Hurricane Sandy, with her high winds and a few inches of
slushy snow, managed to make Halloween seem more like Christmas in the towns of
Allegany County. Most people stayed hunkered indoors for the holiday where most
go door to door. In places like Frostburg, Barton, and Westernport, trick-or-treating
was postponed from Wednesday, October 31st to Saturday, November 3rd.
Brian C. Alderton’s Facebook page, “Brian C. Alderton:Frostburg Water, Parks & Rec. Commissioner,” kept parents posted on the
status of Halloween events such as trick-or-treating with a post on the day
that Hurricane Sandy hit Western Maryland, Monday, October 29th
saying: “The City of Frostburg's Trick-Or-Treat is being postponed. Barring any
major damage or weather twists, Trick-Or-Treat will now be Saturday, November
3rd, from 6:00pm to 8:00pm. The Halloween Party at City Place scheduled for
Tuesday evening has been postponed. We are still working on a make up date for
the party and will let you know as soon as a final decision is made.”
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| Mark Morris with niece Chloe Haggerty before trick-or-treating in Westernport, MD. |
On November 3rd, around 6 pm,
trick-or-treaters started leaking onto the streets of Westernport, a town about
20 minutes southwest of Frostburg, down the Allegany County line. As dusk
started to fall, children came out to trick-or-treat under the supervision of
adults. Mark Morris, escorting his niece Chloe Haggerty dressed as a witch, stated: “It’s good
that the kids got their trick-or-treating in. No one wants to see Halloween
skipped over, especially when people put money into costumes and candy.”
Many children were followed closely by adults in SUVs to
make sure that the children would not be in danger of being hit in the twilight.
Unfortunately, with many large vehicles with their hazard lights on, the
neighborhood roads were hard to navigate safely for both pedestrians and for
drivers.
A slow-speed accident almost occurred when a little boy
dressed as a cow darted between parked vehicles on the road. The truck driving
stopped successfully but forced the sedan behind it to brake suddenly. Toby
Brill, who was handing out candy on her front porch, commented: “As far as I
know, kids have never been hit around here while trick-or-treating, but you can
understand why parents follow them around. Can’t have little kids getting hurt.”
Cody Morton, another Westernport resident who was helping
the Brill family pass out candy, added to the conversation: “I think it’s good
that some kids get to ride around with their parents in SUVs, because the hills
in Westernport are large and probably hard for kids to walk up and down. But it
can be unsafe for kids who decide to walk around because Halloween is later in
the year so it gets darker earlier.”
Patric Boyce, a Westernport resident for his entire
childhood, said: “It takes pretty much the whole town of Westernport to get a
good amount of candy anyway. You have to work hard for it.” Many of the
children (and some that were young at heart), seemed to get a fair amount of
candy and fun, despite having Halloween festivities pushed back a few days to
get settled from the disruption that Hurricane Sandy caused.
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