Southwest
Halloween porch pumpkins business brings in over $100K a year for Texas woman
A Texas woman with a passion for design has turned her hobby into a booming side business.
Heather Torres is a 41-year-old stay-at-home mom from Dallas, Texas. Her side hustle is decorating the front porches of homes for the fall holidays. (See the video at the top of this article.)
Torres said she started decorating front porches with pumpkins and Halloween decorations in 2020 after some neighbors complimented her own home’s decor and asked her to do the same for their porches, SWNS reported.
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“When we started, I was doing two or three porches a day. Yesterday I did 89 porches alone,” she told the outlet.
She starts prepping for the season and taking orders in July — sometimes getting inspiration from things around her.
Heather Torres of Dallas, Texas, pictured here, started decorating front porches as a side hustle in 2020. Today, she runs a business. (SWNS)
Torres visited the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden years ago and said it always inspired her to do pumpkin displays at home.
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“They would have a little pumpkin village you could walk through and see all the varieties of pumpkins,” she said.
Torres said it inspired her. She purchased 45 pumpkins for her home’s front yard, all of various sizes and shapes.
Torres decorates front home porches every fall for hundreds of homes. (SWNS)
In 2013, Torres created her first-ever porch display.
She said her displays were spread out in the yard at first before she confined it to just the front porch area.
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“I started creating designs and using different varieties of pumpkins,” she said.
Clients spend anywhere from $325 to $1,350 to have their porch decorated for fall.
“That is when my friends and neighbors asked if I could do it for them.”
Today, Torres told Fox News Digital she sources her pumpkins from all over Texas, making sure to support local farmers.
Clients spend anywhere from $325 to $1,350 in order to have their porch decorated for the fall season.
Torres said she made $100,000 in her first fall season of pumpkin decorating. (SWNS)
“The way I create displays for my clients is I showcase the beautiful specialty pumpkins in the front and those are the pumpkins that have all the colors: pink porcelain doll pumpkins, gray jaradelle pumpkins, red Cinderella pumpkins, and white Cinderella pumpkins,” she told Fox News Digital.
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“We also consider the best placement of the pumpkins for each design, at the entry of the porch or on the porch,” she said.
In 2020, she decorated 250 homes in the area, earning herself $100,000 for the side-hustle hobby.
This year, Torres told Fox News Digital that her company, Porch Pumpkins, has decorated and designed over 1,000 homes.
A stay-at-home mom said she found inspiration from a botanical garden. (SWNS)
Within five to 35 minutes, Porch Pumpkins says it will transform the front entrance to homes with festive decorations.
In December, once the fall season ends, Torres’ company goes back to the homes they decorated and takes down the displays.
“I love the holidays — I think October and pumpkin season mark the beginning of the holiday and the start of festivities,” she said to SWNS.
Torres believes the displays make “people so happy and bring joy.”
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Los Angeles, Ca
Man found guilty of sex trafficking victim along L.A.’s Figueroa Corridor
A former Riverside County man was found guilty of sex trafficking a female victim and forcing her to engage in commercial sex acts along L.A.’s notorious Figueroa Corridor.
Elias Abdul Shabazz, 34, formerly of Perris, was found guilty by a jury following a five-day trial, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Prosecutors said Shabazz had led the victim to believe they were in a romantic relationship before he turned physically and sexually violent. He began demanding that the victim engage in commercial sex acts from May to October of 2021, court documents said.
He carried a handgun with him and, on occasion, was accused of using it to pistol-whip the victim. He also fired the gun at her feet while threatening to kill her, prosecutors said.
At trial, the victim said Shabazz demanded that she meet a daily quota of commercial sex proceeds and that she was terrified of the consequences of not meeting that quota.
She testified that Shabazz compelled her to work in the notorious Figueroa Corridor in South L.A., a dangerous area known for human trafficking and prostitution.
Shabazz had confiscated her identification card, Social Security card and birth certificate. He constantly monitored her cell phone to stop her from communicating with any friends or family.
“He also introduced her to addictive narcotics and controlled every aspect of her life, including when she ate, slept and showered,” prosecutors said.
In May 2025, Shabazz was arrested and has remained in federal custody. His last known address at the time was in Washington, D.C.
On June 26, 2026, Shabazz was found guilty of one count of coercing or enticing interstate transportation for purposes of prostitution.
A sentencing hearing is scheduled for Oct. 6, where he faces 15 years to life in prison.
“Sex trafficking matters rank among the most tragic cases our office prosecutes,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli. “This defendant will now face many years in a federal prison cell for his sick, disgusting, and disturbing behavior.”
“Elias Shabazz preyed on a vulnerable victim using physical and sexual violence and cruel psychological coercion to compel commercial sex acts for his own profit,” said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “There is no place for this type of conduct in civilized society. We deeply respect the victim’s courage to face her trafficker in court. The Criminal Division will continue to bring these cases and try them.”
Anyone with information about human trafficking can report tips to the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 888-373-7888
Los Angeles, Ca
Watch Project Angel Food's 'Lead with Love' telethon on KTLA
The star-studded feel-good giveback event of the summer has returned. KTLA 5 is teaming up once again with Project Angel Food for the annual “Lead with Love: Going the Distance” telethon to raise critical funds for medically tailored meals delivered to people living with serious illnesses throughout Los Angeles County. The seventh annual telethon airs […]
Los Angeles, Ca
Woman ambushed, violently attacked by robber in downtown Long Beach
A woman was hospitalized with serious injuries after she was violently attacked by a robber in downtown Long Beach. On June 18, Jennifer Silva, 34, was attending a World Cup watch party at a Hooters restaurant at 90 Aquarium Way. After the game ended, she left the restaurant just before 11 p.m. As she walked […]
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