British Columbia woman inspires creativity and kindness with Wizard of Oz Halloween display

VICTORIA, British Columbia –

It was like Deborah Briggs was working in black and white.

“It was just a regular job,” says Deborah. “Depressive state.”

Of course, there was no opportunity for creativity. Until—like Dorothy waking up in the world of Oz—Deborah retired.

“It was just liberating,” Deborah says.

But instead of going down the yellow brick road, the empty nester began transforming one of her child’s old rooms into a new space for her previously unexpressed creativity.

“It’s really nice to be able to do this,” Deborah says.

When she doesn’t make up for lost time, turning ordinary wool into extraordinary animals,

Deborah turns thrift store finds and original creations into unique Halloween displays.

“All the girls are in the front,” Deborah says, pointing to a row of green-suited characters. “They’re made from shower curtains and bath towels.”

There is also a large structure with a door that was repurposed after a neighbor decided to abandon it during a recent renovation.

“Now this is a house that landed on a witch,” Deborah says before adjusting a pair of legs sticking out from under the door frame.

And this is not just any witch – as you probably already guessed – this is the Wicked Witch of the East.

“It doesn’t have to be blood, guts and gore,” says Deborah, who hopes young families will wander around her colorful interactive displays. “To me everything is a story.”

And the story Deborah tells in her front yard this Halloween on Victoria’s Linden Avenue is about a girl named Dorothy with a dog named Toto who gets sucked into a cyclone, ends up in a magical world and befriends a trio of now-classic characters.

“Here we have the Tin Woodman. This is the Lion,” Deborah says, pointing to a pair of skeletons—one painted silver, the other wearing a lion’s hat—before attaching a straw to another skeleton dressed as the Scarecrow.

Sometimes her grown children return home to dress up in character costumes too.

Deborah says she spent a year designing the displays and assembling the pieces. Hundreds of visitors show their gratitude by donating thousands of dollars to local charities.

“The world is a very unstable place right now,” says Deborah. “People need to smile more and they need a little joy.”

And if we can tap into our unique creativity and use it to help others, Deborah says, we may find that instead of striving to be somewhere over the rainbow, we celebrate that there is no place like home.