ROB MURRAY: Halloween is almost here and myy kids are both super excited. As a parent, I’m a little vexed. What’s the best thing to do? Do we do trick or treating as usual? It’s still up in the air for me. What are some of the recommendations from the Town of Canmore?

MAYOR JOHN BORROWMAN: We’re sharing the Alberta Health Services Halloween safety tips on our Facebook page. There’s something happening in the Malcolm which sounds kind of fun – Trunk or Treat. Everybody has their own comfort level, both for how you manage your kids and how you manage kids coming to your door. I’m not sure I want to have treats to give out, but I have to think about how I’m going to do that.

TANYA FOUBERT: What this Halloween is about is creativity. It’s going to be pretty obvious which houses are taking a creative approach and participating and which houses are not. It may not be like in the past. I grew up in Canmore trick or treating and I knew which neighbourhoods had the best candy, and I knew who gave out toothbrushes and raisins. It’s not going to be like that. It might be a little bit more sparse and you might not get the haul that you’re used to, but we’re going to do something.

JB: I was talking to a friend who’s rigging up a tube to drop the candies down, and people are planning to use tongs, so there’ll be a lot of different ways of making this work. It’s an important day for kids. We all remember the magic when we were that age. Tanya, you mentioned honoring traditions and referenced yourself growing up here in Canmore. I remember when I first lived in Canmore and the early 70s, one of the annual traditions was to steal outhouses from your neighbours and put them up in a tree or something.

TF: Um, I believe my own father did that. You’re not making that up.

JB: That’s one of those traditions that we’ve had to let go by the wayside because I don’t think there are any outhouses in town any longer.

RM: We are bringing tradition back with Trunk or Treat at the Malcolm. That’ll be from noon to 3 PM on Saturday. I think it will be busy so walk, bike, or transit might be a good idea. We were talking to our four-year-old son, he’s going to be a little Ghostbuster. And we’re like, “Do you think you could incorporate a mask into this costume?” He was super opposed to that, and we were like, “If Peter Venkman was in 2020, I think he’d probably be wearing a mask this year.” Hopefully we’re going to convince him. Also, I really don’t think there’s anything wrong if you’re not comfortable handing out candy this Halloween. Just turn off your porch light and hang out in your basement or something. Nobody’s going to judge you for not participating in Halloween this year.

Filed under: Canmore, covid-19, Halloween, Mayor John Borrowman, Mountain Insider