The Craigslist advert was just three phrases: Free Halloween decorations.
That was all Nate Taylor, 49, a part-time DJ and stay-at-home dad in Traverse City, MI, needed. He met the girl making a gift of a vacation assortment spanning 20 years.
“Really, ma’am? You want us to take this?” he requested. She was downsizing due to a current divorced, so the reply was a resounding yes.
It took Taylor three journeys in his truck to transport the animatronics and other decorations back home. He then set to work making a plan to show as much as doable in entrance of his Cape Cod-style home with a 40-foot-wide yard close to Kid’s Creek Park.
Getting began
Most of the decor wasn’t actually weatherproof, so Taylor had to assemble a makeshift tarp, anchored by a sizable department of a huge tree in the yard.
He was so proud of what he had though, in 2017, he invited passersby and neighbors to get pleasure from the show—and he had a first rate turnout.
Being positioned close to Munson Medical, the metropolis’s largest hospital, many guests who stopped by had relations in the hospital. As the show leaned more toward whimsical, not scary, it was a welcomed respite.
Nate Taylor standing in entrance of his Halloween decorations. The Dead Ends on Spruce
“I’m not into blood and gore or jump scares,” Taylor says.
Inspired, the next 12 months, Taylor created a larger coated space and put out more decorations, including a huge graveyard with headstones. Word had begun to unfold, and out-of-town friends were beginning to arrive to see his show.
Year after 12 months, Taylor and his spouse saved building on the show. By 2021, they began going “all night,” which began to draw anywhere from 30 to 40 guests are evening, by their estimation.
“That doesn’t sound like a lot, but for a seasonal display, it is.”
They needed to share the pleasure with even more people, particularly neurodivergent and particular wants children and teams. Taylor has two children on the autism spectrum, and had long been upset that during Halloween, there is “nothing for special needs kids to do overall.”
That’s actually his purpose in doing this–to create a protected, entertaining space that is “easily accessible and free” to the particular wants neighborhood.
“We have never charged a dime–not one–for any ticket,” he says.
A scare in the plan
In 2023, Taylor put out a guestbook, and that’s where he saw that several people prompt he put out a donation box.
“We didn’t need it,” he says. “I am grateful my wife has a decent job at the hospital.”
But the construct does take him two months, which is time away from household and home tasks. In mid October 2023, he adopted the suggestion and added a donation box. It introduced in $1,200.
The 49-year-old dad added a donation box and a Facebook web page, drawing 18,000 guests in 2024 and bringing in funds to help with the in depth construct. The Dead Ends on Spruce/Facebook
Taylor insists that “every penny helps with the build,” and that by “no means” is anyone charged to see his show.
In 2024, his neighbors helped him get his Dead Ends on Spruce show up on Facebook so more households could get pleasure from it. That 12 months saw the largest crowds, with Taylor estimating that 18,000 people, including six college teams, visited all through the month of October.
Then Taylor took 2025 off to care for two ailing relations, including his mom who was preventing colon cancer and has now had a full restoration.
He was prepared to come back robust in 2026. As he does every 12 months, he began on August 1 by assembly with fire marshals and the metropolis supervisor in charge of code enforcement to share his plans. He also requested that his road be shut down to site visitors on Halloween evening as an extra security precaution, something he began doing in 2024.
The metropolis had always consented and there had never been a downside–until this 12 months.
A practice out of hand?
According to Taylor, one of his neighbor’s complained to the metropolis, accusing him of operating a business from his yard by “selling tickets” for the show.
In response, Taylor said the metropolis despatched him a “four-page letter from the city’s lawyers” outlining the guidelines and rules that need to be adopted for home operations.
“They think I am a business,” Taylor says,” I am not.” (Realtor.com reached out to metropolis officers for remark on this story, but did not immediately hear back.)
In studying the letter over, there was one rule in explicit that would be particularly laborious to implement: No more than eight car journey ends.
In other phrases, no more than eight automobiles at a time can park in entrance of the show. If a ninth car comes, the metropolis can shut him down.
Taylor contested that all of this was initiated by a grievance that was never totally investigated.
“So I requested a meeting,” he says.
A neighbor accused Taylor of operating a business, prompting a metropolis letter and a strict parking restrict that threatens his annual custom. The Dead Ends on Spruce/Facebook
Taylor tried to cause with him. “They had a tip that I had 18,000 people, but if you spread that out over 30 days, it’s not any busier than a big garage sale. Nobody is blocking driveways.”
Taylor insists he’s also cautious to restrict noise and finish at 10 pm, all while guaranteeing mild shows don’t impede on neighbors’ properties.
More money, more issues
The actual problem, he says, is the money.
When Taylor took 2025 off, he “had a little bit of trouble getting things up and running” for 2026 and because of that, he shared his Venmo online, asking followers if they were keen to donate.
“We got maybe $400,” Taylor admitted. At the same time, he began promoting some DJ gear to help fund the project.
“We have been bare-bonesing hardcore to make this display work,” he says.
He actually didn’t have the funds to rent a lawyer to help battle the allegations. Luckily, he didn’t need that.
“Three lawyers reached out to me, saying they would love to represent me about this.”
Taylor and his lawyer in the end despatched a letter to the metropolis, asking them to spell out their “true intents” in a response no later than September 18, noting that his Halloween show is a time-sensitive problem as Taylor wants time to construct.
“We never heard back,” Taylor says.
Nate Taylor turned a free Craigslist haul of Halloween decor into a huge, whimsical show for particular wants children in Traverse City, Michigan. The Dead Ends on Spruce/Facebook
And so, Taylor’s show has been open every evening this month, with 400 people exhibiting up the first evening by his own estimation. He has reservations from 25 particular wants teams to come during the day throughtout the season, during which he will make particular allowances to open the show.
“We haven’t had one city official come,” Taylor says. “It has been absolutely successful.”
The show is in its full glory this 12 months. It consists of about 25 completely different animatronics that vary from 6 to 12 ft tall, each with “their own scene.” There’s the 12-foot headless horseman and a 7-foot werewolf. Forty audio system emit sounds of a rainstorm, with cracks of thunder.
Taylor’s even trenched 400 ft of yard to set up his own fog system.
He expects close to 25,000 glad guests this 12 months.
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