APPLETON, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – COVID-19 has scared off events across the country and trick-or-treating in Appleton might be next.
“Halloween this year should be canceled for the health of the community, the health of the guests that come to the city; this year we can afford to bypass it,” said Appleton alderman, Michael Smith.
Smith tells FOX the risks this Halloween outweigh the rewards.
“I love Halloween, and I know how much kids love it but, in a perfect world, the CDC guidelines will not work, at least I’m convinced they aren’t going to work fully.”
Resident Meghan Archer says, “I mean, it’s really sad because I do like seeing the costumes, and things like that.”
“It kind of breaks my heart, because I remember my childhood and going trick-or-treating every year, and I know it’s a big deal for me and a big deal for my neighborhood,” said resident Ron Lindberg.
Lindberg goes all out for Halloween every year.
“At Halloween time, I put special lighting on this, I have fog machines, I have spooky music going off, just kinda that fun time of the year!”
He tells FOX 11 for him, handing out candy is almost like an obligation.
“Obviously, I have kind of a cool house and decorations, so I have a lot of kids that come here every year and they really look forward to seeing the decorations and coming up to the house.”
Residents say if trick-or-treating is canceled this year, they still plan on taking extra safety precautions in a creative way.
“I’m gonna have like a flying skeleton that’s gonna come out and is actually going to deliver the candy to the kids, so I physically won’t be handing the candy to the kids,” Lindberg said.
“I honestly think we’ll do it regardless if they say there’s trick-or-treating or not, we’ll just put a bowl out and do it that way, and let people, we do kind of a haunted house type thing, we have a graveyard and stuff, so we’ll just kinda let everyone go through the yard and stuff, and get their treats. We don’t have to be interacting,” Archer said. “The main thing is safety, but I do think that there are safe ways that we can go about doing that this year.”
“If somebody wants to put their light on and some kids want to go door-to-door, we’re not gonna have our police departments go write citations and bust them, but we are saying this is not the smartest thing to do this particular year,” Smith said.
Appleton’s Safety and Licensing Committee will vote on the proposal Wednesday.
It will then go to common council the following Wednesday.
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