WESTFIELD, New Jersey — Before there was “The Addams Family,” there was Westfield.
Cartoonist Charles Addams, who created the eccentric, fictional family, took inspiration from elegant Victorian homes, the historic cemetery, and other landmarks in his hometown of New Jersey for his signature spooky style.
Today, the affluent community about 25 miles (40 kilometers) southwest of Manhattan embraces his grim legacy and honors its darkly humorous native son with AddamsFest every October.
Downtown storefronts were transformed into temporary canvases for seasonal scenes depicting Gomez, Morticia, Wednesday, Pugsley and the rest of the family.
Addams-themed events are held throughout the month, including an art exhibit, a music and beer festival, a masquerade ball, and a contest among homeowners for the spookiest front yard display.
“Everybody’s really getting into it,” said resident Kelly Heuschkel, whose little girl is dressed as Wednesday Addams this Halloween. “I think people decorate more for Halloween here than for Christmas.”
Joy Fox was among the visitors surprised that such a beautiful-looking town could inspire something so sick.
“It looks like a very nice suburb,” said a Cleveland, Ohio, resident who recently passed by Addams’ childhood home. “I grew up watching ‘The Addams Family.’”
The month-long festival, now in its ninth year, began when the town’s former mayor was looking for something uniquely Westfield for the town to celebrate.
Former city council member Dawn Mackey, who helped found AddamsFest, admits there was some initial skepticism when the idea of relying on Addams’ knowledge was first floated.
“A lot of people didn’t even know he was from here,” he said.
But Mackey said he once knew he had piqued the interest of organizers when a visiting family told him about their three-stop itinerary for Halloween: Salem, Massachusetts; Sleepy Hollow, New York and Westfield.
“I felt like this was the moment,” he said.
Mackey said it was pure “luck” that the festival launched in 2018, a year before the “Addams Family” animated movie was released, and was followed by its sequel in 2021.
The hit Netflix series “Wednesday,” which focuses on the family’s sullen, fiercely independent daughter, also brought a new fan base to the scary family.
Beyond the festive events, visitors can explore some of the town’s attractions on foot. A self-guided heritage trail covers the highlights that shaped Addams’ art.
A historical marker at Addams’ colonial-style childhood home says she lived in her grandmother’s attic and is believed to have been the inspiration for the fictional Grandma Addams.
Nearby, along the street where a young Addams likely walked to school, is the Victorian house that inspired the fictional family’s imposing, gothic abode. A miniature version of the family’s fictional mansion sits in the middle of a pond in the city centre.
Further ahead is an old cemetery next to a white-spired church filled with colonial-era tombstones that authorities say the young Addams frequented.
The historic movie theater, complete with an old-time tent, hosts an art exhibit featuring a selection of Addams’ works on loan from her family foundation, as well as related works by local artists.
A large portion of the barn wall was cut away and preserved to display a life-size drawing of a skeleton by the young Addams.
“The entire barn was covered in graffiti except for this piece,” Mackey explained. “It was like the young people who hung out in this barn for decades still respected it, even if they didn’t know who painted it.”
Mackey says Addams was ahead of her time, drawing strong female leads and interesting families that would resonate generations later.
Addams spent most of her career as a cartoonist for The New Yorker magazine, which published many of the Addams family cartoons, including her first cartoon in 1938. He died in New York in 1988 at the age of 76.
At the Addams art exhibit, Mackey highlighted a piece depicting Pugsley waiting by the fireplace for the arrival of Santa Claus on Wednesday and Christmas. But instead of leaving out the milk and cookies, the naughty siblings send St. John’s house down the chimney. They build a roaring fire to burn Nick.
Mackey said of Addams, “Every healthy town has secrets and a dark side. I think she saw that, too.” “Taking the darkest side of people and giving it a twist makes it funny rather than scary, and that’s what he does best.”