Westport prepares for Halloween in a pandemic
WESTPORT—Thom Per re au lt has assisted numerous customers over the past decade in preparing for Halloween by choosing between ghoulish creatures and well-known super heroes —but this year is unique.
“I’ ve seen it all ,” said Per rea ult, a store man ager at Spooky Town.
“We’ ve had snow storms, hurricanes during Halloween ... this year is like completely different. It’ s a completely different year .”
This is the sixth conse cut ive year Spooky Town, a Halloween popup, has appeared in West port. The store also has pop-ups in Orange and Stamford.
Per re au lt said this year the store has implemented safety precautions due to the corona virus pandemic like mask wearing, social distancing, and not allowing for fitting rooms. But despite all of this the enthusiasm is still high.
“Surprisingly it’ s been really good ,” Per re au lt said of business so far.
“But people are going really crazy for decorati ons this year .” The focus on decorati ons comes as many residents look for altern at iv es to typical trick-or-treating. The town is also asking residents to be considerate in how they approach celebrating the holiday this year due to the pandemic.
“We’ re trying to discourage some of the large gatherings that historically take place, and encouraging people to celebrate Halloween and do trick-or-treating events in a smaller scale ,” First Select man Jim Marpe said.
The annual Halloween parade and trick-ortreating has been cance led this year, he said, but the Parks and Recreation Department is sponsoring a Halloween house decorating contest to keep the community spirit.
Marpe said the town sponsored a similar initiative when the annual Fourth of July fireworks ceremony had to be canceled this year.
“A lot of people participated and I think a lot more will participate in the Halloween decorations because that’ s really become a thing in West port and a lot communities ,” he said.