Several nice touch-ups and additions this year...but the general theme is getting tiring...perhaps something different next season???

I have started a petition to see this display changed and made more "family friendly." There are two preschools within sight of the display, and children, who are eye-level with the bloody, severed legs everywhere, must walk past it all the time. The current display is too frightening and inappropriate for young children and offends many in this community - which is Deerfield, not Chicago. If you agree, please post your name and zip code here, and I will add your name to the petition, to be sent to CRM Properties and the Village of Deerfield once there are enough signatures.

Can I add your name to the petition, Caryn?

I agree that this display is offensive. Have you seen how Highland Park decorates? Their display is creative, tasteful, artistic and truly celebrates fall. Please add my name to the petition - Laurie Lederer, Deerfield -60015

Thank YOU!!! I think the display is totally tacky and unattractive. We won't let businesses in the village have neon signs, or too many signs, but we happily allow a headed (and last year headless) horseman drag a bloody, dismembered body through our downtown for 2 months every year - REALLY and the board is worried about signage in a businesses window. I am SO glad that someone is taking the lead on this. Can you also work on getting the holiday display to be less tacky too? The giant, scary jack in the box is getting quite old - along with the rest of the Christmas display - and yes, it is a Christmas display and not a holiday display.

Good luck. This is the shopping center with the permanent white children's sculptures in front of Barnes and Noble, not a single child of color or ethnicity. At the December Holidays, the decorations never change from year to year. Why they pick Holloween to add more gore gets me when they could do so much better than the clown jack in the box and gift boxes that they do every year.

WOW!! Relax folks. It's a Halloween decoration.

Are you going to petition the houses that have decorations up too! This is what Halloween is about.

Courtney...Apparently you do not walk the residential streets of DF this time of year.
There are homes all over this town that have more grueling depictions than the castle...homes, I might add, that have children in residence. I might also add that I live very near that corner...and I rarely see anyone...let alone pre-school children...walking along the display "all the time". Mostly parents bringing their children there to see it up close. While I think the display has gotten stale over the years...I have no problem with a scary...creepy Halloween depiction. As Karen said...that is what Halloween is all about. Frankly, I don't think your concern is for the children...I think you have a personal agenda...religious in nature perhaps...that you want to foist upon others. Happy Halloween....BOO!

Obviously, not. There is a difference between a display in an essentially public space and that on a private lawn. I also believe that there is enough violence, gore and ugliness in this world that we do not need to glorify it - even if it is pretend, and even on a day like Halloween. As I state in my full petition: What would be wrong with some black cats, ghosts and witches? Halloween can be spooky without the gore. I stand by my position: bloodied, severed limbs are obscene, and obscenity is generally not tolerated in a public space where children are present.

You're right: I do have a personal agenda, but it is not religious in nature. I have two young children that walk by the exhibit all the time. But, if the majority of Deerfield likes the exhibit, than so be it. I will concede defeat. So far, however, I have received a lot of support from others in this community.

(Typo in last post: "...THEN so be it.") One more thing: I hope my fellow neighbors know that I do not wish to be contentious about such a trivial issue as a Halloween display. And I also hope that if we can't see eye-to-eye about the offensiveness of the display, that we can then agree to disagree. I honestly just thought (perhaps naively) that others would find the display to be as grotesque as I do and would prefer to see something less bloody in such a prominent venue. I will not be posting further about this, because it really is too small of an issue to be deserving of any more of our time. I just wanted to clarify my stance.

My issue with this display is not the gore. It's just plain ugly. I've hated it for years. It wouldn't be too hard to come up with an attractive fall/Halloween display. Might even cost less. Hope to see something fresh next year.

Well this explains the poor Halloween taste: I heard this was decorated from somebody from DES PLAINES. Can you believe it? Almost as bad as Chicago...

If you want to sign the petition:

http://www.change.org/petitions/crm-properties-group-ltd-and-the-village-of-deerfield-change-the-halloween-display-at-the-corner-of-deerfield-and-waukegan-3