There’s nothing scary about trick-or-treating in Naperville. In fact, product research company Chamber of Commerce has announced it is the safest city in the nation in which kids can go door-to-door seeking treats.
For those who want to sink their teeth into the data, here are some reasons to chew over. The study analyzed key safety metrics across 300 cities with 100,000 residents or more, and this is what they found out about our town:
Low number of registered sex offenders: 2.1 per 10,000
Violent crime incidents: 3.6 per 10,000
Property crime incidents: 47.4 per 10,000
Average annual pedestrian fatalities: 1.67 (or 0.11 per 10,000)
Law enforcement employees: 16.8 per 10,000
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All this makes Naperville one of the sweetest spots in the country for children to enjoy this most decadent of holidays. But I spoke with unofficial representatives from Longwood, West Highlands and White Eagle subdivisions to find out what celebrating the Halloween holiday in Naperville means to them and their children.
Dana Ross is mom to 3-year-old Kaydence and 2-year-old Ezra with her husband, Reo. This year she and her daughter will be dressing up as Ms. Rachel, a YouTuber famous for her children’s songs geared toward speech therapy needs. Ezra will wearing a Luigi costume and his dad dresssed as Mario from Mario Brothers.
“Typically, we begin trick-or-treating around 4 p.m.,” Ross said. “We usually stay in our (Longwood) neighborhood. We do participate in trick-or-treating during the weekend leading up to Halloween at the kids’ grandparents’ neighborhood. They have a grandchildren trick-or-treating event.”
Ross thinks it’s a fun tradition and a great way to make family memories, and even though her children are still young, they enjoy picking out their costumes, she said.
“The night of Halloween, they enjoy ringing the doorbells of the neighbors they’ve met and enjoy meeting new people. And of course, the best part — candy! We definitely help them eat it all.”
Erica Scott says Naperville has a “neighborhood” feel that other surrounding suburbs lack.
“We have a really great neighborhood for trick-or-treating,” said the mother of two. “The West Highlands has a ton of different aged residents who make it a point to be home and give out treats, including the blue pumpkin non-food treats for allergy or sensory kids.”
Although Scott says she would let her 9-year-old daughter Emery trick-or-treat without her, she prefers mom to be close at hand.
“My kids scare easily,” said Scott, who also has a 6-year-old son, Felix.
“I usually take the kids to my parents’ neighborhood so their neighbors can see the kids’ costumes too,” she said. “This sort of ‘late’ trick-or-treating means very few kids are out and we love getting to talk with some of the older residents for a while. The kids adore it and they feel so special and loved.”
The Naperville effect can help children enjoy Halloween even if they go up to a house where no one is home.
Scott leaves a bowl of candy outside when they go trick-or-treating. One time she came home to see some children peeking inside it and realized the bowl was empty.
“One sweet boy took candy out of his own pumpkin to give to the other kids there so they weren’t disappointed,” she said. “It was so sweet! I feel like a lot of Halloween stories end up being sad or destructive so this really warmed my heart,” she said.
“I asked around in the neighborhood Facebook group and found the boy’s mom; then gave the kiddo a big gift basket and thanked him for his random act of kindness. That mom and I are still friends now.”
Sometimes Halloween can be scary, but not necessarily for the reasons you might think.
Ellie Martin lives in White Eagle. She recalls that a few years ago she went trick-or-treating in the neighborhood with her son Toby, then 7, who was dressed as Harry Potter, and her 3-year-old daughter Zia, decked out as Hedwig the owl.
“That year was cold, and there were a few inches of fresh powder on the ground which made things slippery, complicated and exciting,” she said. “We trudged up to our friends’ front door to greet them and two huge fluffy white dogs belonging to our friends’ neighbors came out of nowhere and started playfully chasing after our son.”
Toby panicked.
“Our son naturally assumed those dogs wanted his blood and took off like a bat out of hell through the snow, full panic visible on his face, screaming like it was the end for him,” Martin said. “The fear in his eyes, coupled with the distance that his wand and glasses flew into the snow as he ran, will forever be a favorite Halloween memory for me. I know I should have tried to help, but the unfortunate fact was that I simply couldn’t stop laughing.”
Potentially the scariest thing about Halloween can be the amount of candy you accumulate, whether from trick-or-treating or because you’ve bought too much. If you want to make sure the dentist isn’t the most frightening character you’ll meet this season, I have a tip.
Naperville-based Operation Salute Our Troops is once again donating candy to deployed troops. Executive Director Linda Tuisl tells me they are preparing to send about 4,500 Christmas stockings overseas this year.
“The donated Halloween candy helps so much for this program as well as our Comfort and Care Package program, which is also for deployed U.S. military service members,” she said.
If you have candy to spare, drop it off at 1807 S. Washington St., Suite 110, Naperville, call 630-971-1150 or email [email protected].
Hilary Decent is a freelance journalist who moved to Naperville from England in 2007.
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