The Kanawha County Commission took the unusual step last week of locking in trick-or-treat in perpetuity. The event will always fall on Halloween night, Oct. 31, no matter the day of the week or the weather.
It's a good decision for a few reasons.Â
First, anyone who has ever spent time around city or county government knows that no matter how many notices get sent out, a municipality or county commission will still get inundated with calls inquiring and opining about the trick-or-treat schedule. Sometimes it starts as early as August. Setting a permanent date might not eliminate this entirely, but it should at least alleviate the issue some.Â
Another problem is that local government officials often spend an inordinate amount of time debating when trick-or-treat should happen, usually in an effort to make everyone happy, which in itself is a losing proposition.Â
City and county officials typically balk at setting the event on a Friday, because of high school football and the potential for expanded mischief when kids don't have to be in school the next day. That latter reason is also why Saturday is usually avoided. Wednesday isn't great either, because a lot of people attend church services that night. As such, Thursday, the poor cousin of that Friday everyone looks forward to each week, is the go-to night if it falls anywhere near Oct. 31.
Of course, Kanawha County and most of the municipalities within set this year's trick-or-treat for Thursday, Oct. 30, but then pushed it back to Friday because of inclement weather. Some confusion resulted from the late switch.Â
Declaring trick-or-treat will always be on Oct. 31 takes the guess work and hemming-and-hawing around the issue out of the equation. This is the day, this is the time, be there or don't. Municipalities can still set their own day and time, but it would benefit them to follow the county on this just for uniformity's sake.Â
Plus, as Commissioner Natalie Tennant pointed out, there are so many trick-or-treat events now hosted by various community organizations, churches and the like on dates leading up to Halloween that if Oct. 31 is going to be a problem for a family, there are other options.
This decision isn't going to be popular with everyone, but neither were any of the other days the county or cities chose in years prior. At least this provides a small bit of consistency in an otherwise chaotic world.Â
