Nov. 3 a perfect date for Trick-or-Treat
Earlier this week, one of my co-workers, Jacob Runnels, attended the Milford Center Village Council meeting.
As we often do, the next morning we talked about the meetings we covered and what happened at them. Jacob said the council discussed, for 11 minutes, what day trick-or-treat would be held in the village. His assessment was that it was a long discussion and it seems too early in the year to have it anyway.
Because he is relatively young, he doesn’t know that as a local newspaper, the single question we get the most telephone calls, emails and personal interactions about, is “When is trick-or-treat this year?”
He doesn’t yet know each year the first asking occurs around the date of the first football games.
Several years ago, the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission made a push to be the official designator for the date and time of trick-or-treat. They made a lot of noise, but most local governments did not like another group dictating what might be the most local of governmental decisions.
Jacob said that several village officials had already talked and were considering Nov. 3, the first Saturday after Wednesday, Oct. 31. He said that by the time the idea was brought to council on Monday, the village parks and recreation director was the only proponent. He said that parents could spend more time with their children and not need to worry about getting them to bed. Ultimately, the council voted to hold Beggar’s Night on the traditional Oct. 31, which is on a Wednesday this year.
In our office, the assessment was that by Nov. 1, mindsets have shifted to Thanksgiving and possibly Christmas already.
But I said I would love a Nov. 3 Trick or Treat.
As a child I loved Friday or Saturday events where the dread of a looming school day didn’t hang so near.
More than that, Halloween candy, even the stuff produced all year long but seasonally packaged, goes on sale the day after Halloween. This has several ramifications. First, as a resident, I would love if I could buy candy at a 50-percent or greater discount. Additionally, children accustomed to getting a single bite-size candy bar could possibly expect two or even a small handful of Tootsie Rolls. This means that as a parent, I can steal more from the bucket without my child noticing.
Teachers would likely prefer the Saturday date also. My wife, who teaches fifth grade, says half the kids come in exhausted from staying up too late and crashing on sugar, while the other half is still sugar buzzed and will crash during mid-morning math class. A Saturday trick-or-treat could create a problem for Sunday School teachers, but they volunteer and aren’t paid using my taxes, so somehow that seems better to me.
Plus, if parents really want, they can double dip, taking their costumed children to other communities on Halloween, and then begging in Milford Center on Saturday. I would suggest going to Mill Valley and starting in the north end.
Either way, I would suggest the council revisit the Nov. 3 suggestion. After all, someone needs to think of the children.
-Mac Cordell is a reporter for the Journal-Tribune.