Happy Halloween From Calder Place 1929

The ghosts and goblins don’t wait until midnight. I can hear them, along with their myriad brethren. The urgent horde of dinosaurs, aliens, princesses, and pirates has been amassing steadily along the outskirts, preparing themselves for the grand adventure and spoils that await them. Others in the throng  are donning masks, adjusting capes, primping tiaras. They are preparing their accessories, their weaponry, their strategy, and their flashlights. I hear the rustle of bags and the “plonk” of plastic pumpkins filled with nothing but promise. The four-wheeled chariots bear the youngest ones. The elders square their shoulders and check the rations. Hydration is paramount. The streets hold many paths to victory, but not without challenges and sacrifices. No one really knows how long this campaign will last or how many souls it will claim. The wise understand that there is beauty in not knowing. The excited chatter rolls down the street, bouncing through the trees and brushing up against the houses as it goes.  

They are here, and they are ready.

The clock strikes 6 pm. 

Let the hullabaloo begin.

 

I have spent a month actively preparing for this moment – six months planning for it –- a whole year idly daydreaming about it. I am ready. The yard is decorated. I have an abundance of the most important necessity for Halloween: enthusiasm.  And also candy, piled to overflowing in the cauldron. Friends from throughout the city stand by, ready to step in and assist when the collective enthusiasm becomes a frenzy. We each take care not to miss anyone; all costumes must be admired, and everyone needs their treat on Halloween. I love the joy that people, big and small, take in being someone whose presence is worthy of delight and a treat. That’s how we roll around here.

The large group breaks apart as they cross the barricades and begin moving up the street. The first intrepid soul steps on my front walk, marches up the steps, thrusts a bag in my direction and exclaims “TRICK or TREAT!!” The crowd surges behind him and the excited chatter increases tenfold. I reach down into my cauldron and start rapidly dropping candy into the buckets and bags in front of me. Within the hour, the crowd is in a line that stretches down the walk into the street. This is the point at which endurance, patience, and hydration are paramount. The peak trick-or-treating hour is not for the faint of heart. But if viewed correctly, the wait in line can be a welcome time of rest. A time to pursue side quests – an accounting of accumulated spoils, time for bargaining with others, the hat trick of keeping the youngest corralled in line, a critical troop management skill. It also allows for a moment to take stock of the evening. If we’re lucky, there’s a cool breeze to refresh us and keep the bugs away. Some Halloween nights, the moonlight mingles with the streetlights and helps to guide the way. It’s nice to be still for a moment and let the camaraderie of strangers united in purpose sink into your heart. Then it’s back to the candy!

I was unaware, when I bought my house in Calder Place 1929, of the Halloween delight that awaited me. In the decade before moving into Calder Place, years when I was both a parent and living in Beaumont, I had no idea trick or treating was such an event in the neighborhood. Our previous neighborhood had a dearth of Halloween activity, so we spent our Halloween nights venturing out with friends in different places around Beaumont but never Calder Place. I didn’t know that the streets are blocked off to cars from 6-8pm. I was unaware that the big, old oak trees cast swirling, spooky shadows along the street. I wish I had known how enthusiastically some people decorate their lovely old homes and how much they love Halloween. I would have been here every year.

By 8pm, the campaign has officially come to an end. The houses extinguish their lights, and the trick-or-treaters start reveling toward their cars and homes. Everyone, inhabitants and revelers alike, are happily exhausted. There are only winners here. Halloween night has smiled on us all. Until next year, friends.

 

Calder Place 1929 is a historic Beaumont, Texas neighborhood that spans the blocks from 19th to 23rd and Calder to Harrison. The Halloween festivities begin at 6pm and end at 8pm. The streets are barricaded – there is only pedestrian traffic allowed during trick or treating hours, and it is a lovely safe environment for merriment. I recommend you come prepared with snacks and really do bring water. I’m not kidding about hydration being paramount; it’s easy to underestimate how dehydrating walking and yelling “Trick or Treat!!” eighty times are. Also consider bringing a flashlight. It is an older neighborhood, and the streetlights are few and far between. It’s best to be able to see if that thing in the road ahead of you is a mass of candy wrappers or something that just crawled out of the storm drain. I kid. Mostly. But seriously, there are potholes. Parking is available in the BISD Administration Building parking lot and in several of the businesses along Calder. I hope to see some of you on Halloween!

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