Grantsville now full of skeletons a year after the controversial display

GRANTSVILLE, Utah – After a skeleton decoration scandal in Grantsville last year, the city has taken it upon itself to adopt Halloween decorations this year.

The city asked businesses to wear their best skeleton decorations this year. And soon, residents will have the opportunity to vote for a winner.

“It’s not just businesses that do it, it’s private citizens,” said Grantsville Mayor Neil Critchlow. “It’s an amazing experience to do this. People walk around with their kids to look at the skeletons.”

The city has asked local venues to do their best to find skeletons for their competition.

“When they brought this up, I was happy because it was an opportunity for them to show that they all have a great sense of humor and love that the city wants to do fun things,” said Christina Keener, a business owner of Grantsville. .

Critchlow explained how they’re taking bad publicity from last Halloween season and turning it into good publicity by getting everyone involved.

The idea came from the skeletons dancing with sticks in a Grantsville neighborhood in 2023. The city said the display should be removed, but only because it was attached to a city street sign. The residents then put up the display in their yard with their own pole.

City of Grantsville; Amy Moulton

“It got pretty viral last year, a little more exotic. We have the stripper team there in our neighbors, and it’s become a neighborhood thing,” Grantsville resident Bryan Duvall said.

This year, Duvall and his family have followed the same theme as their neighbors down the street.

“These two men over here are looking at the woman, and the woman over here is waving at this man,” Breyker Duvall said, pointing around the screen. “If you look over there, you’ll see there’s one over there and the one over there is waving his arm and he’s got money. And this big guy over here is security, and you have to be 21 or older to get in” .

Breyker said he’s glad the whole town is celebrating his favorite holiday.

“I love Halloween. My favorite time of the year — everybody loves it,” she said.