Access Atlanta > The Newcomer > Archives > 2008 > October > 10 > Entry
What’s the best Halloween happening?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
This is The Westminster School’s Halloween Parade from 2006. File parades under “best places to people watch.”
I hear Savannah is one of the most haunted cities in the United States, but I’ll bet Atlanta’s no slouch when it comes to Halloween entertainment, especially this year. Halloween on a Friday is just begging for craziness.
I grew up in a place with an unfortunate tradition of setting abandoned homes on fire the night before Halloween — huge efforts have been made to curb that, by the way — but it instilled in me the sense that holidays may have the same name and the same general aesthetic, but they don’t mean the same thing from one place to the other.
Of course, I’ve got to work the morning after Halloween, and I’m not willing to show up at the office with makeup stains, hair glitter or a candy corn hangover. People-watching from the bar is more my style.
So what’s the metro area’s best Halloween event? Where’s the best place to get an eyeful or people or decorations? And for families new to the area, what’s the best neighborhood to trick-or-treat?
Here are some Halloween resources to help you get started…
Maps of corn mazes and pumpkin patches and another map of haunted houses and ghost tours.
Halloween costume ideas from Amy Winehouse to Sarah Palin. (And yes, if you dress your pet, just say so. We won’t laugh too loudly.)
Halloween events — that’s one serious list.
Family-friendly Halloween events — another long list.
Holiday Guide! This site will be updated continuously for the next few months as we roll into hard-core holiday season.
Permalink | Comments (6) | Post your comment | Categories: Out at Night
Comments
By Lissa
October 10, 2008 11:13 AM | Link to this
You’re actually asking for people to post what the best neighborhoods are for trick-or-treating? That’s just asking for an invasion. Am I the only who can’t stand people outside the neighborhood going trick-or-treating there? Even if you live in an apartment, there are all sorts of fall festivals and events around that you don’t need to dump your kids in someone else’s neighborhood.
For that matter, kids out of elementary school have no business trick-or-treating. I don’t know when that trend started, but I wish it would stop. Trick-or-treating is meant for CHILDREN. Anybody who looks too old gets the nasty candy from our house.
By eric
October 10, 2008 11:41 AM | Link to this
Lissa, you grinch.There are some parents who cannot afford to live in a “nice neighborhood” but who want to give their kids the experience of trick or treating in a neighborhood that has the traditional Halloween decorations.It’s no different than you driving through other neighborhoods looking at Christmas lights.And who are you to monitor which kids live in your neighborhood? Candy patrol? And you actually buy nasty candy to give out to kids you think don’t live in your neighborhood? i would rather these preteens trick or treat with friends than be roaming the streets. Get a life, gimp.
By bob
October 10, 2008 11:47 AM | Link to this
I agree.Lissa sounds terrible. I would hate to be her husband- child-etc.
If you are inyour 20’s, Athens is a great place to go out for Halloween…everyone is dressed up and ready to party- and it is not too crowded as everyone else is in Jacksonville.
Haunted Houses….Boo at The Zoo…and haunted corn mazes are really fun too. There is so much to do- whether you have kiddies or not. Hope everyone has a frugal happy Halloween!
By Micha
October 10, 2008 12:35 PM | Link to this
Lissa, Choose Joy!!! :)
By mayretter local
October 10, 2008 1:47 PM | Link to this
hey Jamie, your coworkers won’t mind you participating in halloween, it’s always been a big event for adults in Atlanta. go out and have some funn.
By Lissa
October 10, 2008 2:07 PM | Link to this
FYI - I live in a typical middle class neighborhood. In the past I’ve lived in apartments. I hate to tell you - but we decorated more at the apartment and had more trick-or-treaters than I ever have at the house. Btw, don’t you know that the highest-end neighborhoods do the least for the holidays?
Growing up, I had a friend who lived in a neighborhood that was a large circle. I’d watch kids get dropped off by the car load. We’d run out of candy before the end of the night and some known neighborhood children didn’t get any because the “outsiders” got it all.
Don’t even get me started on the lazy-good-for-nothing parents who FOLLOW along their little darlings in a car. That is simply pathetic. I know of perfectly healthy people who do this and it is a shame, not to mention dangerous with all the little ones running around.
No, I don’t buy nasty candy. I buy the mixed bags and they always have a variety of good & not-so-good candy. The older kids wind up with pixie stix, a tootsie roll, or one of those nasty peanut butter things, and the young ones get the candy bars. I’m sorry, but teenagers wearing camouflage, carrying a pillow case do not deserve the good candy. That is not a costume, and they are old enough to buy their own candy! Now, if they are older and have an honest-to-goodness real costume, they’ll get the good stuff for the extra effort, but a hobo or hooker don’t count.
You can think I’m a grinch, mean, or whatever, but I choose what to give trick-or-treaters on my street.