###

Over the weekend, Ferndale resident Carrie Gray Coppini filed an “official complaint” with the Victorian village’s Chamber of Commerce. The town’s Halloween decor and seasonal events, including evening tours of the historic cemetery, focus way too much on horror, the complaint says.

Coppini cites an “unofficial FB poll” in which 88% of respondents agreed that there are “excessive skeletons displayed on Main St.” 

“Apparently, according to reports from various people, there have been many complaints in the past addressed to you from both citizens and the Ferndale businesses that you are called to oversee and support,” the complaint letter says. And yet, despite this feedback, Ferndale has seen “an actual increase in the creepy décor and horror events each year instead of a lessening.” It’s gotten to the point where citizens don’t feel comfortable bringing their children and grandchildren to visit and shop, she says.

This ghoulish assemblage — skeletons on rooftops and park benches, hanging from light poles, cavorting with animal skeletons — left Coppini with no choice but to organize a boycott.

“Stop the nonsense!” her letter demands. “Scare the Crows not the children!”

Before signing off, her letter lists demands: “This boycott of Ferndale businesses will continue for the month of Oct 2026 until there is evidence that you are listening and take down at least 50% of the skeletons, and stop the creepy ‘moonlit tours’ at the Ferndale Cemetery!!”

On the Ferndale Community Page on Facebook, Coppini urged supporters to contact the mayor, the city council, the Ferndale Enterprise and the Chamber of Commerce, and to join her in the boycott of local businesses.

A number of people agreed. 

“I know multiple parents of little ones that avoid Main Street Ferndale the month of October,” one woman commented.

“Not anything most parents I know would want to take their children to,” wrote another. “A big mistake in my view. Thankfully there are lots of better options.”

A third woman remarked, “I have to say I now dread Ferndale in October.” 

Other reactions to the boycott have ranged from dismissive laughter to genuine concern for struggling local shop-owners. The vast majority of online comments have expressed opposition to the protest.

“Our Main Street merchants work so hard to keep their stores going in this economy, especially with the debt that Covid and the Fernbridge closure caused them,” argued Jennifer Fisk-Becker, who sits on the Ferndale City Council but, in a message to the Outpost, specified that she was speaking only for herself. “I am hopeful that boycotting our local merchants does not happen.”

Leah Daniels, who owns Mind’s Eye Manufactory and Coffee Lounge with her husband Marc, said she is firmly opposed to the boycott. After Coppini listed Mind’s Eye among a handful of businesses excluded from the boycott (for unknown reasons), Daniels took to Facebook to distance herself from the movement.

“Here in ‘idyllic’ Ferndale we’re arguing about how many plastic skeletons are on display and actually trying to harm our neighbors and their livelihoods over it,” she wrote.

Reached by phone on Tuesday, Daniels said the skeletons aren’t particularly scary. “They’re not all gory,” she said. “They’re just, you know, skeletons doing goofy things.”

Melissa Lema, whose family has long owned the only service/gas station on Main Street, sent the Outpost a statement that reads, in part, “I was very disappointed this weekend to hear that my parents’ business, along with those of many of our neighbors, were being boycotted based on holiday décor that someone in our town found offensive.”

While Lema doesn’t personally love the “over-the-top plastic décor” that has taken over Main Street, she thinks calling for a boycott of small businesses in this economic climate goes a step too far.

“Our Ferndale business owners are more than cute, historic storefronts; they are active donors to our youth programs and non-profits, volunteer firefighters, members of local boards, coaches, farmers, parents trying to feed families, and contributors of countless hours to keep the behind-the-scenes wheels of this town running,” Lema said.

I left Coppini a voicemail and reached out to her via Facebook. She promptly blocked my phone and Facebook account and has not yet responded. Others have reported being blocked by her after leaving comments on her post.

If Ferndale residents are looking to identify who’s most responsible for the town’s recent explosion of Halloween spookiness, they need look no further than Tonde Razooly. 

Not only is she the daughter of local goth legend Tom “T. Great” Razooly (a sculptor of gargoyles, former host of “Horror Theater” on late-night local TV, prior owner of the Tip Top strip club and 2002 candidate for mayor of Eureka) as well as the mother of indie filmmaker Griffin Loch (who directs low-budget supernatural thrillers), she also happens to be the current president of the Ferndale Chamber of Commerce.

Reached by phone on Monday, Tonde Razooly said the whole point of the skeletons is to drum up tourism and boost the city’s economy during what’s traditionally a down time for shopping. She noted that towns from Salem, Mass., to little coastal communities in Washington and Oregon have found economic success by going full “haunted house” each October.

“It’s not just one person that can do it alone,” she said. “It takes a whole town to support it to make it be something that people want to travel to.”

In 2021, a family of Halloween enthusiasts — Tonde Razooly, Robin McPeters and their son Griffin Loch — launched the “Scream-A-Torium Haunted House” in Fortuna. They later decided to move the event to the Humboldt County Fairgrounds — or “Scaregrounds” — in Ferndale.

Razooly said that when they presented the idea to the Ferndale Chamber of Commerce (well before she was personally involved with the organization), the board asked how it would benefit the shops, hotels and Airbnbs in town.

“So our mission was: how do we share this experience with Main Street businesses?” Razooly recalled. “So we came in and presented the idea of: if you make a Halloween town, it’s a fall destination. It’s not just a single thing. It’s not just coming down for the fairgrounds, but it’s coming and being part of this town that has a beautiful backdrop.”

The Chamber gave them the green light and enough funding to buy some black-and-orange bunting and about a dozen skeletons. The family dubbed the event “Frightfully Fun” and invited local businesses and nonprofits to participate.

Among the organizations they contacted that first year was the nonprofit Ferndale Cemetery Association. People from far and wide have long gravitated to the picturesque hillside cemetery each October. Some drink and party and act up.

In an effort to cut back on such unsanctioned hijinks, Razooly suggested that the association offer guided evening tours in October.

“It would be much more controlled, and the money could go back into the preservation of the landscaping,” she said. “And so we helped them with a poster. We helped them with advertising and a brochure, and in the first year they made over $9,000.”

Cemetery tour organizer Susan Chivers said there has been “a really good response” to the tours, which don’t feature any talk of ghosts and the supernatural.

”We take people around — it’s an iconic, historic cemetery, of course — and we try to tell stories about people whose graves are there and tie that together with things they see in town: street names, buildings, posters with people’s names, the town’s history,” Chivers said.

The tours are offered at dusk and take people up the hill enough for a good view of Ferndale and the surrounding Eel River Valley, “but not all the way up because it’s kind of big,” said Chivers, who has only heard about the boycott via word of mouth. She doesn’t understand why the cemetery would be targeted for offering these tours.

“We’ve tried to keep them very respectful because it’s a cemetery,” she said. “It’s where people are laid to rest.”

After that first year, “Frightfully Fun October” became an Chamber-sponsored event. Razooly has partnered with other local nonprofits, including the Ferndale Museum and the Ferndale Repertory Theatre, for themed fundraiser events. The museum now offers a candlelight tour with ghost stories while the theater hosts “Hocus Pocus Broomsticks & Brews.” The events have raised thousands of dollars for their respective organizations, Razooly said.

The Chamber has also ponied up for more bunting and more skeletons. 

“City Hall asked to be included in that, so we purchased six more skeletons for them,” Razooly said. The aim is to keep the really scary stuff over at the fairgrounds and have Main Street be more “whimsical and fun,” she said. To that end, the Chamber has wrapped garlands of fake fall leaves around light poles and created little scenes like a skeleton dog pulling its master across a yard, or a skeletal versions of Harry Potter and his owl Hedwig.

“Almost all of our skeletons have little farm animals, so they have, you know, cats and pigs and dogs and chickens. So there’s a bunch of fun, kind of for the flavor of Ferndale,” Razooly said. “That way it’s more like Disneyland, not scary at all,” Razooly said.

Local business owners say “Frightfully Fun October” has succeeded in boosting spending.

Tami Tosti, who owns the handmade-chocolates shop Sweetness & Light, said, “Personally I’m not a big decorator, but what this town has done for my business, we’ve personally done 10 to 20 percent more sales in October than we ever have in the past.”

October is typically a dead zone between the summer tourist season and the holiday shopping season. Tosti said “Frightfully Fun” has effectively raised the dead season.

“It has helped us tremendously to keep the momentum going,” she said.

In an email sent to City Hall and the Ferndale Chamber, Tuyas Mexican restaurant owner Glory Lagielski expressed “strong support” for Frightfully Fun and the festive skeletons.

“As a Main Street business owner, I can confirm that these events and decorations drive significant business to our town,” her email says. “Sales at Tuya’s have increased dramatically in October since the event’s inception, providing essential revenue that helps us sustain operations through the slower winter months.” 

Caroline Titus, the former owner/editor of the Ferndale Enterprise and current board member at the Ferndale Chamber of Commerce, said the city’s bed tax revenue was up last October and has now reached an all-time high, as have the analytics for the chamber’s web traffic and social media engagement.

“I’ve only heard positive messages” from local business owners, Razooly said. “I definitely know that some people have said, ‘Well, it’s not my thing but it keeps my store busy.’”

So far, none of the business owners we contacted said they’ve seen any impact from the boycott.

Earlier today, when Outpost reporter/photographer Andrew Goff was snapping photos of the skeletons along Main Street, an older tourist emerged from the coffee shop and called out to him.

“Can you believe this?” he said. “Makes me feel like a kid!”

Scroll down for more photos of Ferndale’s Halloween decorations.

###