Community Corner

Haunted Garden Allowed to Proceed for 2-Night Run

A popular haunted yard in Silver Spring was granted a two-night run this year, rather than the originally planned five-night run, by a county judge.

The popular Haunted Garden—the spooked-out, tricked-out yard of a private home on Worth Avenue near Sligo Creek Parkway in Silver Spring—will be open to visitors (free-of-charge, as always) for only two nights this fall, instead of the originally planned five nights, The Washington Post reported.

But it could have been shut down entirely. A temporary restraining order shut down preparations for the elaborate event earlier this month

Some residents had said that the event brought too many strangers and traffic into the neighborhood, The Post reported in 2011, shortly after county inspectors took issue with signs in the yard during the event advertising house owner and Haunted Garden organizer Donna Kerr's real estate business. Kerr later took the signs down, The Post reported.

On Tuesday, Montgomery County District Judge Patricia Mitchell ruled that the event could be held for two nights this year. While she said that "there was 'some intimation' of business activity, the county failed to meet its burden of proof that the Haunted Garden was a commercial venture, The Post reported.

The Haunted Garden will be open for visitors on Oct. 25 and 26 (and not on Oct. 19, 27 and 31, as originally planned), from 6 to 10 p.m. For more information, visit the event's website and Facebook page.

>>>Read the full story on The Post's website.


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