PHOTO BY STEVE WILLIAMS Commercial Bank tellers (left to right) Natalie Price, Monya Raby and Kimberly Clapp go about their business as usual, even though surrounded by bats, witches and The Butler (background).

PHOTO BY STEVE WILLIAMS
Commercial Bank tellers (left to right) Natalie Price, Monya Raby and Kimberly Clapp go about their business as usual, even though surrounded by bats, witches and The Butler (background).

By Steve Williams

When Kimberly Clapp joined the staff of the Commercial Bank in Fountain City this past summer, the financial institution obtained not only a new teller/CSR (customer service representative) but a fun-loving holiday decorator.

For starters, she has turned the stately, two-story building across from Fountain City Park into somewhat of a haunted bank. All of her ghosts and goblins and other spooky creatures have helped put its customers in the mood for Halloween.

A lot of businesses decorate for holidays, but Clapp’s display at Commercial Bank, 5320 North Broadway, is quite elaborate.

“One customer told me, ‘I haven’t ever seen a (bank) branch look like this,’” recalled Clapp.

Some customers have brought their kids in to take a look and bank manager John Fugate’s grandkids came to see it, said Clapp, who hopes many more folks will stop by this week to take a peek.

This coming Friday, on Halloween Eve, Clapp said she will have her fog machine in operation all day. That will add to the ambiance.

Kimberly and other tellers also will be wearing Halloween costumes. Clapp said she will be a witch and head teller Natalie Price will be Little Red Riding Hood. Loraine France will portray a “carnival-type person.” Monya Raby is keeping us in suspense.

And of course there will be treats.

“My main goal for this is – since there is a lot of people who can’t decorate or are not able to decorate – when they walk through the door, if I can put a smile on one person’s face, I’ve done my job,” said Clapp.

“I feel good seeing their faces, their expressions, their reactions.”

Clapp has decorated other banks where she’s worked in the past, but because of more space to fill this year she had to add to her Halloween family collection.

“The mummy, the skeleton and my pirate ship is what I used to decorate with,” she said. “This is a big branch and I’ve tried to fill it from one end to the other end.”

A life-size witch that talks and a tall tree with a pumpkin head are among new decorative items in her “biggest Halloween display” yet.

“I didn’t want it to be that spooky, where someone wouldn’t want to bring their children,” said Clapp. “I wanted it to be fun.”

It’s been a “team effort,” pointed out Clapp, adding she very much appreciates the assistance and support from the bank’s other tellers – Natalie, Loraine and Monya.

“And Christmas is going to be just as good, I hope,” laughed Kimberly. “As long as everyone’s agreeable to it, we’re going to keep doing it.”