Halloween was a little extra spooky this year, with more time and effort dedicated to health and safety precautions. The government suggested trick-or-treaters wear a mask with their costume and candy givers to invent a “candy chute” in order to maintain social distancing. This year, Halloween was set up to be a perfect night. The weather was very mild, and it was also a full moon; very spooky!

“Children started earlier this year” said Helene Nicole, a local resident of Lac-Brome. “They arrived at around 6 p.m. as opposed to 6:30 p.m. like last year.”

But Nicole said the largest difference would have to be the number of trick-or-treaters.

“I got maybe half the kids. I think I got 150 kids last year and this year I got maybe 80,” Nicole said.

As for the candy giving, health and safety was the main priority.

“I bought two boxes of candy bars and then I used a glove to hand them out. I only used the glove to touch the candy, so I know it was clean. I also wore a mask!” Nicole said.

Contrary to what the government suggested, Nicole said most kids were not wearing medical masks.

“They walked Halloween as families or as small groups which were probably their bubble," said Nicole. As a substitute teacher in the Townships, Nicole mentioned that this behaviour is modeled from the protocols at school; no masks for the children, but a mask is mandatory for the adults.

“Seeing no masks on the kids did not surprise me," Nicole said. "They are outside, and this is what they do at school."

Although singing is not suggested in public places, as it has been proven to spread the virus further, kids were still yelling "trick-or-treat" as opposed to just knocking.

“And parents reminded them to say 'thank-you,'” added Nicole, laughing.

To make Halloween even spookier, at around 8 p.m. there was a large bang followed by a very wide spread power outage in the town.

“It was hilarious because I was getting close to running out of candy when a kid came to my door dressed as an alien and when they knocked on the door the power went out. So, I opened the door and the mother explained that they heard a big bang and all the power was gone," said Nicole. “It ended Halloween in Knowlton by a huge power failure.”