Curious Louisville

Ask anyone in Louisville the best place to see Halloween decorations, and you’ll likely be sent to Hillcrest Avenue in Crescent Hill. It’s just one of those things everyone seems to know. But how did it get started? And what’s it like being a homeowner there? That’s what Curious Louisville listener Katharine Crawford wanted to know. Some sources have the tradition going back to the 1980s — originally a competition between two neighbors trying to outdo each other. But historian Joanne Weeter said Halloween on Hillcrest really started picking up steam in the 90s. “1995 was the first year that Hillcrest was formally mentioned in the local paper that it was a Halloween thing,” Weeter said. Word got out, and crowds started showing up throughout the month of October. These days, they number in the tens of thousands. Up and down the street, stretching from Frankfort Avenue to Brownsboro Road, houses are decked out by proud homeowners who spend months preparing. “It takes a commitment to pull off such a wonderful dis