Garden-Lou Spotlights-Halloween at Westport Social
See the final results on YouTube!
WARNING=THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS THE FOLLOWING: SCARY CLOWNS!
Spiders, snakes, heights, enclosed spaces … of all the wide-spread phobias out there, I had no idea how many people have Coulrophobia- the fear of clowns. That is until I posted a photo of myself with one on social media. The clown-haters suddenly surfaced, showing their true feelings among the jokes and jabs at the clown’s resemblance to my poor husband.
However, the good people at the Westport Plaza Social knew all about scary clown phobias and turned that fear into one over-the-big-top Halloween theme this year with the help of our creative can-do friends at Ambius.
An Ambius crew of six turned the space into a dreamy (nightmare?) circus complete with trapeze-soaring clowns, a mystical fortune teller, and assorted freak-show characters. During the three-day transformation, the crew arrived by 5:00 a.m. to allow the multiple lifts to maneuver without disrupting customers or staff.
The power-couple of Marvin and Charlee Storner led the crew, who have been teaming up and decorating St. Louis for the holidays for over 25 years. Garden-Lou Spotlight on Charlee Storner
The Halloween work started months before the actual installation, with the creation of the cast of characters back at the Ambius warehouse. After the clowns were constructed, a ‘dress rehearsal’ was performed to work out the technical aspects of the trapeze clowns.
Even though most of the characters are viewed from a distance, every tiny detail is thought out, giving a layered realism to the characters.
After all the characters and components are complete, everything gets loaded up and ready to move out for showtime!
300 yards of fabric were installed to give the space a ‘big-top’ feel, then shredded by hand for a fun, creepy vibe.
For more information about the Westport Social, check out;
Maryland Heights Bars | Maryland Heights Lounges (westportsocial-stl.com)
Comments or questions? Email Garden-Lou at gardenloustl@gmail.com
Words and photos by Jo Batzer. Additional photo courtesy of Charlee Storner.
© Jo Batzer, garden-lou.com-2023, All rights reserved.
