Maybe everyone is hyped up on the political juice of the season. Maybe the stress of Hurricane Sandy caused people to crack. Maybe the ambiguity of the Mayan calendar is spurring people to obsessively weigh their life choices. Whatever the cause, our county leadership lost their minds over . . . Halloween Trick-or-Treating.
In all fairness, the brouhaha began to bubble because of the uncertainty of the storm. Before the hurricane hit, the mayors of the towns in our county decided to move Halloween to Friday. The County Commissioners and the newspaper were not made aware of this momentous decision, thus the headline on Wednesday proclaimed “Halloween Trick-or-Treating in Cecil County Tonight from 6 – 8 pm.” Hardly earthshaking news since Wednesday was October 31st.
But oh it was! The towns had said Friday! But the towns are in the county and the newspaper said it was tonight! Retractions and clarifications flew up on the newspaper and county websites with the final proclamation: “Bonus Holiday: Trick-or-Treating on two nights. Trick-or-Treating in the County on Wednesday and in the Towns on Friday.” This went up at 12:30 pm. On Wednesday. The day of Halloween.
And the collective response heard ’round the county was “Huh”? WTH? The TOTAL population in Cecil County is about 102,000. We are extremely rural and sprawling. You are hard pressed to really decide where the towns end and the countryside begins. The county seat is Elkton, but there are folks with an Elkton zip code who would be hard pressed to make it to town center in a half-days’ time by horse and buggy. Just go with it, we’re trying to paint a picture here.
But in the midst of the chaos, one woman stood up, worked her Facebook account like the town crier from a bygone era and proclaimed: “Halloween will be in MY neighborhood on October 31st! Who’s coming?”
There was some further confusion on Facebook, but did Erin waiver? She did not. She took to the streets and made signs to post throughout the neighborhood. She fielded phone calls and sent out texts.
She bought a bonfire to go.
She raided the Hurricane supplies and she ordered pizza.
And the people came from all corners of the county heeding the call of this innovative woman.
Children were costumed.
Props were tested.
And the children set out to reclaim October 31st as the one and only true Halloween.
The bonfire was lit.
And fun was had by all.
So can one voice make a difference? Can one woman fight the establishment? We say, “Yes!” Except in Ellen’s neighborhood where they prefer their insurrections to be stealth. They’re trick-or-treating on Saturday, November 3rd.
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