One of the great things about living in Fort Thomas is the
adherence to time-honored tradition.
From Friday night football games, to the holiday festivities, we are a
town that honors tradition and celebrates together. That said, there reaches a time when a tradition can be
tarnished by lack of reason and, in my opinion, the decision by the city and
surrounding cities to not postpone Halloween Trick-or-Treating will ruin this
year’s celebration. For anyone who
attended the Fourth of July parade (and I’m sure it wasn’t many of you), you
should remember what happens when terrible weather meets outdoor
festivities. Attendance was
paltry. However, it is one thing
to stand outside in a continuous rain with 85 degree weather; it is entirely
different to stand outside in below 50 degree weather, in the evening, with a
driving rain and 20 mph wind gusts!
Amidst flu season, no less. I'm sure the weather will hold off. Right?
FTM reached out to a few other cities and got the below
responses regarding their Halloween plans. It seems like the overwhelming theme is that each city is
banding together and sticking together so they can either all be wrong or all
be right together regarding the decision to leave trick-or-treating as
scheduled.
Alexandria is following the lead of other cities and, per their police point person, do not believe it will rain until 9
Alexandria is following the lead of other cities and, per their police point person, do not believe it will rain until 9
Cold Spring is concerned about the difficulty of notifying everyone of a change and is following the lead of the other cities.
Dayton is convinced the weather won’t be bad, is following the lead of other cities, and listening to residents who previously complained about a possible move to 10/27 for Halloween.
Bellevue never considered moving it since no other cities
were planning to do so.
Highland Heights stated it would be hard to coordinate, Friday night is football night, no other cities are moving it, and the weather might be OK tonight.
Below is the response from the City to a resident inquiring
about a change:
I checked with Mayor
Brown a few moments ago and trick-or-treat will remain tonight from 6:00 to 8:00. Many in the community have pre-planned
parties for tonight and it would be difficult for them to change their
plans. And, currently, no other city in Boone, Kenton or Campbell
County is changing their time/day for trick-or-treat. Unfortunately,
rain is a strong possibility for tonight. We've had rain at other recent
events - 4th of July parade and the Holiday Walk - and those events were
well-attended and successful.
And finally, an email from the Newport’s City Clerk:
Dear Neighborhood
Representatives and Residents,
Trick-or-treat hours
in Newport will be from 6 to 8 p.m. on Halloween, Thursday the 31st,
as planned. Please feel free to share this information with your friends
and neighbors.
Trick-or-Treat hours
are set as a rain or shine designated time frame. Newport has designated the
same hours of 6 p.m. – 8 p.m. on Halloween for trick-or-treat for many years.
These are also the same times set by most other cities in Northern Kentucky.
This information has been published well in advance and it would be difficult
and confusing to notify everyone of a last minute change. We know that many
residents came out to enjoy Monsters On Monmouth last Sunday afternoon and had
a great time at this Newport Recreation sponsored event. That annual event was
advertised in advance several ways including the Newport Now newsletter that is
mailed to residents and it was posted on the cable channel. We all wish the
weather for Halloween had changed – as forecasts often do. We know some will be
disappointed and there has been some confusion due to media reports.
As of Thursday
morning, no Northern Kentucky cities have changed their designated hours for
trick-or-treat. (Any last minute
alternate would have left many confused or unhappy. Friday evening hours would
have conflicted with rush hour traffic when parents many may have already
scheduled to leave work early Thursday. Friday hours would have also conflicted
with several local high school football games that are well attended by many families
(of cheerleaders, band members, players, and alumni.) Switching to Saturday
would have conflicted with many children’s sports, parents work schedules, etc.
Choosing a last minute change to Sunday afternoon would have overlapped church
events, youth sports, football, etc., etc. …)
If the weather is too
rainy or if there are storms on the evening of Halloween we hope you will keep
your children safe and dry and find a way to celebrate at home – reading
stories, playing games, acting out skits in your costumes, and, of course,
enjoying some of the treats you had ready to pass out to trick-or-treaters!
To me, we have an example of classic “group-think”. Everyone is waiting for someone else to
take the lead and make the change that needs to happen. Am I overreacting? Perhaps. The weather may end up being perfect. But are our children and our traditions
worth that risk?
Knox is not impressed |
Their suggestion for making a child feel better about skipping Halloween is to "act out skits in your costumes." Uhhh... ridiculous. It is sad that the kids of NKY are missing out on the holiday that is supposed to be all about them so a few adults aren't inconvenienced. Bah Humbug.
ReplyDeleteI think it is ridiculous they did not change it. We are able to watch the news for school closings and other events, do they think it would really not have been received by parents. People make changes to adjust their schedules for their kids. I am sure Sunday afternoon would not have interfered with church or the other church, football games!
ReplyDeleteEven at young ages, kids need to learn to deal with the hand they are dealt- with disappointment. And to make the best of it. Weather happens. All kinds of things happen. And sometimes the job of a parent is to use these moments how to TEACH, not to try and bend the will of the world to that of the child.
ReplyDeleteSo if there's an easy, common sense solution to make their lives better, we shouldn't carry it out? Good Lord lady, get a grip.
ReplyDeleteTry telling that to a 4-year old who has looked forward to this for weeks.
Shame on you and shame on the city.
Wow. It's just rain...pretty sure it's not going to kill anybody. I grabbed some umbrellas and took the kids out for the full 2 hours. Somehow we all managed to survive. The kids had a blast.
ReplyDeleteI think it's a shame that all the weather forecast has been out for a week now and it should have been canceled and change to a different day it is like we all did not know what the weather was going to be like it wouldn't have been difficult to change from a Thursday to a Saturday even a Saturday afternoon would have been fine but instead they rather see all these kids get sick great great job Campbell County you really dropped the ball on this one
ReplyDelete