A handbuilt Halloween display crammed onto a 20-by-30-foot front lawn in Traverse City, Michigan, has drawn tens of thousands of visitors — and this season is its last at the address that made it famous. Dead Ends on Spruce, the free walkthrough attraction created by Nate Taylor at his home on Spruce Street, with Paul and Jen Sparks later contributing interactive sensory elements, nearly got shut down this fall after neighbors complained to the city about traffic, noise, and what one called an unauthorized business operating out of a residential yard.
According to MLive, the display sits in Traverse City's R-2 mixed-residential zoning, and the city issued a statement on September 11 outlining concerns about structural safety, traffic impacts, noise and lighting. City officials said the worries stemmed directly from neighborhood complaints, and they met with Taylor to discuss a smaller-scale version of the display for this year while exploring a future site. The city noted it expected the attraction to draw between 18,000 and 21,000 visitors across October's 31 days, per that same report.
The pressure had been building for weeks before that statement. Following a neighbor's complaint alleging the display was operating as an unauthorized business, Traverse City officials sent Taylor a letter in late August establishing an eight-vehicle parking limit near the property and imposing new operational requirements, according to 9&10 News. Taylor disputes that the display functions like a business, telling MLive the city misunderstood the attraction, and he's pushed back by noting Dead Ends on Spruce charges no admission fee and requires no donations.
A Decade of DIY Building, One Final Season on Spruce Street
Taylor hired legal counsel to defend the attraction on the grounds that no admission fee changes hands, and he confirmed in late September that 2026 would be the display's final year at his residential address while he searches for a larger venue, according to UpNorthLive. Over nearly a decade, Taylor has built the walkthrough into a community attraction. He hopes the project continues somewhere new, telling MLive the display will go on because it brings joy and gives back to the community.
The attraction began modestly. Nate and Vicky Taylor started it in 2017 after finding a Craigslist ad for free Halloween decorations, a haul so large it took three trailer loads to cart away and filled their basement, per MLive. Taylor, who works as a DJ, turned the house into the first version of Dead Ends on Spruce in 2018 and has built it by hand for two months every year since, working six to 10 hours a day from August 1 until opening night. He's said the finished product feels bigger and more spacious than the property it occupies.
Built for Accessibility, Not for Profit
What now packs nearly every inch of that front lawn and driveway includes 25 to 30 animatronics, custom lighting and ground-level fog effects, with no blood, gore or jump scares — a deliberate choice that makes the walkthrough wheelchair accessible and family-friendly. Paul and Jen Sparks joined the project in 2022 to add interactive sensory elements, additions that made the attraction accessible for visitors with disabilities, and students with disabilities now visit during daytime fall field trips, according to MLive's reporting.
Local businesses have pitched in too. Thirlby Automotive loans Taylor a Cadillac Fleetwood presidential hearse for the driveway display, Security Sanitation provides a portable restroom, and A+ Concrete donated scaffolding for Taylor's handmade castle facade. The display accepts optional donations to help cover project expenses but has no merchandise or commercial element, and Taylor has described the whole thing as a gift to the community. He's said his ADHD makes it difficult to accept help, even as the project has grown well beyond what one person can realistically run alone.
The attraction hasn't run every year. Dead Ends on Spruce paused in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and again in 2025 while Taylor helped family members through unforeseen medical needs. This season it's open daily throughout October, rain or shine, from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m., drawing crowds to a residential street in Traverse City's Slabtown neighborhood.
A National Pattern of Yards Outgrowing Their Neighborhoods
Traverse City isn't alone in wrestling with this. In Raleigh, North Carolina, officials required a high-profile display in the historic Oakwood district to obtain special permits and pay municipal fees this October, per WRAL.
The scale of enthusiasm driving these conflicts tracks with national spending trends. U.S. consumers are projected to spend a record $13.5 billion on Halloween in 2026, up from $13.1 billion the year before, according to the National Retail Federation. Of that, an estimated $4.3 billion is going specifically toward decorations, with 42% of households planning to decorate their yards or home exteriors. Searches for “Halloween crafts” surged 131% this season and “Halloween decor” searches rose 68%, per the Greeneville Sun — a wave of DIY enthusiasm that mirrors exactly the handbuilt, non-commercial approach Taylor has taken with his own lawn for nearly ten years.
For now, community members have offered encouragement and floated possible alternative spaces if the display has to move, according to MLive. Where Dead Ends on Spruce lands for 2027 remains unresolved, and whether city or county officials will offer public space or institutional backing to keep the tradition alive is still an open question. What's clear is that this October, at 315 S. Spruce St., the lights, fog and animatronics are running one more time at the only home the display has ever known.
