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Best Christmas House

Scary Christmas House

Many local holiday displays include Jack Skellington and characters from "The Nightmare Before Christmas," including the one adorning the home of Bob Spacy Jr. The Glendale resident takes things to a level of holiday grandeur that only the Pumpkin King himself could appreciate. The result is the Scary Christmas House, a massive holiday display and tribute to the animated film encompassing the exterior and front yard of his three-bedroom home. Epic in size and imagination, it contains multitudes of handmade props, characters and scenes from "The Nightmare Before Christmas," many created by Spacy himself. There's Spiral Hill and Ooogie Boogie's Lair. Monstrous wreaths and Jack's Christmas formulae. Skeletal reindeer and a kidnapped Sandy Claws hanging from the rooftop. And elsewhere, Zero flies through the air and characters like Lock, Stock and Barrel lurk amid 125,000 lights. The display has been visited by tens of thousands locally since its debut in 2016 and was viewed by a nationwide audience when it was showcased on ABC's "The Great Christmas Light Fight" last year. Spacy might not have taken home the show's bulb-shaped trophy, but he more than earns the honor of being the best Christmas house in town.

Best Halloween House

Haunted Graveyard Arizona

The Halloween season brings out the spooky side in many mortals. Some plan elaborate costumes or binge scary movies. Others adorn their homes with a few kitschy decorations. Then there's Chris Birkett, who transforms the exterior of his Scottsdale residence into an epic Halloween display that's the best in the Valley. Rivaling professional haunted houses in production value and genuine scares, it's a multimedia-powered experience inspired by macabre illustrator Edward Gorey, Disneyland's Haunted Mansion and similarly spooky source material. The front yard is bathed in orange and purple light and features animatronic headstones, singing pumpkins and ghoulish figures on projection screens while a fire-breathing dragon and a black castle are perched on the roof. A dank and creepy abandoned mine runs along the side of the house, while inside the garage, a claustrophobic maze contains freakish fiends, illusions, jump scares and plenty of twists and turns. The Haunted Graveyard has come a long way since its humble beginnings in 1986, when it started as a small pumpkin patch and a few tombstones crafted by Chris and his brother Steve. These days, it draws tens of thousands of people each year from Oct. 25 through Halloween night, all of whom are in the mood for a good scare.

Best Fireworks Display

Fabulous Phoenix 4th at Steele Indian School Park

Every Independence Day, the Valley becomes a literal boom town as colorful cannonades of fireworks burst above cities from Apache Junction to Avondale. But there's one display that shines brighter than the rest: the annual Fabulous Phoenix 4th at Steele Indian School Park. Boasting the largest free fireworks display in Arizona, the event sets off more than 7,800 aerial effects each year over midtown Phoenix. A local tradition since the 1980s, the Fabulous Phoenix 4th draws anywhere from 40,000 to 80,000 people to the park for a 25-minute spectacle that dazzles and delights. It's a stunning and soul-stirring celebration of America's birthday, with each explosion a marvel unto itself. Rivulets of golden fire rain down like molten sparks from a celestial forge. Glowing serpentine streaks shimmer and sparkle while twisting through the warm evening air. And thunderous booms echo as dazzling blue stars erupt before painting the heavens in sapphire light. A cacophonous grand finale caps off the fireworks display with a luminously vibrant barrage of hundreds of fireworks detonating within a minute or so, evoking author (and Arizona resident) Alan Dean Foster's declaration that "freedom is just chaos, with better lighting."

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