone’s birthday, followed by their daughter, Wasilia, Alaska, resident, Peri Rund’s birthday on Oct. 30 and Halloween on Oct. 31.
Decorations for the celebrations don’t include balloons or streamers. Instead they use hundreds of Halloween decorations in each room of their house to celebrate another year.
“She decorates a lot,” Dick Vittone said of his wife. “Every room is done up.”
To get ready for the holiday, Dick and Arlene Vittone spend three to four days putting everything out on display, including scary witches, ghostly apparitions, boney skeletons and evil monsters.
“I get a couple of new pieces every year, and my kids buy me stuff for my birthday,” Arlene Vittone said. “My favorites are my AnnaLee witches.”
Many of the pieces are many years old, but she couldn’t remember which decoration was the oldest.
“Me. I’m the oldest decoration she has,” Dick Vittone said.
When asked about how she finds places for everything, Arlene Vittone said she keeps it all to memory.
“We’ll start decorating and I’ll remember that certain things go in certain places,” she said. “Over time, it all comes back to me.”
The decorating started for the parties they had at their home, but now, they decorate for themselves.
“We’ve gotten too old for parties, so we enjoy it by ourselves,” Arlene Vittone said.
Many of the decorations light up and make sounds, and according to Arlene Vittone, she “enjoys it every night.”
“My favorite colors are yellow and orange, so I just love it,” Arlene Vittone said. “Fall and Halloween are my favorite times of years, so it gets hard to take it all down.”
According to the Vittones, their grandkids also like the decorations, but it doesn’t end with Halloween.
“We also decorate a lot for Christmas,” Dick Vittone said. “That takes about four days to do.”
