PARMA, Ohio — A two-story, “Star Wars”-inspired Halloween yard display in Ohio is enticing kids to get toy lightsabers and attracting hundreds of visitors from across the state.
Elevator mechanic Nick Meyer, 39, spent about $1,500 and 10 hours a weekend for half a year to build a replica of the four-legged All Terrain Armored Transport, or AT-AT walker. He built it with his carpenter friend Anthony Paroda, and it’s been such a success that spectators are donating money for them to build another display next year.
At 19 feet, the replica is nearly as tall as Meyer’s home in Parma, a Cleveland suburb. The cockpit of the AT-AT walker is outfitted with lights that glow red at night, and a mannequin fashioned to resemble a “Star Wars” Stormtrooper soldier stands guard in front.
Meyer said he built it with plywood, hard foam and plastic barrels and based the design off a toy he bought online.
“We’re both pretty crafty, but it’s not rocket science,” Meyer said. “You just gotta be willing to do it.”
Meyer said he has built attention-grabbing Halloween displays for six years running, from an Addams Family mausoleum to the stern of a pirate ship jutting out from his front porch. He tears them down in November and drinks beers with a friend when dreaming up the next year’s display.
Meyer and his wife, Becky, say Halloween is their favorite holiday.
“The creepiness, the decorating, being able to dress up and pretend to be a kid still — it keeps me young,” Nick Meyer said.
“We like to do it up big if we can,” his wife said. “I just so happened to find a husband that loves it too.”
