Urbanism and car culture play a role in eroding the holiday tradition, but so too has the consolidation of trick-or-treat to destination neighborhoods via social media.
Thanks for the article. This is exactly what I’m seeing here in Columbia, SC. There is a wonderful street car suburb literally down the street from my neighborhood that is a destination neighborhood that takes all of the “traffic” away. My neighborhood does very little. I brought this up in a neighborhood meeting a bit ago and was told to “pick another holiday.”
Ya, it is crazy just how much of a vacuum they can be. You also bring up a good point in that destination neighborhoods usually have some kind of community organizing and even money thrown in to improve the experience. Just a lot of places aren't going to do that even if residents are still pretty into the holiday themselves.
This is such an interesting point! I had assumed my own flagging interest in Halloween was due to my kids leaving the nest, but now I'm thinking it's part of a bigger trend. We lived in one of those destination neighborhoods in Albuquerque: not quite as all-out as what you're showing here, but popular enough that we had families from all over the city. I had a front patio built on our lot as a community-building spot, and the moms would gather 'round a fire pit, each with our buckets of candy, and the kiddies would go person-to-person for their goodies. The dads took our own kids around the rest of the neighborhood. It was very convivial. I spent a lot on Halloween decorations, though clearly not as much as the people of Old Towne Orange! Then we moved and our particular street now isn't feeling the spooky vibes. We do get trick-or-treaters but it's like 1 every 15 minutes, just enough to upset the dog all over again. I haven't put out any decorations and this year, for the first, time, have considered turning off all our lights and maybe even going somewhere else for the evening just to get away from the dingdong-dingdong bark-bark-bark. Thought all that was just me but probably somewhere in my town, there is a destination neighborhood that's really hopping!
FWIW, I think you are 100% correct about the lameness of trunk-or-treat.
That sounds awesome! The front patios are really what do it for me when it comes to Halloween. And I will say, the Old Towne photos and vids come from the most intense street. So some parts of the neighborhood are closer to what you are describing.
It's sad, isn't it? With the move. I mean, these are not usually things we think about when we buy a place. But they can really have an impact on the rhythm of the year.
Ha thanks! I got a lot of heat for my initial trunk-or-treat take!
That's crazy that you got heat for it, I thought almost everyone agreed (except, like, Baptists) that trunk-or-treat was car-centric, helicopter-parent dysoptia! Shows the bubble I live in.
I guess people thought I was attacking parents personally for the choice (that's why I wrote the follow-up). Also, I should say a lot of people really like the criticism of trunk-or-treat, too!
Thanks for the article. This is exactly what I’m seeing here in Columbia, SC. There is a wonderful street car suburb literally down the street from my neighborhood that is a destination neighborhood that takes all of the “traffic” away. My neighborhood does very little. I brought this up in a neighborhood meeting a bit ago and was told to “pick another holiday.”
Ya, it is crazy just how much of a vacuum they can be. You also bring up a good point in that destination neighborhoods usually have some kind of community organizing and even money thrown in to improve the experience. Just a lot of places aren't going to do that even if residents are still pretty into the holiday themselves.
This is such an interesting point! I had assumed my own flagging interest in Halloween was due to my kids leaving the nest, but now I'm thinking it's part of a bigger trend. We lived in one of those destination neighborhoods in Albuquerque: not quite as all-out as what you're showing here, but popular enough that we had families from all over the city. I had a front patio built on our lot as a community-building spot, and the moms would gather 'round a fire pit, each with our buckets of candy, and the kiddies would go person-to-person for their goodies. The dads took our own kids around the rest of the neighborhood. It was very convivial. I spent a lot on Halloween decorations, though clearly not as much as the people of Old Towne Orange! Then we moved and our particular street now isn't feeling the spooky vibes. We do get trick-or-treaters but it's like 1 every 15 minutes, just enough to upset the dog all over again. I haven't put out any decorations and this year, for the first, time, have considered turning off all our lights and maybe even going somewhere else for the evening just to get away from the dingdong-dingdong bark-bark-bark. Thought all that was just me but probably somewhere in my town, there is a destination neighborhood that's really hopping!
FWIW, I think you are 100% correct about the lameness of trunk-or-treat.
That sounds awesome! The front patios are really what do it for me when it comes to Halloween. And I will say, the Old Towne photos and vids come from the most intense street. So some parts of the neighborhood are closer to what you are describing.
It's sad, isn't it? With the move. I mean, these are not usually things we think about when we buy a place. But they can really have an impact on the rhythm of the year.
Ha thanks! I got a lot of heat for my initial trunk-or-treat take!
That's crazy that you got heat for it, I thought almost everyone agreed (except, like, Baptists) that trunk-or-treat was car-centric, helicopter-parent dysoptia! Shows the bubble I live in.
I guess people thought I was attacking parents personally for the choice (that's why I wrote the follow-up). Also, I should say a lot of people really like the criticism of trunk-or-treat, too!