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Thursday, November 1, 2007
“Fear takes toll on trick-or-treaters’ ranks”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
There I sat, waiting, loaded with bounty.
Candy corn. Hershey’s Kisses. Starbursts. Sweet-and-sour tarts.
Now all I needed on this Halloween evening were for the ghosts, goblins and witches to drop by. Please. Almost any costume would do. Krueger, Jason, Tinker Bell. Anything but some 10-year-old girl dressed like a French maid.
My neighborhood has kids of all ages, colors, shapes and sizes. They play football, basketball and ride their scooters and bikes all the time. When Halloween rolls around, though, they generally seem to disappear.
In the past few years, few trick-or-treaters trudge to the door and announce in a trill: “Trick-or-treat!”
Generally, people still celebrate Halloween. More do than don’t. According to an AJC Gwinnett News article, a 2006 Gallup poll found that only about 10 percent of Americans object to Halloween on religious grounds. Fine.
I know it’s a pagan holiday, but that moniker seems ill-fitting when it comes to the public’s acknowledgment and celebration of it. Pumpkins. Apple bobbing. Watching, “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.” And costumes, of course. Harmless stuff. You can’t graduate from dressing like a witch to wanting to actually be one in one night. Same goes for reading fictional accounts about them.
So it’s good to see folk embrace the fun, like the staff did at Gold’s Gym in Lilburn. “The Witch’s Inn,” stated a sign perched on the kiosk. Behind it sat receptionist Cherie Holst, dressed in a witch’s costume.
“I am the Good Witch of the North,” she informed me. “Good witches wear red. Like Wendy, the Good Little Witch. Remember [that comic book character]?”
Actually, no, but I appreciated Holst’s nature. She, like many, knows that Halloween equals fun for those who partake, especially kids, if precautions are taken.
Speaking of precautions, that might be the reason my doorbell has grown increasingly silent on Halloween. Fear. We guard against true evil. Cat torturers. Sickos who might screw with the candy or foul up the fruit. Maybe it was an urban legend, but when I was a kid the story about the kid who bit into a razor-laden apple ran its course.
Sadly, the loss of innocence continues. That’s one reason so many malls, organizations and churches sponsor Halloween events. Most discourage “sinister costumes.” The marquees don’t refer to the gatherings as Halloween, either. It’s a fall festival. Why, just this Sunday, my church - Tucker First United Methodist - hosted one in conjunction with the Baptists, our neighbors.
On Wednesday, similar events took place across Gwinnett. North Metro First Baptist Church expected 1,000 or so at its free festival, a decades-old tradition that attracts young and old, members and nonmembers.
“Our neighborhoods aren’t the safest places anymore,” lamented Lisa Bullard, a church administrative assistant. “Here you can come, have fun, and not worry about the candy you bring home.”
Still, there’s nothing like going door-to-door. Just follow safety tips. Walk in groups. Have an adult with you. Carry flashlights. Only approach houses that appear welcoming, are well-lighted and display signs of Halloween fancy.
Houses like mine, in unincorporated Norcross, decorated with a scarecrow, cobwebs, and pumpkins. The wife and kids’ doing.
At 7 p.m. Wednesday, the Badie Tour was still waiting for a few ghosts and goblins. None had shown. I was on my third piece of chocolate, and from the looks of things, I’d have a bunch left to take to the office.
Rick Badie’s column appears on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Contact him at 770-263-3875 or e-mail rbadie@ajc.com.
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