By Joi Louviere
Steven Novak said he hates Halloween. The 47-year-old Dallas man said the holiday was rough for him growing up low-income in Rockwall, where he was already bullied.
“I was a poor kid in a rich town and I couldn’t afford a good costume. All of my costumes were like makeshift, like whatever my mom could like put on me.”
Novak wouldn’t admit to eventually loving the holiday, but instead saw his Halloween art as a protest of sorts, encouraging people to be creative and not just automatically fall into typical Halloween tropes.
Novak starts planning his Halloween displays in November and by April is sourcing materials and starting several physics projects, despite having always struggled with math. How does he do it then? He loves solving problems.
Novak cracks safes for a living—a job he said is extremely difficult, but it’s helped develop his problem-solving skills. He enjoys the challenge, and that’s what he loves about creating intricate Halloween displays. Novak maps out his ideas on a chalkboard, and the rest is a series of trial and error, up to the very last minute.
This year’s theme centers on a truck filled with biohazardous materials crashing and turning those exposed into zombies. And yes, there’s an actual toppled truck that Novak had delivered to his yard. Visit the gory scene for yourself at 1414 Lansford Ave., Dallas.
