Every Halloween, thousands of kids and parents pack the streets around Oakwood Avenue and East Street in Raleigh to see one very decorated house. This year, the man behind it learned that his front yard fun had come to the attention of City Hall.
Jesse Jones runs what the neighborhood calls the Halloween house. In November 2025, the city told him he would need a special event permit for 2026, and he did not think it fit.
“My house is not a special event,” he told the city council at its Oct. 13 meeting. Here is how a yard full of ghosts ended up in a permit fight, as laid out in reporting on the council meeting.
From A $50 Block Party Permit To A Special Event Application
In earlier years, Jones paid $50 for a block party permit and hired off-duty police officers for three hours. That was the setup for a night when a quiet street turns into a parade of costumes…