Tonight is Halloween and things seem to have changed a lot since my days trick or treating. First of all, the City of Wheeling determines what times one can ring doorbells, not parents....is this BIG GOVERNMENT? Second costumes are not usually homemade, but are bought at a store and adults spend more on costumes than all the costs of kids outfits combined! Third, well, somehow I just don't remember a single Halloween when there was snow and rarely rain!..now it is common.
A Woodsdale friend posted on Facebook that she gave away 400 pieces of candy in minutes and was inundated by carloads of kids being dropped off in the neighborhood. I remember that even in the 50's and 60's we had kids from other places going door to door with us, but they were few and far between and usually hit the neighborhood at dinnertime (between 5 and 6) which was a big no no in my family.
The local news tonite on tv featured Walnut Avenue as one of the most elaborately decorated, but I have seen houses in Woodsdale decorated on all three floors many times. There have been burglaries on Hamilton Avenue lately and the neighborhood watch invited the police to come instruct them on how to make their neighborhood safer. Times have changed....does anyone remember a locked door or a burglary in Woodsdale in their youth?
One of my favorite Halloween memories is of my father setting up a microphone on the porch and when the kids would come up, he would announce in a very scary voice "I'll send the butler out promptly". My brother Michael would then appear as the butler and hand out the candy. I also remember sneaking the furniture off Miss Meek's porch as a prank and tping (toilet papering) a few trees now and then. One year I got stopped by the cops, hid my roll of toilet paper under my coat and when they asked what we were up to, somehow, it got loose and rolled away down the street with the tail caught up in my waistline. They just laughed and left, thank goodness. I can't remember what we used to collect our loot in, but I think it was pillowcases and when we got home we (all Quinn kids old enough to participate) would dump them out and sort or trade pieces...though we were only allowed to eat a few and the rest went into the "vault"...my Dad's stash for the winter that he would open while telling stories around the fireplace in the basement. That candy would last a long, long time...and let me tell you, stale candycorn can taste pretty bad.
What memories do you have of the Great Pumpkin night?
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