Salt Lake City Christmas tradition ends after 30 years as owner faces health challenges

SALT LAKE CITY — For more than three decades, families from across the Salt Lake Valley made an annual drive to a brightly decorated home where thousands of Christmas lights, festive displays and treats helped create holiday memories for generations.

Now, the man behind the beloved tradition is turning off the lights for good.

Forrest Nunley, whose hillside Christmas display became a seasonal landmark in Salt Lake City, recently decided to sell hundreds of his beloved decorations.

"Making people happy is a real blessing to do," he said.

Nunley said he was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease five years ago, prompting him to sell his business and move to a farm in Moab.

"My life's kind of changed into being in Moab right now, where there's no traffic, no noise, no pollution," he said.

Despite the move, Nunley returned to Salt Lake City each year to assemble the Christmas display, but after also battling cancer, he said continuing the annual project was no longer physically possible.

"My body's just not as strong as it used to be, and there's just no way I can physically do it," Nunley said.

The display, perched high above Salt Lake City in the Avenues neighborhood, grew over the years into a destination for families seeking holiday cheer. Nunley said children often became fully immersed in the experience.

"They believed Santa was real up here. We loved doing it," he said. "The sacrifice of having your body pain and no money, it didn't matter. It was so wonderful to come out and give people a good experience for Christmas."

The decision to end the tradition was difficult. Nunley said conversations with his family helped him realize it was time to focus on his wife, children and grandchildren.

"It was probably the hardest thing I had to do," he said. "I really need to shift gears."

At a yard sale on Saturday, Nunley sold more than 300 pieces from the collection while keeping about 100 decorations for family use. He said the response exceeded expectations, with community members eager to take home a small piece of the display.

"They went fast. I can't believe how fast they went," he said. "It's so cool to see everybody that bought a piece. Now they're going to have that spirit in their home and take a little piece of us with them."

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