Here in New Hampshire, every town and city sets official trick-or-treat hours, which almost all citizens dutifully obey. Usually Halloween is “officially” held the Sunday or Saturday before Oct. 31. Since Halloweein is on a Sunday this year, many towns are holding it on the day itself, though many others still set their hours for Saturday. All of the official trick-or-treat times end by 8 p.m., which is itself an accomplishment; long-time residents tell me the set time used to always end by dusk. It’s sad to watch all the kids trotting around in their cute costumes in broad daylight.
And this is the “Live free or die” state.
The official reason for obliterating the Halloween ritual is that it must be done for “safety.” Lots of communities, including mine, let the police chief set the hours. Since I took over the editorial page here, I have waged a campaign each October to get these official trick-or-treat times removed from municipal ordinances, or at least to have the official hours held on Halloween night, but to no avail.
However, some neighborhoods are ignoring the set times and starting to trick or treat at night. That’s a start.
