Seattle dad builds Harry Potter's Diagon Alley for Halloween

Oct. 31 (UPI) -- A Seattle man seeking to draw more trick of treaters to his neighborhood enlisted the help of neighbors to build a replica of Diagon Alley from the Harry Potter series.

Jon Chambers said his street in the Ballard neighborhood is always a little slow on Halloween, so he and his two daughters brainstormed ideas for elaborate decorations.

"I've always wanted to do something crazy for Halloween or Christmas," Chambers told KOMO-TV. "During Halloween our street is pretty dead, nobody comes down here. This year, a lot of people are going to come down here!"

Chambers' youngest daughter, Avery, said she was surprised when her father followed through on her idea.

"One day he said, 'let's build something cool in our driveway' and I said, 'Daigon Alley!'" she said. "And when he said 'cool' I was like 'what if it happens?' and it actually did!"

Chambers said his project quickly took on a life of its own, with members of the community donated materials and time to make the secret London shopping district for wizards even more elaborate.

"It's obviously gotten way bigger than I planned, 'cause the community came together donated supplies people are here all the time helping out," Chambers said.

The father, who used 3D printing to create many of the materials for the store facades, said on Twitter that work was completed Monday and Diagon Alley will open to the public at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday.

"After Halloween we are open to visits the rest of the year, reasonable hours please," he tweeted.