Halloween gets a second chance, nearly a week later

NORTH CANAAN — A freakishly early major snowstorm may have sent Halloween to its grave, but a lot of good fairies were determined to call forth the zombies. This would not be the year of the Halloween that wasn’t.For most of an hour last Saturday night (Nov. 5) a line of children snaked in through the North Canaan Elementary School lobby and back out the door.Witches, grim reapers, princesses and pirates waited patiently to enter the gym. Inside it was “speed trick-or-treating.” Rather than going door-to-door, it was table-to-table as families brought their Halloween candy to hand out.It had been a crazy week, with no school and some families still without electricity following the weekend storm. Getting dressed up in wacky costumes and scoring a bag of candy would have been great therapy even if it were not making up for the missed holiday.Some children did end up going out on Oct. 31. But most parents heeded advice from authorities and kept their kids home. The entire town was without power. Tree limbs were still falling here and there under the weight of wet snow. Many families had left town.As the long week wore on, word spread that a scattering of families was going to be turning on porch lights and handing out candy Saturday evening. It quickly became apparent that rather than try a haphazard approach, the thing to do was bring everyone together in one place. It was safer, and a lot of fun to get to see everyone in costume.In addition to those who stayed to give out goodies, many more dropped off bags of candy. Many of the local pizza parlors donated pizzas that were served in the cafeteria.Had the youngsters given up on Halloween this year?Those who were asked gave a wide range of answers.“I thought the storm was going to last and we weren’t going to have it,” said Alex Callinan.Anthony Altamirano said he thought the snow would melt, and they would go trick-or-treating either way.Not really a problem for Emily Abbott, whose family went to Great Barrington on Halloween night.“I got double the candy this year,” she said.The overriding attitude was that, one way or another, at some point, there would be candy.While dressing up, and maybe playing some tricks may be great fun, yes, it is really mostly about the treats.