The 2025 Neighborhood Trick-Or-Treat Flyer

The annual neighborhood trick-or-treat announcement flyers have finally been printed and are ready to be distributed to 125 houses throughout my development. In recent years, I have become the unofficial official flyer creator and distributor, which I do without complaint. Designed and printed by me (easy now that I only have to change the date from last year!), and distributed by my son and a few of his neighborhood friends (work smarter, not harder!).

And while I'm still disappointed with the meager two-hour window for trick-or-treating on a date before Halloween proper, I'm happy to see the annual orange-and-black flyers go out to all the neighbors, signaling the countdown to the big night. 

We are getting closer! Are you ready?

  

The 2024 Neighborhood Trick-Or-Treat Flyer

The annual neighborhood trick-or-treat announcement flyers have finally been printed and are ready to be distributed to 125 houses throughout my development. In recent years, I have become the unofficial official flyer creator and distributor, which I do without complaint. Designed and printed by me, and distributed by my son and a few of his neighborhood friends (work smarter, not harder!).

And while I'm disappointed with the meager two-hour window for trick-or-treating, I'm happy to see the annual orange-and-black flyers go out to all the neighbors, signaling the countdown to the big night. 

We are getting closer! Are you ready?

  

Back From The Grave!

 

After four long months away, it is time to reanimate this festering, lifeless corpse! Time to awaken from my deathly slumber...

Four months since I've posted anything here in the Cemetery. It's hard to believe that it has been that long, but life and time, even when flipped completely upside down, still move on...

Back in March and April, when the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic began to affect all aspects of our lives, I figured that further on down the road, our high holiday of Halloween would inevitably be cast aside. Yet another unfortunate but necessary precaution to insure the safety and well-being of us all until things could return to normal (whatever "normal" may mean anymore...).

And as I had alluded to in previous posts, the burnout from 16 straight years of home haunting had really begun to take its toll. Couple that with moving to a new neighborhood and having to "start over" last year to a much smaller, unsuspecting crowd (on a Sunday, no less) drained my Halloween enthusiasm tank to near empty.

As the days rolled on into summer, our annual Halloween and haunt conventions were canceled one-by-one, further removing that traditional ramp up toward the big night.

It was then that my obvious choice was clear. 2020 would be the perfect year to take a break. A year off from the taxing craziness of home haunting. Especially if there wasn't even going to be a Halloween this year.

But apparently, I was wrong...

Within the past couple of weeks, a strange thing began to happen. Murmurs and rumblings began about our beloved day. And it got me to thinking about the possibility...

"What if?"

And then it happened. My city announced last week that there would be no official trick-or-treat planned for this year. BUT! Each neighborhood was free to conduct their own trick-or-treat, if done in a safe and responsible way.

Bingo. Go time. I was talking to a new neighbor who was quite fired up on the announcement and decided to "take over" the night's planning as no one else had stepped up to lead the charge. And at this point, I was still on the fence about even doing anything this year. So I quickly decided that I had a strong, new ally for Halloween night.

We sat and talked for at least 30 minutes as I revealed my true Halloween identity. She was floored. At that moment, my plans for 2020 changed. I decided that I needed to step up and help rescue Halloween this year. Trick-or-treat COULD be done in a safe, responsible way that could be enjoyed by the entire neighborhood.

I immediately volunteered to create a trick-or-treat flyer. In previous years, our neighborhood trick-or-treated on the Sunday before Halloween, 5-7 pm. This year, that just ain't gonna work. We have already decided that our trick-or-treat will be on Halloween night. As I think it should be. And being on a Saturday night this year is quite a bonus...

My previously empty Halloween tank had just gotten a quick jolt of life. I broke out a couple of my wonderful old spooky Halloween records and they sounded better than ever. I took my son to the local Spirit Halloween store and bought his costume for this year. He is super excited and he is going to look great as whatever-the-heck Fortnite character he's going as. I even pulled out my annual inventory list for the home haunt and I'm seeing what I still have time to create for my yard display. And I realized that I could channel this sudden surge of inspiration and creativity into this blog.

So after four months away, it looks like the orange-and-black spirits have brought me back to the fold. And I don't think I could have it any other way.

I hope my little kickstart helps inspire and motivate some of you as well. It is a very strange time, and we are nowhere near out of the woods with this pandemic yet. Halloween needs us all this year, but we need to stay safe and prove that we can do this responsibly. I have seen quite a few announcements that haunted houses will open up, mostly in reduced capacities. But for this year, I'll take it. 

Please be safe and follow established guidelines to help us get through this crazy year. It will ensure that we all come back full force next year.

47 days until Halloween. Are you ready?

Trick-or Treat vs. Football

If there's one thing about Northern Ohioans, it's that we love our sports teams. Pro, college and yes, even high school. A fact that I didn't even think about until reading a story in the Akron Beacon Journal entitled, Area Mayors Tackle Debate On Halloween, written by Kathy Antoniotti.

My heart sank as I read through the story. Local area mayors have begun weighing in on this year's trick-or-treat festivities, and some have decided to change the time to the following day, November 1, so that it won't interfere with Friday night high school football games...

Every year I read that local officials are tinkering with their trick-or-treat times. Changing it to the Saturday before Halloween or blocking off ridiculous times like 4-6 pm. And now we have to change it again so that we can go enjoy our most-beloved high school football games.

You can probably guess my stance on the subject (c'mon, you ARE reading this in a HALLOWEN blog!), but my real concern comes from the fact that for the past 4 years, I have been the "Keeper of the Sign," the one who possesses the official neighborhood Trick-or-Treat sign that lets everyone in the area know when our Trick-or-Treat will be held. And for the past 4 years, as well as the 9 years before that, the neighborhood Trick-or-Treat has always been on Halloween night: October 31, from 6 to 8 pm, regardless of what day of the week it falls upon. I now have to step back and think about this new concern when putting up the sign for this year. For the past two years, we have been hampered by rain with one year having to be rescheduled. I really don't want to have to reschedule again. 

Personally, I think Trick-or-Treat should always been on the 31st. It is a tradition in our neighborhood, even as other parts of the city continue to tinker with (and water down) Halloween. At this point, I'm going to keep it as is. October 31. But I will start to talk to some of the neighbors to get their opinions on the matter, as I don't want to get anyone all up in arms.


So what do you think? Keep it on the 31st or change it to November 1st? Drop a comment below and let's get a non-inflammatory dialog going on the subject.