Monica LaSalle, Nederland.   The wind picks up, kicking dirt in faces and tugging hard on carefully planned and implemented costumes. The afternoon sun refutes this chilly message, reminding folks there is still a little warmth left to enjoy this year.

Clouds scatter across the sky and the faint sound of children chattering and exclaiming overcomes any of nature’s sycophancy. Ghouls and goblins, super heroes and princesses comb the parking lot of Nederland Elementary School, seeking treats or an opportunity for trickery. The upper parking lot is full of parents with the trunks of their cars open, providing a thematic display for the Halloween season. As children roam from car to car, NFD and NPD provide their own trick or treat displays while surreptitiously also providing safety services to the community.

For years, NES has provided an opportunity for the youngest children of our community to trick or treat during daylight hours and avoid the somewhat spookier elements of the long-standing tradition. From 4 to 6 p.m. on the Friday before Halloween, parents come with their Halloween treats and decorated trunks to pass out candy to miniature versions of popular characters and costumes. Cars line Indian Peaks Drive as dozens of families come out to show their creativity, strutting their stuff to illustrate what the holiday means to them and kicking off the Halloween weekend.

(Originally published in the November 1, 2018, print edition of The Mountain-Ear.)