A big ‘Z’ in ‘Grammy’s Kooky Spooky’
Time to bond, scare, impress with Zacharys’ 9th Halloween display, dinner
The result was “Grammy’s Kooky Spooky Dinner” to celebrate the fun that comes with Halloween.
Ninth Annual Grammy’s Kooky Spooky Dinner 2024 has been much more than a dinner, being the highlight of a roughly 10-day celebration leading up to Oct. 31, which is centered — every year — at the home of Pam and her husband, Richard Zachary, in Park Place subdivision behind Farragut Town Hall.
As for the inspiration to start this in 2016, “It’s a fun time of year. It’s kooky, it’s spooky and the grandkids were little. So I thought, ‘you know what? We’re going to start a tradition,’” Pam recalled.
“Traditions are a big deal to me,” she added. “And I wanted a tradition for them when my husband and I are gone, when they have their own families and memories.
“It’s so important for us to make memories with our family, and that’s what this is all about. … And Halloween, It’s a big deal for the kids.”
Pam’s and Richard’s three children are sons, Jason and Justin, plus daughter, Jordan. They have six grandchildren.
The dinner, which comes the Saturday before Halloween each year, is family only, “about 17 of us.”
However, even with family, “There are requirements to come to my Kooky Spooky Dinner,” Grammy said. “You have to dress kooky or spooky and you have to bring a spooky or kooky dish or appetizer.
“There’s another requirement for coming: you cannot share with any family member what you’re going to be dressed as,” Pam added.
Not even your husband or wife.
Always new touches
And every year “it’s gotten bigger and bigger and bigger,” Pam said. “And every year I think, ‘what can I do next year to out-do what I did this year?’
And so, she came up with “The Graveyard” next to the couple’s pergola, for 2024. “The first time I’ve ever done this.” And it lights up at night.
In fact, “it has gotten crazy, some of the stuff that we come up with,” Pam added. “They have gotten very creative.”
For example, “One of my first cookie dishes was an appetizer where you get a baby diaper and you put guacamole in the middle of the baby diaper,” she said. “An actual baby diaper because they’re sanitary.”
Having lived at their Park Place home for 17 years, Pam starts her annual Kooky Spooky planning roughly a week-and-a-half before Halloween.
The one Grammy’s Kooky Spooky Dinner celebration that wasn’t at Pam and Richard’s Park Place home came in 2022.
“We have a farm over off Everett Road and we had a hayride that year,” Pam said about the roughly 8-acre property.
Richard in praise
“Pam is definitely the creative one behind the Kooky Spooky,” Richard said. “That’s her gift.”
