Halloween will look different this year. Here’s what you can expect in Greeley.

Mary Athey poses next to her Halloween decorations. Even though coronavirus will take a toll on the holiday this year, Athey still wants to have fun with it. Photo by Dan England.

By Dan England

Mary Athey fussed with the decorations in her yard, at one point parting a witch’s black hair away from her face with the care of a mother getting her child ready for school. 

“We usually decorate it better than this,” Athey said and sighed. 

By any standards, the house IS enough to entice trick-or-treaters or perhaps scare away campaign workers, but Athey remains bummed: Halloween is their favorite holiday. She and her husband have reasons for “slacking” this year, including a newborn baby, but the biggest is exactly what you’ve already guessed, something scarier than anything Halloween can offer up. Yup. The coronavirus has now turned to Halloween as the next fun tradition to be upended, canceled or scaled down.

“We haven’t gotten to do anything this year,” Athey said. 

Long-standing traditions, such as the Greeley Museums’ Howl-O-Ween event at Centennial Village, have already been canceled, and many other celebrations, including trick-or-treating, seem to be scaled back. That’s the case in the Atheys’ cul-de-sac in the Evans area just east of 35th Avenue and in between 37th Street and U.S. 34 Bypass. 

Athey plans to allow their kindergartener, Branson, to walk around the cul-de-sac. The neighborhood appreciates Halloween — many of the elaborately decorated homes make it look like the small Halloween town from “A Nightmare Before Christmas” — and, more importantly, they are a close-knit group, meaning they will most likely stay distanced as they hand out candy. Athey herself hopes to put together some sort of chute to hand out candy while staying behind the door, even if she doesn’t know if she’ll have many visitors (in past years, they haven’t had monster crowds — see what we did there? — but there’s usually enough to go through a good-sized bowl of candy). 

It’s nice to have a small option, but it also is a painful reminder of the fun they had in past years.

 “We usually have a big fire in the middle of the circle,” Athey said. 

Branson may only be in Kindergarten, but he’s already learned to be excited about the holiday. 

“We really struggled with it,” Athey said, “and he’s even a little bummed this year.”

It’s a boo-mer

Both Dia de los Muertos and Halloween won’t be the same this year, at least that’s the hope of some cities and towns across Colorado. Some neighborhoods in places such as Aspen and Carbondale that are usually crawling with kids have decided to shut down this year. The Centers for Disease Control encourages that sort of thinking, actually, by listing lower-risk activities such as carving pumpkins with family and listing trick-or-treating as a “higher-risk” activity. 

“There are several safer, alternative ways to participate in Halloween,” according to the CDC.

 That means no trick-or-treaters in Centennial Village, said Sarah Saxe, museums manager for the City of Greeley.

Though many Halloween events have been canceled this year, there are still plenty of ways for kids and adults alike to have fun. Photo by Dan England.

“Though the event is outside, past attendance records show thousands of children and families on site, making social distancing and frequent sanitation of high-traffic areas practically impossible,” Saxe said. “We are disappointed we cannot provide Howl-O-Ween to our community members this year, but we are carefully planning and reimagining our events and programming to safely offer educational and engaging services in 2021 and beyond.”

It also means no Trick-or-Treat Street put on by the Downtown Development Authority, which usually attracts several thousand kids. That, and the demand caused by so many other events being scrapped, led Bianca Fisher, executive director, to cancel it. 

“It is a bummer,” Fisher said. “We love this event. But everyone has had to make tough decisions.”

Schools aren’t putting on community events this year as well. Northridge High School usually hosts a big trick or treating spectacular and haunted house, though individual classes were hosting small parties with their cohorts. 

“Bummer after bummer this year,” said Theresa Myers, spokeswoman for Greeley-Evans School District 6. 

That doesn’t mean everything is closed. 

Halloween will look different in Weld County this year, but there are opportunities to partake in the fun. Photo by Dan England.

There’s a party on Halloween Night for kids and adults at the Greeley Moose Lodge ballroom, 3456 11th Ave., in Evans. For more information, call (970) 397-6183. Many places will have some sort of spooky drink specials or something. 

The First Congregational Church will host a Trunk or Treat at 1:30 p.m. this Sunday the west parking lot, 2101 16th St., Greeley. 

Journey Christian Church will also host a Trunk or Treat event from 4-6 p.m. on Halloween, 4754 W 31st St. in Greeley. 

The Fritzler Farm Park in LaSalle will run through Halloween.

And Weld County, with commissioners who value personal preference over regulations, hasn’t issued any information discouraging trick or treating, other than simple health guidelines (one of them is, “If you feel better wearing a mask by all means, wear a mask”). 

The state health department does discourage trick-or-treating this year. 

Those guidelines, and other tips from the CDC and the state, are below: 

• Wash your hands frequently.

• Wear a mask (the CDC suggests this a bit stronger than the county), even with your costume, as Halloween masks aren’t as effective. 

• Stay home if you are feeling ill

• Go with children who want to trick-or-treat this year, as they may forget to stay distant during the excitement of getting candy. 

• Consider lower risk activities such as admiring Halloween decorations from afar instead of taking candy, having a movie night from those you live with and carving pumpkins outside. 

• Line up treats at the end of your driveway. 

• Use a plastic slide or tube to give out candy from a distance. 

• Stay in your own neighborhood.

• For more information, the state has tips here and the CDC offers ideas for low, moderate and higher-risk activities here.