09/17/2026
🎃— 2026 Haunted House Update — 🎃
First off, sorry for the long post 😢
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Many of our customers have asked if the haunted house would be open this year in Marysville. Last year, about a week before Halloween, the Marysville fire department shut it down due to concerns with fire/building code. This was our fourth year of having the free haunted house for the community.
Since then, we have talked with the Marysville FD and the city about what is needed to open it so its safe for the community. They gave us a list and code requirements needed. Our estimate to get it back open would cost between 30-50 thousand dollars. As you can guess, that wont be something we plan on spending for a free small haunted walkthrough. As much as it saddens us, it wont be open.
We decided that maybe we could move it to our Fort Gratiot store due to the fact almost all the code issues such as sprinkles, line of exit, should be covered. Instead of just setting it up and moving forward, we wanted to make sure the FGFD would be ok before all the work was put into it. We would just have the free standing walls with no ceiling. It would be wider and easier to just walk through.
The FGFD asked for a layout sketched showing them what we plan on doing. They contract with a fire code company outside of the county who reviewed the layout and info we provided. That company told the FGFD the occupancy permit we hold would have to be changed to a special amusement occupancy.
So what does that mean? It means that we need to get professional engineered plans for the project that show all the codes (1-5K cost). They wont answer anymore questions regarding this project, it must be done by the professional company we hire per the special assessment code. Multiple permits have to be pulled for the new occupancy rating. They want an alarm voice telling people how to get out of the building tied in with the building sprinkler system plus a smoke detector tied in as well, (3-10k depending on if the whole strip mall would have to be converted or just our tiny little shop. Also, we are just a tenet, we are not allowed to touch or change anything with the building fire, the landlord would have to pull additional permits per code).
We could have all the displays setup in our room and it would just be décor, completely to code. The second we add cubical walls it changes to a full blown fire code mess that is beyond what we are trying to do. As we put it to the FGFD - “We completely understand the need for public safety and that you oversee upholding the safety for the residents in our community. We are just sad that something this small has excessive number of expensive obstacles making it unrealistic for us to pursue.”
In the end, last year was the last time the public could have seen our fun tiny haunted walkthrough. By no means is this a criticism of our fire departments or city officials in Marysville and Fort Gratiot. We all hired/voted these officials in too make sure we are all following the rules that society deems appropriate. We always want our customers who visit us have a safe and fun time when visiting and we do strive to follow the rules. It makes us sad that something so simple and small has caused so much fuss.
Once again, sorry for the long post. We wanted to let you know we did try everything we can think of to get this setup for you. A lot of the decorations in the haunted walkthrough will be setup as décor at both stores for October. We look forward to serving you our Halloween specials this year.
- Matthew & Jamie
PS: This is not a post looking to dig at the system, we just want to be as transparent as we can with the process of trying to get this open. If you have any memories of going through it in the past, leave them in the comments 😊 we would love to read them!!
