Keen on a ‘Dream Halloween’

Halloween is a season of celebration and surprise—with gurgling witches' brews, kids dressed as their favorite creepy monsters, and eerie ghosts and goblins coming back to life everywhere.

It's also an ideal time to forge friendships and build community—especially in Eichler neighborhoods.

But what's the secret to truly unifying a community, connecting with neighbors, and getting a 'Dream Halloween'‐in‐the‐making off the ground?

Meet Jennifer Santore Buck, an art director and Eichler owner who has a knack for sparking creativity and magic in her neighborhood—Balboa Highlands, in Southern California's Granada Hills.

Since Jennifer's arrival (with husband Jarred) in 2015, trick‐or‐treaters in 'Bal‐boo‐a Highlands' have been drawn in by her imagination, and absorbed with Halloween zaniness—like fishing for floating candy 'eyeballs' in a neighbor's pond; and, on scary tiptoes, peeking into a mysterious atrium‐turned‐underwater‐mermaid cavern.

Halloween excitement can be contagious, Jennifer has discovered, especially when a neighborhood Facebook social media group comes into play.

For Balboa Highlands' community of 100‐plus Eichler homes, their private Facebook group that Jennifer started up a few years ago has been a game changer for its current 138 members. Neighbors post everything from weather concerns to queries of curiosity to recommendations for local contractors familiar with Eichlers.

"It's handy for so many things," explains Jennifer. "I met good friends that I might not have talked to; and we're able to organize social events like progressive parties, and coordinate community causes, like having meetings about earthquake safety."

And then there's Halloween.

When, during October of 2020 in the midst of the pandemic, she asked neighbors to come up with interesting ways of delivering Halloween candy without making contact, Jennifer was impressed with neighbors' imaginative displays.

"We had someone hang candy from strings in their trees," she recalls. "Another neighbor came up with a leaf blower shooting candy out the door."

In keeping with a 'no contact' theme, husband Jarred set up a chute that safely delivered candy to trick‐or‐treaters at the end of the Buck driveway. "People got so creative that year, that from then on, we thought this could be so great," says Jennifer.