I’ve never been a great fan of Halloween. I didn’t understand the “let’s scare the heck out of each other” part of the holiday. Don’t get me wrong. I took part when I was a kid, and certainly enjoyed the candy that I gathered as part of “trick or treating”, but the older I got, the less I enjoyed it.
Part of my aversion to the holiday was the fact that I hurt my ankle while “trick or treating” during the fourth grade. I tripped on a curb. It didn’t bother me at the time, however, the next morning I couldn’t walk. My ankle hurt too much. Mom took me to the hospital where they took an ex-ray and determined that I had chipped a bone. They wrapped my ankle in a walking cast for six weeks.
When I did participate, I was more of a treat kind of guy. I never was big on the trick part. I knew that if I got caught ringing door bells, setting bags of dog poop on fire on non-participant’s porches, or tee-peeing a house, my parents would kill me. Fear will alter a fellow’s feelings about a lot of things.
My own three children loved the holiday. They took the “getting dressed up” part seriously. One year, they all dressed as clowns. The concept wasn’t really unique, but later in life I learned that Michael didn’t like clowns, so dressing as one was a giant leap for him.
The Addison Elementary school PTO sponsored an evening Halloween party for the kids and their families. Parents donated candy to the school and the PTO set up dozens of games for the kids to play. Parents and high school students operated the games. The donated candy became the prizes for the various events. The entire concept was developed to cut down on the door to door “trick or treating”. The local authorities helped us out by providing a metal detector to scan the student’s treasures for those who still wished to travel door to door.
One of the community groups sponsored a village costume party. The judging took place in town and prizes were awarded to various age groups. The school’s Halloween Party grew in popularity, and eventually the costume judging was moved to the school as a part of the festivities.
I preferred the evening party myself and, as elementary school principal, dressed for the occasion. I never donned anything too elaborate. I knew I would never earn an award for best costume, but wanted to be sure that I did enough to be judged an active participant.
When they were young, Ruth made most of the costume determinations for the kids. Some years were more elaborate than others. Michael was about five when he became more selective and announced that he wanted to be a “dorf” for Halloween. Ruth knew what he meant so she helped him achieve his goal. He was a “dorf”. Michael took home the prize for best costume that year.
While I don’t understand why Michael wished to be a “dorf”, the world should thank him because he inspired Tim Conway to become one as well. Tim made a lot more money with his outfits.
https://youtu.be/s1PBe22oqiE