The ghoulest neighbourhood in town
Welcome to ‘Halloween Street’, where everyone gets into the spirit of things
Each year, a small, eclectic street in west Toronto transforms for one magical night into ground zero for trick or treaters.
Residents say it’s affectionately known as “Halloween Street” — and with good reason.
Around 1,000 kids and parents from the Swansea neighbourhood pack Lavinia Ave., sandwiched between Deforest Rd. and Waller Ave., between 6 and 8 p.m. to knock on doors.
“Lavinia is the destination . . . and the kids get really excited about it, they make trick-or-treating plans and adults are making plans to connect with each other and it’s quite fun,” resident Kelly Smith said.
Residents of the street are known to leave work early to prepare and decorate their homes. They dress up, sit out in their front yards and wait for the flood of young ghosts and goblins to pour in.
Some homeowners go all out with their decorations, choosing elaborate themes, costumes and music to create a memora- ble night, while others stay more low-key.
It’s not entirely clear how or when the small street which also houses the Swansea Town Hall, fire station and retirement residences became the Halloween hot spot.
“Somebody a very long time ago . . . just kind of started up ‘Let’s make Halloween a really big deal’ and it’s just grown and grown and grown and apparently over the last 10 years it’s really exploded,” said Smith.
And its appeal keeps growing. Residents admit there isn’t much room for non-Swansea trick-or-treaters.
“It’s kind of like a concert letting out, just people walking in the middle of the road,” said Alexandra Devlin, who has lived on the street for the past seven years.
“We’ve run out of candy every year that we’ve lived here,” she added.
“Each year I buy one box more than I did the year before, thinking that will be enough, and every year we get down to the last box and hand it out and end up having to turn off the lights.”
Their hallowed tradition isn’t cheap. Devlin said it will cost her about $200 in candy this year and Smith said she handed out 1,600 pieces of candy last year.
“It’s a bit of an investment, that’s for sure and I don’t know if everybody on the street is happy to shell out for that amount of candy or not,” said Devlin. But for her, it’s worth it. A Halloween on Lavinia is unique. “My kids, they love it,” said Devlin. “Obviously this is their only Hal- loween experience so, last year, for the first time we went to another street that was not Lavinia. They were struck by the novelty of having to go up to people’s doorbells and ring the doorbell because on Lavinia you don’t do that. Everybody’s kind of sitting out on their front yards.”
With so many trick-or-treaters visiting Lavinia this year, Devlin and her neighbours decided to have a food drive for the Daily Bread Food Bank to get young witches and superheroes into the spirit of giving.
“It’s very close-knit,” Smith said. “It’s just a wonderful neighbourhood that way.”