LAKE HAVASU CITY – The darkness of the pandemic made people around the world wondering if traditional holiday celebrations would ever return to their same magic. In the fall of 2020, Lake Havasu couple Niki and Kevin Nickle, decided to shed some glow on the upcoming Halloween holiday.
Ten years ago, the couple decided to move near Daytona Ave. Historically known as the local avenue of getting a yearly abundance of trick or treaters, they were disappointed to find out that the expected large numbers of children had begun to dwindle.
In the early months of the pandemic, many residents wanted to skip the outdoor holiday altogether. That’s when the Nickles decided to turn their backyard into a free walk-through haunted house for the community. Not having a lot of funds, the duo purchased festive Halloween decorations and made items by hand.
Their first display included special lighting and three animatronic witches. For that first year, Kevin handmade gravestones out of lumber.
The spooky presentation also had some themed embellishments from movie favorites like “The Nightmare before Christmas” and other well-loved films. To avoid the spread, individually wrapped bags of candy were handed out. Niki remembers that the number of attendees was a lot more than they had expected.
“We had so many people show up that year, it was amazing to see how appreciative everyone was.” Throughout the years, their annual visitors remain high in numbers, and the team now has a great collection of memories that they will always treasure.
“I will never forget the father and daughter that visited us. The dad wanted to return at a certain time to watch the World Series game but the daughter loved our house so much, he allowed her to go through it repeatedly. They were there for almost three hours as his daughter was keeping him up to date of the game scores the whole time through her phone,” Nickles said.
This year, the Nickle’s haunted backyard will be all set for another creative display and promises not to disappoint. Attendees can expect Haunted Mansion showings based on the 2023 Disney film, Tim Burton movie influences, and much more.
Although it’s not a requirement, guests are welcome to leave tips or donations. All of which will go into making more haunting enchantment for the Halloweens to come.
The 6th Annual Halloween Backyard Walk Through is a two-day event set to take off on Thursday, October 30 and Friday, October 31 from 6 to 9 p.m. at 150 Impala.
Admission to visit is free and according to Niki, one of many perks of hosting the event is seeing the return visitors. “We’ve seen a lot of the children, especially growing up. I’m excited that we are the ones creating awesome memories for them,” she said.
