Halloween in a Small Town

Happy Halloween... okay.. it is a bit late. Anyway, I wanted to share with you a really cool experience that many in the bigger towns never get to have. A full on, military style assault, led by lots of tiny costumed soldiers on the candy forts of

my hometown. Seriously though, it really is like a military operation. Trucks and vans, loaded with costumed kids stop at the corners, the kids pour out of vehicles, blanket both sides of the street and hit every house with a porch light on in search of candy goodies. The assault vehicles then drive down a bit and pick up their soldiers and set off for a new conquest in town.

This year was a bit different from years past, but no less fun or hectic! With the extension of the daylight saving time, trick or treaters were (for better or worse) going from house to house with about an extra hour of daylight. In addtion, the weather was very comfortable at a cool 60 degrees and no rain. These things, and the fact that my neighborhood and accompanying streets, are a known quanitity in town for giving out full sized candy bars and cans of soda, made for a very busy night! Starting at 5pm promptly, we were beset with dozens of trick or treaters and it did not stop until 7:30pm, which was when we were out of candy, out of breath, and simply too tired to go on! At one time, I estimated there were closed to 35 kids lined up on our sidewalk waiting to get a bit scared at our decorated porch and to get a good handout! Seriously!

Our neighbor has a fool proof system for counting the number of kids who come to our doors. She has a certain number of cans of pop and when it is gone, the night is over for her. This year she bought.... wait for it.... 436 individual cans of pop! And she ran out! At 7:15pm! She sent word that she was out and we had about 10-15 more kids come by our house after that so we are setting the number at an even 450 kids visiting our house for trick or treating!

It was a blast! I dress up to scare some of the kids as the sun sets and I usually go around chasing some of the older kids that I know, just to scare them a bit. I truly love Halloween for what it is. A chance to play and have fun and just be a kid. For some it is a "evil" day, or promotes greed or something like that. Come on, get a life. It is based on a real pagan holiday, but I don't think that candy and costumes is what that was all about. It is about having fun, dressing up, and letting loose for a bit. (And if you happen to be a producer of Halloween decorations or candy, then it is all about the money.)

I must say though, that the extra hour of daylight kind of ticked me off. I think Halloween should be done in the dark. Trick or treating in the daylight is kind of wimpy and reminds me of those times I visited family relation in big cities where they could only trick or treat during the day and sometimes, not even on the actual holiday! How lame is that!? I think that I might wait a bit longer before opening up my treasure trove next year and letting the sun go down a bit.

Oh, and one more thing. If you are a parent and read this, and your kid is going out to trick or treat, for Pete's sake, make them wear a costume! Being too cool to dress up with get you nothing at my house!

Photos: Just a small smattering of some of the crowds of costumed candy crunchers, a photo of me in my costume, and a real photo of a ghost! You can see right through her! These photos were taken by my neighbor at her home and passed on to me.

Later!