Halloween is only eight days away, and homeowners are putting up elaborate decorations and stocking up on sugary sweets.
Madeline Westcott
Kicker News
Soon enough, the streets of St. John’s will be lined with kids covered in face paint, dressed up in festive costumes and trick-or-treating for candy.
It turns out Halloween fun isn’t just for the kids – it’s for the adults, too.
Some homeowners go all out with their Halloween decorations – planting 10-foot skeletons on their lawns and draping cobwebs full of spiders along their shutters.
Bob Ivany, a Paradise resident, has been going all-out for Halloween for about 30 years. While many houses on his street don’t have any spooky decor, his home is lit up in orange and purple lights. Inflatable ghosts guard the porch, a string of witches is draped from the roof and swaying in the wind.
The younger kids in the area, says Ivany, are why he does it.
“We kind of grew up with everybody, and everybody grew up with us,” he said.
Ivany believes the Halloween spirit has been growing in the Karwood Drive area as more young families with children have moved into the neighbourhood.
“Last year I got 120 (trick-or-treaters). The year before I got one-hundred-and-something. I expect at least 120 this year,” Ivany said.
“I ran out of candy and started giving out junk food that we had in the house. Once we ran out of that, we turned the lights off and hid.”
Sakib Kahn
Although some homeowners get lots of kids knocking on their door on Halloween night, some St. John’s residents are disappointed with the low numbers.
Angela Bath lives in the Village Mall area and said she hardly gets any trick-or-treaters – only a handful, if she’s lucky. Bath said she stocks up and buys lots of chips, candies, and chocolate bars.
According to Statistics Canada, in October 2023, Canadians spent just over $1.8 billion on treats for the year’s spookiest night.
“I always buy too much stuff, and I’m stuck eating it myself when it’s all left over,” Bath said with a laugh.
The opposite seems to happen in densely populated subdivisions like Kenmount Terrace. There is no shortage of trick-or-treaters, just a shortage of candy for one resident.
Sakib Khan admits to underestimating the throngs of ghouls in his neighbourhood.
“I ran out of candy and started giving out junk food that we had in the house,” Khan said. “Once we ran out of that, we turned the lights off and hid.”
Although his first Halloween living in Kenmount Terrace didn’t go as smoothly as planned, he’s stocked up and excited to give out treats again this year.
“I just love the kids here,” Khan said.
Whether high numbers are expected or not, Lorna Froude in Mount Pearl goes big for Halloween. She said it’s all about getting out and being part of the community.
Lorna Froude and her son, Carter, love all things scary. Their home is decked out from top to bottom, like something out of a Stephen King novel. Their lawn is home to a gigantic inflatable spider surrounded by a graveyard, and a family of skeletons and ghosts are on display in the window.
“To bring happiness and joy to children,” said Carter Froude, explaining why their home is decorated.
The number of trick-or-treaters Lorna Froude says she gets fluctuates with the weather – sometimes she’ll get up to 100 visitors, while during bad weather it’s closer to 30.
Froude remains hopeful the Halloween spirit in Newfoundland is alive and thriving.
“It’s starting to come back, and it should,” she said.
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