COVID and Halloween

A selfie taken at 
Fariston's Haunted Forest.

As September gives way to October, and the trees blaze with new colors and shed their coats, the newfound nip in the air tells me one thing: Halloween is on the way. There's sugar cookies emblazoned with ghosts and pumpkins on the shelves at Target now; there's pumpkins piled in neat stacks, just waiting to be bought, carved, and set on someone's stoop; there's a rack filled with costumes at Walmart, and the seasonal Halloween stores have opened their doors once more. In my mind, it's a marvelous time, but one that is left up in the air due to COVID. 

Much to my surprise, however, my favorite haunted attraction local to my hometown was planning on opening during the last weekend of September -- the same weekend I would be visiting home. My girlfriend had never been to any haunted attraction before, but when we found this out, she wanted to go. Naturally, my love of spooky haunts took over, and I was ready to hit the forest trails and be scared as soon as it was mentioned, especially when I had assumed the attraction wouldn't be operating this season. 

The attraction wasn't so different than usual, and we've been dealing with the restrictions put in place for so long now that they didn't seem so out of place at this haunted forest. Just after sundown, we arrived at a darkened forest, where a woman dressed in a bloody nurse costume took our temperatures at the head of the trail and ushered us inside the maze of rope that led us to the ticket booth. We paid, and were instructed to keep our masks on throughout the entirety of the experience, despite being outdoors. If we took them off at any time, the actors weren't allowed to get close to us. Other than that, the only major alterations were having smaller group sizes and the actors not being permitted to touch any of the customers. It was honestly a little disconcerting to see so little change from the usual at this attraction I knew so well. 

On the other hand, my hometown has been considering cancelling their annual Trick-or-Treating held at the town square. It's another fantastic example of the strange middle ground we are finding ourselves within currently, with some events still falling short of normalcy and others attempting to return to the way they were, with a host of safety guidelines put into effect in order to allow for this return. It's very saddening to imagine a lot of children losing a year of Halloween that they'll never get back, but I can also understand why it may happen. In any case, I'm anxious to see how this particular aspect of the pandemic unfolds. I believe it will have major implications for the holidays to follow, a precursor to the larger seasons surrounding Thanksgiving and Christmas.