Halloween Trick-or-Treating Canceled or Postponed in Several MA Cities and Towns Due to Snowstorm

Posted by erik devaney

Courtesy of blissfullydomestic.com

While many school children across the Commonwealth were celebrating the news of having an October snow day this morning, some of these same children are now learning the somber lesson that every rose has its thorn.

The “Snowtober” nor’easter that knocked out power to hundreds of thousands and dropped over a foot of snow in some parts of Massachusetts is now posing a threat to tonight’s Halloween festivities. Due to the downed trees and power lines that still riddle streets and sidewalks, several municipalities have either postponed or outright cancelled trick-or-treating.

“I’m very aware, we all are, that tonight is Halloween night and trick-or-treating is a big deal,” said Governor Deval Patrick at a press conference on storm recovery and power restoration efforts this morning. Governor Patrick went on to say that a number of communities have decided to keep costumed children off the streets tonight as crews work to remove debris and repair power lines.

Lieutenant Governor Timothy Murray

During the press conference, Governor Patrick invited Lieutenant Governor Timothy Murray to speak more on the issue of Halloween trick-or-treating in light of the weekend’s destructive storm.

“The governor has asked me to do this because he thinks I might have more credibility on this issue having a five- and six-year-old daughter,” the Lieutenant Governor commented.

Murray continued, “Given the fact that we are in a state of emergency, we’re asking municipal leaders to use digression and common sense when making a decision as to whether they should be going forward with Halloween or not.”

Ultimately, however, the Commonwealth is not issuing a statewide decree on the matter.

“We’re going to leave it to municipal leaders who are closest to the ground to understand what is happening in their particular city or town,” said Murray. “But we just want people to use caution, the parents as well, as to whether it makes sense in their particular neighborhood or community whether they should be out.”

At the time of this publication, Acton, Chelmsford, Leicester, Lexington, Lincoln, Maynard, Stow and Westford have all officially cancelled Halloween trick-or-treating.

Several more municipalities have postponed trick-or-treating until Thursday (Leominster, Marlborough, Oxford and Worcester); Friday (Auburn, Ayer, Billerica, Boxborough, Burlington, Charlton, Norfolk, North Andover and Sudbury); Saturday (Dracut and Southborough) or even Sunday (Lowell and Tyngsborough). Foxborough is also postponing its trick-or-treating, with no word yet as to when the Halloween activity will be rescheduled for.

Short URL: http://www.newenglandpost.com/?p=6961

Posted by erik devaney on Oct 31 2011. Filed under Featured - For home page featured article, General, Lifestyle. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry