My childhood memories of Easter revolve around new Spring clothes, church pews filled with worshippers, and my Easter basket filled with colorful eggs, chocolate bunnies, and jellybeans.
In Euclid, Ohio, there is a man who has the same memories except they did not stop there. For the last 57 years, he has decorated his front lawn with almost everything Easter. Steve Kaselak, 62, has outdone even the Easter Bunny in establishing a seasonal celebration geared specifically to children.
"Every year, it changes and every year, I redo the characters and they're all in different colors and different clothes," said Kaselak. He has named his front law on Zeman Avenue "Jellybeanville." The display runs from the house all the way to the curb of his small two-story home in which he has lived all his life.
He started his display at the age of seven, having been inspired by a neighbor who decorated his front lawn. From that time to this, Kaselak has wowed his neighborhood with intricate settings of all things Easter. There are even wooden cutouts depicting his parents.
"When I was a child, my mother would always tell me, 'Steve, quit putting all that junk in the yard,'" recalls Kaselak. "So when she died, I made a cutout of her and I said I would remember Mom every Easter," he added.
Throughout the several days his display is in place, drivers slow their vehicles as they pass the Kaselak home. His neighbors know each year, the Easter displays will grow. "People who have moved out come back purposely to come and see it," said Debbie Giffin, who lives next door.
There is hardly any room to step on the front lawn where there is not an Easter bunny, a chick, a wooden cutout, or something related to Easter. It is a one-man show with Kaselak. He declines all help to put up the display or take it down the day after Easter. "I know where everything goes," he said, adding that every year, he thinks about how the new display will be different from the one the year before.
Kaselak works in corporate sales for a large hotel and conference center in Greater Cleveland. But you get the idea his overriding passion is celebrating Easter with a display which will draw the attention of passersby, especially the children. You need only see his home on Zeman Avenue in Euclid. There is an Easter Bunny and he lives there.
