Local health officials having put the kibosh on a traditional Halloween, members of the Wellesley & District Lions Club put their heads together to come up with some alternatives. Instead of kids going door to door, they’ll set out pre-packaged bags of treats at special stations around town.
The whole setup will be done with coronavirus precautions in place.
“In each subdivision, we might have five or six stations that the kids will still walk from station to station with their costumes,” explained Julie Logan, the club’s secretary. “There will be several volunteers at each station making sure that people are keeping their distance and [keeping] things safe and that things aren’t getting too close. The kids grab the candy in bulk, and then move on to the next station.
“My hope also is that we can make it a bit of a pumpkin walk as well [and] that people will decorate their pumpkins … and put them out at the end of their property, out at the edge so that it’s more of a walk-by thing rather than you have to go up to the houses,” she added.
Logan deems the club’s plan safer than the normal Halloween as she worries for her eight-year-old daughter going up to houses to get candy. She says it’s not just the candy that comes from the house that can instill fear, but also not knowing the house and the physical act of ringing a doorbell.
She says the club has yet to have a meeting on this to iron out the details, however, more will become available as the holiday approaches. Currently people are donating candy to the event, and Logan says high school students have volunteered their time to work the tables and ensure the candy is given out and safety is maintained. The township recreation board has also offered a donation to help with costs associated with the event.
Right now their plan could very much be up in the air if the region’s Public Health department chooses to shut them down. Logan says she has spoken with Mayor Joe Nowak about the idea and was informed that things should continue to move forward unless the situation changes.
Despite everything, Logan says she is doing this because she wants to make sure there’s still fun this Halloween.
“Even though things are not the same as they’ve always been, we can still make it fun – we can modify it and make it fun. Someone posted on one of the Facebook comments [that] this might actually be the Halloween that kids will remember because it’s so different.”
