Island Halloween

When you have a town the size of Two Harbors, Halloween doesn't just happen, there has to be some planning. That may seem surprising given the small population here.

First of all, there aren't many kids here - less than 10 - who go trick-or-treating. Instead, town is dominated by young adults who like a good party. So the annual Halloween bash is the Haunted House held up at the Banning House. People in town spend a good month or more preparing the various rooms to spook-out their friends - it's quite elaborate, and put together by some very devious minds. (I wish I could tell you more about it, but I've never been.) On the night before Halloween, they have a 'kids night' at the Haunted House, where they test out the rooms and adjust the scariness to whatever the kids request.

Since it's such a big deal, trick-or-treating is planned around the Haunted House. A time that the children will go out is decided (this duty falls to the PTA), and publicized around town. We try to make it early so everyone can get ready to go to the party.

Secondly, it is an annual tradition to pair the school's Halloween party with a costume parade around town (read: the various offices in town - front office, visitor services, waterfront, dive shop, snack bar, boat shop, general store, accounting...that may be the whole list). This is really a sort of early trick-or-treat, since the people in the offices have candy for the kids. This, too, needs to be arranged beforehand so everyone knows which day and when the kids will be by.

On the whole, it's a good time. Can you imagine going trick-or-treating and know virtually everyone who answers the door? It's really quite friendly. Sometimes the parents get a (liquid) treat, too. Although town is small, and it doesn't take long to get around to EVERY house, as I said, there are only a few kids, so people are quite generous in doling out the candy, so the kid's hauls are pretty sweet (ha ha).