Halloween in Georgetown has a long tradition. While legendary rowdy bar crawling on M St. has subsided over the last decade, the neighborhood still draws huge crowds of trick-or-treating kids from across the region. But if the city has its way, that will not happen this year.
The DC Department of Health issued guidance earlier this week concerning many of the traditional Halloween activities. Spoiler alert: they don’t like most of them. But the guidelines are just that: guidelines, not legally enforceable laws.
Some of the activities DOH recommends skipping this year include bobbing for apples, going to haunted houses, and, most notably, going trick-or-treating. They suggest lower risk activities, including carving pumpkins with your family or attending drive-through holiday displays.
But will people listen? And will you stock up on candy? Surely there are ways to hand out candy safely. The guidelines suggest as a medium risk activity to lay out candy on your front yard, which isn’t quite doable for most Georgetowners. Could you just dump candy on your stoop and watch from 6+ feet to make sure the kids don’t get greedy?
Of course, that assumes kids will even show up. GM suspects there will still be kids coming, albeit at much reduced numbers. So it will probably be up to you. Do you want to participate? And how?
