Happy Halloween, Town Hall readers! Will you be joining us this coming weekend for Town Hall treats? Tonight, Andrew Rea joins us with his Binging with Babish cookbook. Tomorrow night, Jenny Odell teaches us how to do nothing and the Flat Earth Society is having a concert as part of the Earshot Jazz Festival. On Saturday November 2 there will be a Veterans Day open mic and a Seattle Jazz Showcase. On Sunday Julie Hirschfeld Davis and Michael D. Shear will discuss Trump’s assault on immigration. Treats aplenty.

Halloween hasn’t always been a treat for some. Particularly for the writers of the old Town Crier. Take, for instance, their take on Halloween in the November 5, 1927 edition. They lament, “Some of the Halloween fun is innocent enough. The smaller children get a tremendous kick out of their pumpkin lanterns, their witch costumes, the ringing of doorbells, the cowbells, horns and varied devices for making noise. No one would deprive them of it.” They continue, “But the eight- and ten-year-olds are off the streets by eight or nine, to be succeeded by older roisterers.” Those rapscallion roisterers! “These include boys who range from 12 to 13 up to 18 or 20, with a distinct tendency to run in gangs of considerable size! It is quite probable that even of these the majority are harmless enough, but there is a proportion, large enough, that finds amusement only in vandalism and destruction.”

The Town Crier writers suggested that Halloween be abolished…forever. “We wonder now why we endure it as long as we have.” A sad state of affairs, to be sure! “Life will be even more peaceful when the vandalism of Halloween is relegated to the scrap heap.”

Halloween has yet to make it to the scrap heap. Far from it. Enjoy it and we’ll hopefully see you at Town Hall soon.