Bancroft council recommends in-school Halloween celebrations

Oct. 21, 2020

By Chris Drost

Through a motion of Bancroft council at its regular meeting on Oct. 13, the Town of Bancroft is recommending that door-to-door trick-or-treating not take place this Halloween. Furthermore, they also moved to circulate this resolution to all municipalities in North Hastings looking for support for a coordinated approach to Halloween across the region.

“All members of the Community Safety and Well-being committee agreed that for the safety of all concerned, we bring this motion to council,” says Deputy Mayor Charles Mullet, chair of the committee.

The explanation for this move by council is that the risk of spreading COVID-19 is still present in our community. The safety of our community is the responsibility of each and every resident.

Furthermore, council agreed to support an in-school approach to Halloween rather than the traditional house-to-house visits.
While the resolution didn't go as far as banning door-to-door trick-or-treating altogether, it did say “the council of the Corporation of the Town of Bancroft does hereby make it known that it is strongly recommends that any Halloween celebrations for the year 2020 take place within our schools. And further that the traditional door-to-door trick-or-treating is advised against in order to help stop the spread of COVID-19.

Council approved the resolution unanimously, with one comment from Councillor Barry McGibbon, “As long as we don't cancel Christmas.”