Fairport Harbor Village Council votes to hold trick-or-treating

The tradition of children trick-or-treating throughout Fairport Harbor Village will continue this year, in spite of the ongoing novel coronavirus pandemic.

Village Council, during its Sept. 15 meeting, unanimously approved a motion to allow trick-or-treating in the community from 6 to 8 p.m. Oct. 31.

“Let’s let Fairport Harbor be leaders,” said Councilman Anthony Bertone, prior to the vote. “Let’s show the world how we can live with COVID.”

Mayor Timothy Manross said that village Administrator Amy Cossick participated in a Lake County Mayors and Managers Association meeting on Sept. 15 during which the topic of trick-or-treating was discussed. A representative of the Lake County General Health District also participated in that session.

Manross said the county Health District provided “no real guidelines” on trick-or-treating to those who attended the Mayors and Managers meeting.

“I would assume that what I heard from Amy, from the other communities, is that trick-or-treating is going to go forth as it has in years past,” Manross said at the Village Council meeting, which was held remotely by video conference. “I’m certainly not opposed to doing that here in Fairport.”

Manross asked village Police Chief J.P. Leonard and Fire Chief Bob Lloyd for their opinions on holding trick-or-treating in 2020. Both officials said they were in favor of the village allowing the activity.

The mayor said that based on input he received from Leonard, Lloyd and Cossick, he felt comfortable with permitting oldfashioned trick-or-treating in the village.

“I believe it’s something that if folks feel like putting on a porch light and handing out candy, and parents feel like sending the kiddies out (trick-or-treating), I believe that could be done in a socially responsible manner,” he said.

On Sept. 18, three days after Fairport Harbor Village Council voted to allow traditional trick-or-treating, the Ohio Health Department released its recommended guidelines to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 during Halloween activities.

The department’s list of best practices for celebrating Halloween during the COVID-19 crisis includes:

• Holding a drivethrough or drive-in trickor-treating event.

• Leaving treats in the mailboxes of friends and neighbors.

• For parents taking their children trick-ortreating, limit the number of houses visited and ask children to stay as far away from the treat givers as possible.

• For anyone distributing candy to trick-or-treaters, refrain from having children select their own treats from a bowl or common container, or set up a hand-sanitizing station.

• Clean candy wrappers with sanitizing wipes once children return home from trick-or-treating and before they begin unwrapping candy.

However, the Ohio Health Department stated in its guidelines that decisions on participating in Halloween festivities “should be made by local communities, individuals and parents/guardians.”

Already, several communities outside of Lake County have scrapped or scaled back traditional Halloween activities because of health and safety concerns stemming from COVID-19. The city of Fairlawn canceled communitywide trick-or-treating.

Meanwhile, Copley Township called off its annual Halloween in the Park program and stated that trick-or-treating would not be a community event sponsored by the township, according to a post on its Facebook page. However, Copley Township announced that individual neighborhoods could organize their own Halloween celebrations.

Fairlawn and Copley Township are both located in Summit County.