I’m going to sound like a crank here.
Be that as it may, I have to ask a question that comes to mind every late October:
Do we really need trick-or-treat?
Throughout October, there are numerous trunk-or-treat events hosted by community organizations.
For the uninitiated, trunk-or-treat is a Halloween event where participants decorate their car trunks with spooky themes, and children walk from one car to the next collecting candy. These gatherings are typically organized by churches, schools and community groups. They’re billed as safer, more contained alternatives to traditional trick-or-treating.
In the Wyomissing area alone, you could easily fill your Halloween calendar:
• Wyomissing Animal Hospital on Commerce Drive in Spring Township will host its third annual trunk-or-treat Sunday at 1 p.m. There will be games, face painting, and leashed pets are welcome.
• At the same time, My Salon Suite at The Shoppes at Wyomissing will be handing out candy to children.
• For more than a decade, Berks’ Best Trunk-or-Treat has been a major event in the Village Square shopping center in Wyomissing, cohosted by Ignite Martial Arts next to Isaac’s Craft Kitchen & Brewery. According to its Facebook page, more than 500 pounds of candy were handed out at the Oct. 11 event.
• This past Thursday, Penn State Berks hosted a trunk-or-treat on its Spring Township campus, just a stone’s throw from those other events.
• And next Friday — Halloween night itself — The 7th Masonic District Temple, West Reading, will host a trunk-or-treat from 4 to 6 p.m. at the temple, 400 S. Seventh Ave.
That’s just a sampling. Check local listings and you’ll find more.
So if families participate in one or several of these fun, candy-filled events, as more and more do, then why is it still necessary to send children traipsing door to door, requesting — if not outright demanding — more candy?
How much candy does a kid need, anyway?
If you live in a fairly dense neighborhood, as I do, trick-or-treat can be more than a minor nuisance. You have to ration your candy supply carefully, lest you run out too soon.
I’m convinced some out-of-towners actually strategize their routes using a cost-benefit analysis — measuring footsteps per pound of candy.
You get a few waves of visitors, then a lull. Just as your backside meets the cushion, the dreaded doorbell rings again. A straggler this time — a lone kid with their parent.
Rinse and repeat.
It’s no wonder some people choose to opt out altogether by turning off their porch light, signaling to all that the Cranks live here.
It’s not a bad way to go.
But be warned: while your evening might remain blissfully interruption-free, you may find yourself feeling a bit like Luther and Nora Krank from “Christmas with the Kranks.” The couple, played by Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis, resort to hand signals and commando crawls to avoid detection behind their drawn blinds as carolers descend on their home.
