Neighbors,
I have made the decision to have our *COVNA Halloween Stroll for Saturday
October 30, 2021 starting at 4:00pm *like we did last year. I did not come
to this decision lightly. We have lived in this neighborhood for over a
decade and Halloween is typically a light participation night because of
these issues:
*Not a lot of streetlights/ No sidewalks/ Houses are too far apart for
quick trick or treating.*
- *Houses too far apart:* Children and parents alike know that the
houses in Castlewood Forest are too far apart so trick or treaters
typically head to Tanglewood (the neighborhood next to ours) because three
houses can be visited versus one house in COVNA.
- *Not a lot of streetlights:* There are zero streetlights on my block
and not a lot in the neighborhood. This makes for an unsafe evening.
- *No sidewalks:* Without the use of sidewalks, kids will be in the
street. Wearing masks. Without a lot of streetlights. Unsafe. Unsafe.
Unsafe.
- *Halloween falls on a school night.* That means either earlier bed
times (missing out on the full experience) or overly-stimulated/sugared up
children out too late and too excited to fall asleep (I'm sure all their
teachers *REALLY* appreciate that the next day).
*Here is why I want to create an annual neighborhood event the Saturday
before Halloween:*
- All the reasons listed above.
- There is no rush to get home or to get the kids from after-school
programs to get into costumes.
- Starting at 4:00p gives the whole neighborhood the opportunity to
congregate and to see each other's costumes because it is NOT too dark and
we're NOT in a rush.
*To Wrap It Up:*
This is a separate COVNA neighborhood event from Halloween. You're free to
participate in this event, traditional Halloween, either or neither.
How this event started: My street (with no streetlights) never got more
than one or two trick or treaters outside of the kids who lived on our
street so it always devolved into the neighbors and I eating lots of our
own candy and drinking way too much Irish whiskey. Then when Covid hit, I
thought to create something the whole neighborhood could enjoy. Hence the
COVNA Halloween Stroll last year that WAS on a Saturday and WAS an
extraordinary success. Why not make this an annual neighborhood event?
Halloween can be Halloween on the 31st but we are a social bunch. I repeat:
we. are. a. social. bunch. Am I truly the only one who actually likes
seeing my neighbors in fully costumed getups?
*Also, I intend to print up flyers next week advertising our COVNA
Halloween Stroll to let all of our neighbors, who are not on the COVNA
email list or social media, aware that this event is taking place
on Saturday, October 30. *
*I need volunteers from our neighborhood to help identify these neighbors
and distribute these flyers to them.*
As you know *the volunteer COVNA Board has many vacancies right now and we
are very short-staffed.* I love love love the enthusiasm in the emails.
Please consider joining the COVNA Board! We need enthusiastic folks like
you to step up and volunteer for a Board position. My tenure as President
(also volunteer) ends in December.
-- Sean
[image: cloudHQ] <https://www.free-email-tracker.com> Powered by
cloudHQ <https://www.free-email-tracker.com>
