The owner of the Okemos Coffee Shop wanted see more art in her community, so she started with her own business.
“One day we had the idea: What if we build an interactive art exhibit in our garage?” Angela Risk said.
That's how the Put-U-Trium was born.
The Put-U-Trium is a Halloween-themed nine-hole miniature golf course in the garage of the coffee shop.
Last year, Risk hosted a haunted house. This year, spooky animatronics are scattered throughout the putt-putt course.
A spider jumps at visitors. Another animatronic bends over backwards to scare golfers. The walls are painted with glow-in-the-dark UV paint paint, and there are pictures of clowns on tables.
The course even has a mascot, Dr. Eyeball, a mad scientist character with a big eyeball for head.
It may seem out there, but Risk says she looks at communities like Lansing and Ann Arbor that have a more established art scene and wants to foster that kind of space in Okemos.
“I'm really trying to bring that energy here and make this more of a destination where people want to come and hang out,” Risk said. “So, if it starts with a coffee shop and some interactive art in our garage, then that's what we're gonna do."
"If I feel like I can't be creative, then how am I going to expect my customers to come in here and be creative?"
The shop is filled with art installations, murals and creations from local artists. Bathroom doors even have paintings on them.
In a space Risk calls "the ballroom" is a 330-pound disco ball.
The ball "hung at the Civic Center for 20 years, and then it was at the Wharton Center for 20 years, and then it feels like this is where it's supposed to retire,” Risk said. “And so that's kind of a treasure that we have here too.”
The putt-putt course is open at the Okemos Coffee Shop Thursdays to Saturdays, 1- 9 p.m., and Sundays, 10 a.m.- 4 p.m. through Nov. 8. It is a ticket experience.