Northern Illinois towns move Halloween Trick-or-Treating to October 29th and people are not happy

ROCKFORD, Ill. (WTVO) — Parents in Byron and Pecatonica are not happy after the village elders announced that Trick or Treating will be held on Sunday, October 29th instead of on Halloween.

On Wednesday, the Pecatonica Village Hall announced that the town would be officially celebrating Halloween on the 29th from 4 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., prompting hundreds of responses on Facebook.

User Tyler Denger posted a cheeky response: “Is it true Thanksgiving will be moved to January?” while Katie Guy added “Christmas is in July now, too. The world just isn’t what it used to be.”

The decision prompted some confusion, as Lynda Batricevich voiced her plea to parents, asking “Who plans on still trick or treating on actual Halloween? Just so I know when I should have candy.”

Tanya Wurtzel posted a poll, allowing residents to vote on whether they would rather Halloween take place on October 31st (90%) or on the 29th (10%).

However, some residents were supportive of the change, such as Kelly Nestler, who said, “Thank you for the Sunday trick-or-treat date! It’s so hard to get parents home from work, eat dinner and then head out.”

Byron posted its official Trick-or-Treat hours on Thursday, also opting to celebrate the spooky holiday on Sunday, October 29th, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Parents there, likewise, voiced their frustration in hundreds of comments.

“Wait wait wait, how can you just MOVE a whole Holiday? And how is Sunday better then Tuesday?” asked Stephany Fritz.

Jodi Girten wrote, “In the almost 10 years we have lived in Byron they have never moved Halloween to a different day. Why now? Our neighborhood has always had the most trick or treaters and now this year since it is not on Halloween we will probably not be able to do it because of prior commitments.”

“Why was this also left to City Council to decide and not the town residents? How do we get them to change it back ? Leave tradition alone!” wrote Lindsay Bruns.

Ally Hammer agreed, saying “The people who are doing the trick or treating should choose. not the city council.”

“We The People will TRICK OR TREAT on Halloween,” wrote Lori Maslin.

In 2018, the Halloween & Costume Association launched a Change.org petition to move Halloween to the last Saturday in October, instead of the 31st. It fell short of its goal to get 200,000 signatures.

Following the petition’s media attention, the Registrar of National Day Calendar proclaimed National Trick or Treat Day on the last Saturday in October, annually.

In 2021, Roscoe residents complained after a deluge of children arrived in town to celebrate Halloween a day early when the village moved the holiday to Saturday instead of Sunday. Roscoe was the only local community to hold trick-or-treating on a day other than Halloween that year, allowing children from surrounding towns to celebrate Halloween twice.