Halloween enthusiast continues unique spooky season tradition

For the past five years, Orillia resident Derick Lehmann has been hosting a unique Halloween show at his home every October weekend, turning the side of his home into a video projection board for various Halloween stories.

“I just love Halloween more than Christmas,” admitted Lehmann. “This is kind of just a fun thing for me to do for the kids.”

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Lehmann says he always loved trick-or-treating in his youth and wanted to continue expressing his enthusiasm for the spooky season as he grew into his adult years. He was then introduced to projection mapping during a trip to Disney World.

“I noticed that in addition to the lasers and the fireworks, they were projecting characters onto the castle, and I thought, wow, that’s really unique,” recalled Lehmann. “I turned around and looked and they had four huge laser projectors to light up the castle with these characters. And I thought, wow, that'd look really cool on our family's home.”

Lehmann then did his research and worked with creators to make projected video blend in with the nuances of his home’s exterior. He projects elements from Halloween favourites such as Beetlejuice, Ghostbusters and Hocus Pocus among others in a 25-to-30-minute loop.

“We look at the base layer, which becomes the map of the house, and then we cut in the different video elements to react with our specific map and our specific home,” explained Lehmann.

The projection mapping Halloween show has become an October tradition for the Lehmann’s with people stopping by his home from Orillia and beyond.

“They were from all over Ontario coming by,” said Lehmann. “Most nights we get, maybe 100, 200 people, depending on how the weather is. It's been great.”

Lehmann also gives candy to the kids who stop by and collects food donations to support the Sharing Place Food Centre in Orillia. His projection shows take place on Friday and Saturday nights in October from sunset until around 10 p.m.