New Albany, Westerville move trick or treat to Saturday
Cold, rainy weather Thursday led New Albany, Westerville and Blendon Township on Wednesday to move their Halloween celebrations to late Saturday afternoon.
Homeowners associations or activist neighbors in a few subdivisions have gone rogue and also moved their trickor-treat nights to Saturday, even though the official date for their municipalities was Thursday.
Originally, trick-or-treat in New Albany was set for between 4 and 6 p.m. on Thursday.
But late Wednesday, the city of New Albany put out an advisory saying they are changing the celebration to 4 to 6 p.m. on Saturday.
Though they are part of the city of Columbus, residents of the Woods at Jefferson subdivision off North Waggoner Road on the Far East Side and the Green at Hampsted Village subdivision along Harlem Road also announced on social media that they decided to move their trick-or treat celebrations to Saturday.
The Green at Hampsted Village is holding their “beggars night” the same time as New Albany city. Children there go to New Albany-plain Local School District.
The Woods at Jefferson was holding its trick-or-treat from 4 to 8 p.m. Saturday to give more people time to participate, and those who didn't want to go that long or run out of candy could just shut off their porch lights.
Westerville and Blendon Township followed suit on Wednesday and advised that Halloween should be held from 5 to 7 p.m. on Saturday.
The National Weather Service had forecast rain for much of Thursday, up to two inches and heavy at times, with the daytime high reaching only 48 degrees.
The New Albany city government said in a Facebook post that they made the move because they wanted to keep children out of the cold and rain, especially with COVID-19 being a factor. Saturday's forecast is for clear weather with higher temperatures.
“The weather should be better for the event during this time, and the event will be over before the OSU football game,” the statement said.
Other communities like Worthington, Reynoldsburg, Hilliard, Grove City and Upper Arlington were still planning to have their celebrations on Thursday, at least according to their social media pages Wednesday night.
Some members of neighborhood Facebook groups in the Blacklick area – which includes the Far East Side of Co
lumbus and Jefferson Township – also advocated online for moving trick-ortreat from Thursday to Saturday.
But Columbus, Jefferson Township and many other communities have regularly followed the Mid-ohio Regional Planning Commission (MORPC) guidelines on trick-or-treat celebrations. That includes moving those celebra
tions to the Thursday before when Oct. 31 falls on Friday or Saturday nights.
The move is to avoid conflicts with high school and college football and because of safety concerns for children due to increased risk of drunken drivers on those weekend nights. jwoods@dispatch.com @Woodsnight