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SOUTH JORDAN — The "Barbieland" Halloween display on The Island at Daybreak has grown to be a viral attraction that neighbors and the city on Thursday were urging people to walk or bike in to, to help reduce the traffic headaches.
A group of roughly 20 homeowners all went with Barbie-themed decorations, capitalizing on the popularity of the "Barbie" movie.
Still 12 days away from Halloween, however, some neighbors say the display has turned into something of a Halloween "nightmare" when it comes to traffic.
"We were having cars parking on both sides of the street and two lanes of traffic trying to go through those parked cars, and it just wasn't working," said homeowner Jamie Paladini. "People were getting stuck. We saw people getting cars swiped."
Neighbors said they contacted South Jordan City for relief and possible intervention. Still, to this point, city officials have encouraged residents to take out "block party" permits and have simply urged visitors to be respectful and do the right thing.
"We've gotten several calls from a lot of the neighbors, in particular on our Island neighborhood in Daybreak, concerned about traffic and parking," city spokeswoman Rachael Van Cleave said.
Van Cleave said the display is not an official event and explained that it's a group of private residents putting on the display.
"If we were to monitor that or put our police forces on that, it's essentially we're monitoring the traffic around a private party," Van Cleave said. "Is that where people want their taxpayer dollars to go?"
Both Van Cleave and Paladini strongly urged visitors to park on main streets away from The Island, which only has two ways in and out and has narrow cross streets.
"Go park on a major road that has a lot more parking and hoof it," Van Cleave said.
Some people were doing just that Thursday evening. Resident Sarah Giorgis-Pratt and her family rode their bikes over to check out the "talk" of Daybreak.
We all love what we've created. We just want it to be safe and ... a good experience for everyone.
–Jamie Paladini, Daybreak homeowner
"It's, 'Have you seen the Barbie houses yet?' 'Have you gone?' 'Have you seen it during the day? 'Have you seen it at night?" Giorgis-Pratt said. "I kind of want to go stand in the Barbie box and take a picture."
Paladini said neighbors have taken measures into their own hands by taping off the east side of Lake Island Drive and putting up no parking signs.
"We're all excited," Paladini said. "We all love what we've created. We just want it to be safe and, you know, a good experience for everyone."
