One of the three CU decorated utilities carts is adorned with chopped hands and skeletons.

Creighton University’s Facilities Management team added a festive touch to campus this month with a Halloween-themed utilities golf cart — a tradition that has been ongoing for the past several years.  

Facilities carpenter Doug Deman said he began decorating the cart about five years ago, often teaming up with others from the same department, decorating a total of three carts on campus.   

“I think me and Keith, the locksmith, have been doing it for probably the last four or five years,” Deman said. “He’s been here [for] probably five years. I’ve been here seven.”  

Deman said he puts the display together in his free time, using materials he finds throughout the year. This October’s decorations included plastic hands, feet and a cowboy hat.   

“I went to a garage sale and they had these plastic cut-off feet,” he said. “I thought, well that’d be kind of neat, and then the lady said, ‘Why don’t you just take all of them?’”  

He added that the hands on the cart are all rights with no lefts.   

“They’re actually right hands — two right hands,” Deman said. “If you look really close, they’re all right hands, actually.”  

Other decorations came from leftover supplies around the workshop.   

“The cowboy hat and the flannel shirt were just laying in there,” he said. “So, I thought ‘Well, I’ll do that.’”  

Some students appreciate the festive spirit. Ester Martinez, a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences, said the display adds joy to campus life.  

“I feel festive,” Martinez said. “I think it’s very nice that they are having fun with it. I’m sure their jobs don’t have a lot of fun events, so it’s nice they are enjoying the holidays.”  

In previous years, Deman hung small skeletons on the cart, but said windy days made them difficult to manage.   

“They were flying all over the place,” he said.  

The decorated cart has become something of a hidden campus tradition, drawing smiles and double takes from passersby.   

“I get some funny looks from kids,” Deman said. “They like it.”  

Deman said he plans to keep the tradition going.   

“I usually do it in October. We try to decorate for the holidays a little bit.”  

Deman plans to keep the decorations coming, not stopping at Halloween. Students can look out for the carts again during the Christmas season, when they’ll be decked out in holiday cheer.