"City of the Dead" at the Mile High Market Place

by Kathy McIntyre

It started with a press kit, bright red, with a very artistic metal plate on one side. It said “City of the Dead”. My first thought was alright, it is the height of the current local political campaign, but we did have thirty five people step up to run for office, so our community should not really be called “City of the Dead”.

Upon opening the shiny red folder, then I knew that this was the latest amazing event happening at the beautiful updated Mile High Marketplace. I spent my summer enjoying events at their fantastic new event center. The Rendezvous with Michael Martin Murphy and an authentic Indian village, the over the top Blues Festival just a few weekends later, and then the enchanting Zoppe Family Circus with my favorite clown Nino. Every event has been priced so we all can enjoy first class entertainment right here at home.

I had been told that there would be a Halloween event of some sort and that it would be held in the new event center. So with press kit in hand, we headed out the door over to Mile High Marketplace with the camera and expectations high based on what we had experienced this summer. Expectations exceeded, and beyond.

Well OK, one of my favorite sayings is that evil can only prevail if good men do nothing. But how many of us actually know how ugly evil can really be. To find out you must visit the City of the Dead over the next month at Mile High Marketplace. If you don’t, you will have missed a Hollywood class production that mere words don’t do justice. The level of detail out does Disney and the entire production literally screams out to you describing the passion of the family whose life long dreams and goals have come to fruition inside the tent.

The goal of the McLellan family is to have an affect on every visitor and to make sure that their visitor’s money is well spent. I say they should charge more and you will agree. For those of you who are not sure of visiting literally an entire haunted city in the dark, there will be daylight tours as well, but I actually think that might be spookier as you can really grasp the incredible detail of building after building all along main street and room after room where nothing has been missed.

I had the distinct privilege of speaking with Randy McLellan, one of the three brothers whose dreams came true with City of the Dead. In his day job he is a computer engineer and his wife Tracie Major is an accountant. The other two brothers are Ryan, whose girlfriend was my gracious tour guide (who got me out before complete darkness fell!) and Robby who now works full time for Haunted Concepts, LLC.

Their father Dan always taught his sons that if you are going to do something, do it right. A lesson the three brothers clearly took to heart. Dan was a dedicated Jaycee member and every year the big fundraiser for the club was the haunted house. Soon Dan was decorating the McLellan family’s yard into a Halloween fantasy land where the kids could be safe and over the years, it became the place to be on Halloween with up to 1,500 visitors a year. Dan has passed away but his wife Julie sees the family dream coming true. Dan would be proud as this was his dream too.

Randy explained to me that since a very young boy, he has always been intrigued with evil. All of us really are if we would admit it. The world is a fight between evil and good. The City of the Dead is a very detailed example of daily evil in the world. There are many messages about our world in the City of the Dead. You might even see your favorite newspaper in the City.

When you visit, your first question will be how long did this take to build? Well the three brothers have been working with and in haunts their entire lives. But the City of the Dead has actually been in production on a back lot at the Mile High Marketplace since January of this year, after day jobs and every weekend. Three weeks ago, they moved into the tent. It took 10 people from about 11 am until 5 am every day to set it up.

The McLellan family wanted to make sure that I told everyone how much they appreciated and wanted to send a big THANK YOU to Jim Hurrell, Gina Hallisey, and the entire crew at Mile High Marketplace. They said that everyone has been so gracious and helpful, which made the City of the Dead possible.

Randy’s final thought of our interview was, “You have to understand evil to avoid evil. Evil challenges us, and I love kindness, but you have to come to the City of the Dead and see how ugly evil really is.” That is an understatement. As a Disney World and Disneyland tourist myself, this makes Disney’s Haunted Mansion look like a tea party. Don’t miss the City of the Dead, you might live to regret it.