Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Yes Virginia, there is a Halloween

Jada and Kira at the Durnakowski's

Okay fine, half the town is without power because so many lines came down in the storm and yes, some of them could be live and yeah, the roads and sidewalks still resemble a maze made from twisted tree debris...but don't tell me--more importantly my children--that Halloween is cancelled.

The town of Amherst can control roads, schools and liquor licenses, but not a major holiday. Halloween is bigger than that. It's a happy, sugar induced state of mind; and right about now folks could use a little distraction, even if it means dressing up to visit only one or two revered neighbors escorted by a vigilant parent.

And so we did.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

My in-town neighborhood had Halloween too last night, despite not having any power. The kids loved it! (you can't just reschedule Halloween) ...and we didn't get all the extra kids that usually come by from other neighborhoods since ours is so walkable.

Anonymous said...

Did you get the memo? Trick or Treating will be on Sunday.

WTH was the tree dept hanging a banner across the street at the common this AM?

Their priority should be TREES as many of us still await the return of electricity!

Advertising a town event can wait!

Anonymous said...

Yes you can reschedule Halloween. My neighborhood has trees and powerlines down all over the place. My street is impassable because of a huge tree still lying across it. I am expecting I will be out of power until at least Friday!

It was a very smart decision to move trick or treating to Sunday night. Many many neighborhoods are just too dangerous!!!

Larry Kelley said...

Kind of like going to see a stage production of "A Christmas Carol" on January 3rd.

Anonymous said...

You are unbelievable, Larry. So, you want the kids out in the mess of the Amherst streets??? Not my kid!

Or would you rather that the kids not get to trick or treat at all?

Larry Kelley said...

Oh, I think my two were not the only ones who went to a house or two yesterday--probably in the late afternoon before darkness set in.

All I'm saying is the Town, the State or even the Feds do not have authority over Halloween. Kind of like that separation of church and state thing (not that Halloween is a religious holiday).

Yes, it's nice the town puts on Halloween events--those you can cancel and reschedule, and I'm glad they did.

But that still doesn't change the fact that yesterday was Halloween.

Anonymous said...

So I suppose if anyone comes to your door trick or treating on Sunday you won't give them any candy!

I don't think anyone cancelled Halloween - just the trick or treating part of it!

Larry Kelley said...

Now you got it! You should write press releases for the town (or someone who has a PR flack background).

Anonymous said...

Larry:

Amherst was not the only town to move the trick or treating night.

You clearly have not suffered at all during this time.

Larry Kelley said...

Clearly. In fact, I almost awarded myself "Party House of the Weekend."

Ed said...

My street is impassable because of a huge tree still lying across it.

Ed has a chain saw -- and probably isn't the only UMass student to routinely carry a chain saw in the trunk of his car all winter.

And if you asked him nicely and stopped hating UMass students for 10 minutes, pieces of that tree might wind up in his trunk (his mother has a woodstove) and your road might not be blocked anymore.

Amazing what kind of vandalism the UM kids can do, isn't it???

Anonymous said...

Yikes, Larry, I think you missed the bigger picture that was involved with moving Halloween events.