When inflation is the scariest part of 2022

Forget ghouls and zombies.  Rising from the front yard of an East Vancouver house this Halloween is something even scarier — rising grocery prices.

Laryssa Gervan was inspired to do an inflation-themed house of horrors after brainstorming what people are genuinely afraid of this year.

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“It’s my third year in a row doing a display that has current events-related themes to it,” said Gervan. “Inflation and general economic uncertainty seem to be top of mind for a lot of people.”

Starting in the beginning of October, Gervan began setting up the display at 715 Victoria Drive.

Her experience as a set dresser in the film industry gave her the skills to assemble and rig the props and set the scene of the check-out counter from hell.

She used a Cricut machine to cut outdoor vinyl to make the Grave On Foods sign, a pun on popular B.C. grocery store chain Save On Foods. The inflation installation also features two mannequins — one in chains pushing a cart and the other on its knees carrying a bag of play money.

Gervan, who likes using scavenged and recycled materials for her annual display, found the cash register, a price gun, and the base for the conveyor belt in piles of discarded rubble at a condemned house.

One of the highlights of the vignette is a till showing the price ticking up and up, topping out at a terrifying $999.99 before glitching out and starting at the bottom, a creation by Gervan’s friend Arthur Goldsmith who wrote the code from scratch.

The cost of groceries has outpaced the inflation rate for the last 10 months. According to Statistics Canada, prices for store-bought foods grew 11.4 per cent in September, prompting Canada’s competition bureau to study what factors are impacting soaring food prices.

This isn’t the first time Gervan’s Halloween display plays on scary real-world fears. Last year, her display focused on COVID-19 vaccination fears while in 2020, she set up a Halloween border wall inspired by U.S. president Donald Trump.

Unlike many Halloween displays, Gervan isn’t seeking donations for charity. She does it purely for fun and hopes to bring a laugh to people during these challenging and scary times.

Feedback on the display, which will be up until mid-November, has been nothing but positive. “I got a lot of laughs, even when I was working on it, and comments that it’s both very clever and very scary.”

They're eerie and scary and many raise funds for a good cause. Check out these spooktacular Halloween displays in Metro Vancouver.

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