{"id":41080,"date":"2022-10-20T06:01:00","date_gmt":"2022-10-20T10:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thelandmark.com\/?p=41080"},"modified":"2022-10-20T06:01:00","modified_gmt":"2022-10-20T10:01:00","slug":"dare-to-visit-sunset-manor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/2022\/10\/20\/dare-to-visit-sunset-manor\/","title":{"rendered":"Dare to visit Sunset Manor"},"content":{"rendered":"
By Danielle Ray <\/b>
\nLandmark Correspondent<\/i><\/div>\n

STERLING \u2014 If you dare, take a journey through Sunset Manor this Halloween. The walk-through spooktacular display is a labor of love for one town resident.<\/p>\n

Jason Calaway Rickman said he has \u201calways loved Halloween and dreamed of having a place to express that.\u201d After living in his family\u2019s home at the end of Sunset Drive since moving there a decade ago, he decided several years ago that \u201cit was time to up the Halloween game,\u201d and Sunset Manor was born.<\/p>\n

The popular destination features animated Halloween creatures, skeletons, lights, and so much more. People of all ages come by to enjoy the fruits of Rickman\u2019s labors on Halloween and check out the display that takes him weeks to put together.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was a child, I had a few strings of lights and would carve out a few pumpkins,\u201d he recalled.<\/p>\n

\u201cA couple decades ago I started to grow the collection. Now I use over 3,000 feet of caution tape, fog machines, strobe lights, inflatables, animatronics, sound systems, spiders, skeletons, and endless amounts of ghouls, ghosts, and Halloween knick knacks, in addition to the live actors. I actually built a shed just to hold it all.\u201d<\/p>\n

For years the display was just his thing, he said, but in recent years his wife, Kim, and their two sons, Ryan, 12, and Travis, 10, have joined in on the fun.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow the boys help out quite a bit with the setup, and my wife never complains about the time I put into it,\u201d Rickman said. \u201cOn Halloween we all get involved, though, and ensure all our guests have a great time.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said he thoroughly enjoys the entire process of setting up Sunset Manor each year and sharing progress photos on social media \u2013 including recent snapshots of a literal skeleton crew helping him.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe best part is expressing myself and coming up with unique ways to display it,\u201d Rickman said. \u201cKnowing that the smallest detail could make someone\u2019s night just drives me to make the display better every year.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked what kind of challenges he faces, he didn\u2019t hesitate to say weather and \u201cmy passion for Halloween.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTrying to set up in the cold, rain, wind or snow can be difficult, to say the least, but the biggest obstacle is myself. I often get caught up with minor details or trying to create a whole new scene on Oct. 29.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite those sometimes self-imposed hiccups, Rickman said being able to share his hard work with the greater community and donning his now traditional jacko\u2019- lantern patterned blazer come Halloween night is well worth the effort.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s truly exhilarating and humbling,\u201d he said. \u201cWatching people enjoy my crazy sense of humor or shrieking in fear \u2014 it\u2019s just plain fun. The community makes it worth it though. Everyone is thankful and cheerful once they get through the haunted walk.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some of the most memorable reactions and outcomes from the display include \u201cthe one or two people who need to change their clothing after going through the spider cave or being surprised by one of the wandering actors. Seems to happen every year,\u201d Rickman said. \u201cIt is also awesome to see kids and adults venture through multiple times.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rickman\u2019s grand plans to open Sunset Manor for a longer period than just Halloween night are finally coming true. He recently finished a partial walkthrough section that is now open for people to enjoy, helping him achieve his mission of giving \u201ceveryone and anyone the opportunity to experience a Sunset Manor Halloween.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition, each year he ups his game a little more, and now has a friendly rival up north with whom he competes.<\/p>\n

\u201cEarlier this year I found out my wife\u2019s cousin has a big display, mostly skeletons, up in Maine,\u201d Rickman said. \u201cWe haven\u2019t stopped messaging each other since, comparing skeletons and different scenes to put them in and discussing the various types of trick or treaters and what kind of candy to give out. He\u2019s not as much as a rival as a confidante and enabler.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

STERLING \u2014 If you dare, take a journey through Sunset Manor this Halloween. The walk-through spooktacular display is a labor of love for one town resident.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":41092,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41080","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41080","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41080"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41080\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41092"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}