Local Halloween Tradition goes back Half a Century Thanks to One of the Founding Fathers

The grim reaper beckons. (Raquel Garcia via Key News)

BY RAQUEL GARCIA Key News Contributor

When the sun fades and the night awakens on All Hallows Eve…beware the crest of the woods under the black skies of a waxing moon. For the locals tell a fearsome tale of a certain house along the path. They say bloodshot eyes peer out from the bushes where a hairy wolfman prowls the rooftop ready to pounce. 

Legend has it that witches concoct bloody brews in the parlor and a cloaked grim reaper with his scythe stalks the garden graveyard mesmerizing innocent passersby with an eerie smile to come, enter… 

To hear Halloween stories of Key Biscayne from back in the day is to learn not just about the Haunted House at Key Biscayne Bank, and Reverend Bud’s ghouls stalking the community church. All stories seem to lead back to the Stickney House at 285 Woodcrest Lane. 

Enter if you dare.

Tim and Doreen are often credited as local holiday founders who helped expand the Halloween tradition enjoyed today where thousands of families and friends from the neighborhoods and mainland go out and about the streets in costume as homeowners compete for the spookiest front yard.    

“It has grown and grown and grown to the point where Doreen and I run out of candy after serving over 2000 pieces,” said Stickney a few days before the holiday. He offered a guided tour around the property where trick or treaters will need to get past a growling Frankenstein on the front stoop holding his severed foot before they get Smarties or Tootsie pops.  

The holiday spirit prevails indoors and out. (Raquel Garcia via Key News)

“When I was growing up on Key Biscayne, there were a lot of houses that decorated with Jack-O-Lanterns and there might be some spooky lights in the hedges.

Many parents would dress up in costume when handing out candy and it has grown considerably compared to what it was in the past and the level of decorations has increased. Then again so has our population.”

Stickney credits his parents for the beginning of a family tradition that started over 50 years ago when the family left the Midwest and settled on Ridgewood. He and his bride Doreen moved to Woodcrest (they are now proud grandparents of Temperance Marie and Charity Dulcinea) where they raised their children Michael and Katie. 

Doreen was a teacher at St. Agnes Academy for over 30 years so word spread quickly among the kids that their house was the place to go on Halloween. Now they have seen generations of those same children grow up to bring their own families over to Mr. and Mrs. Stickney’s house.

The holiday spirit prevails indoors and out. (Raquel Garcia via Key News)

“Doreen and I enjoy doing this for the kids because after they are done being scared, they are so happy. We have kids that have grown up and they will come by and say ‘Hey Mr. Stickney you gonna do Halloween this year?’ and many are Doreen’s former students.”  

The wolfman on the roof is Doreen’s brother Mark Behrend who comes in from Lakeland and as a former stagehand with long hair, he is perfectly equipped for the role. Tim Stickney is the grim reaper. 

“I actually have a real sickle from my grandfather who was a dairy farmer in Springfield, Missouri and I brought down his scythe,” said Stickney. “He was born in 1880 and lived to be 90 years old. He used it to cut the wheat and the hay.”

Stickney calls the evolution of Halloween on the key a “geometric progression” from the early days when he and his fellow nine year old friends went from house to house in search of bounty, to what the event has become today. Now his friends come over with pounds and pounds of candy to help distribute the goodies. 

Tim Stickney at his home where the Key Biscayne Halloween tradition “geometrically progressed.” (Raquel Garcia via Key News)

Don Singer is one of the local recruits who began as volunteer engineer managing the music and sound effects for the big night. An appropriate assignment for Merlin the Magician. 

“That first year, I was so overwhelmed by the crush of trick-or-treaters. It was incredible. A steady stream of young ghouls for three or four hours,” said Singer.

This year I bought 40 pounds of candy for the little monsters. Combined with the candy from the Stickney’s and the other helpers, we will have about 3,000 packages of candy to pass out — one
per young trickster. Now that’s a scary thought.”