Since the mid-1980’s, Steve Kaselak has annually filled his front yard and property with an Easter display from Palm to Easter Sundays. For more than a generation, visiting Jellybeanville has become an annual family tradition for numerous local residents. Kaselak begins planning each year’s display in January, and it takes him about two weeks to set up each new seasonal installation. Kaselak completely re-arranges the display every year, although hand-painted wooden cutouts of his parents and siblings are a constant — his deceased mother sports a brightly textured new Easter Sunday dress each year.
Steve Kaselak’s sister near her likeness
Steve Kaselak’s father and stepmother
Steve Kaselak’s WWII veteran father with his likeness
Steve makes sure the color red (strictly for Christmas and Valentine’s Day) is nowhere to be seen. One year the display included live ducks, another year live goats competed with the booming big band-era Easter music, and the display now bursts out of the teeming front yard, runs up the driveway, onto the garage, and spills into the backyard. Kaselak places lights throughout, and from twilight on, Jellybeanville’s Easter pastels light up the night. Steve attends midnight mass on Easter Sunday, and the display always includes a prominently placed egg cross.
Needing a much-deserved day of rest, Kaselak takes Easter Sunday off and is nowhere to be seen. In his stead, Peter Cottontail – the Easter Bunny himself – takes over the festivities, and he delights in handing out baskets of goodies to the kids while he’s not providing ‘celebrity’ photo-ops. Jellybeanville annually collects several hundred dollars for charity (the Domestic Violence and Child Advocacy Center), and in addition to lots of local news attention, has received national (CNN- HLN) media
