By Dawn De Busk

Staff Writer

It all started with a black cat.

When Bridgton teen Brian Sprunger was five years old, a black cat inflatable grabbed his attention. He talked his dad into buying it and they brought the cat home, where it decorated the yard in the days counting down to Halloween.

Ten years later, the teenager has a full-blown interest in inflatable decorations.

At a very young age, he was inspired by other people’s Halloween decorations. Now, he hopes community members will enjoy his display, which numbers 26 inflatables. 

Sprunger’s family lived in Arkansas, and moved to Maine about three years ago. This will be the second Halloween at their home off Sweden Road in Bridgton.

“Back in Arkansas, we used to drive around town to see all the different inflatable displays. There was one guy who had 30 or 40 of them. I got really inspired at that point,” Sprunger said.

Most times, he can’t wait until October to start putting up the inflatables.

“I start to get excited around late August when I start to plan out and buy the inflatables I want for the display. When the time comes to set up the display, I am always really excited,” Brian Sprunger said.

His dad added, “We have to negotiate the dates because he wants to have them up as early as possible.”

This year, it was mid-September that the inflatables took up residence in the yard.

Brian is thankful to his grandparents who, over the years, have given him inflatable decorations as gifts. He expressed being thankful that his family lets him use the yard each season for his inflatables. 

“Some of my friends — they actually helped me set this year. It was set up in the middle of September,” he said.

“It took three days to set everything up. If I am lucky, it takes one day to take it down,” he said.

His dad Mike Sprunger explained, “He has a different design every year. Until this year, he always had music playing and he would curate it.”

This year, Brian added a half-dozen inflatables to the collection. He purchased three on E-Bay, using money from his summer job. The new ones include the dragon archway, a short ghost, and an eerie tree with moving arms.

“The big ghost is my favorite because it is really tall and attracts so many people to see my inflatables,” he said.

“I like the different animations that some of them have like the two trees. There is a cat that moves its head, a ghost that spins on a pumpkin, and a dragon that flaps its wing,” he said.

Brian feels very comfortable among his inflatables. He never get startled by them. At the same time, he likes scaring other people.

“Sometimes when I have my friends over, I make them walk into one of the trees. They get scared very easily,” he said.

Also, as was the habit when they lived in Arkansas Brian likes driving around to see other yards that are decorated for Halloween.

“We like to go around Madison Heights in Naples and Kansas Road in Bridgton. They have really good inflatables displays on those roads.  On Halloween night, we go trick or treating on Elm Street. They have a lot of inflatables on that road, too. It is always really fun to see them,” Brian said.

Brian hopes his neck of the woods would be a place people stop to view the inflatables. He thinks the neighbors are getting in the spirit, too. 

“We put a few by the road [Route 93] to lure people in. We’d love to have people see them for Halloween,” Mike said.

Brian has already planned to take down the inflatables on the Sunday after Halloween since the weather forecast is calling for rain on Monday.

“When we lived down in Arkansas, there was one time we left them up until the week before Thanksgiving. Then, I finally took them down and put up Christmas stuff,” he said. “Wait until you see my yard in December. I have way more for December.”