Kramer’s Korner: Trick-Or-Treating Sucks In Amarillo

As we head into Halloween weekend, we start to get excited about all the parties and events going on this Friday and Saturday evening. There will be bars holding costume contests and drink specials, there will be countless trunk or treats to attend, and the ever-popular house parties that will get thrown.

Then the weekend will end, and we'll have the ACTUAL holiday on Tuesday. An evening for the kids to go out and fill up those buckets, pillow cases, whatever they decide to bring.

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There's only one problem with this scenario. Only a few neighborhoods in Amarillo ACTAULLY seem to participate in the trick-or-treating hijinks.

Now I remember being a kid and looking so forward to going out and getting more candy than I could actually eat. I could step out my front door and start making the rounds up and down my street. By the time I had cleared both sides of said street, I already had half a bucket of goodies.

I'd stop back at the house, empty it out, then attack the neighboring blocks around me. The best part about this was I never had to venture too far from my house. We could be out for an hour or two collecting our loot, and never stray too far from home.

Unfortunately, Amarillo isn't anything like this. I remember our first Halloween here. We had just wrapped up playing in a baseball tournament. We all rush home, get the kids in their costumes and walk out the front door.

No lights on, the neighborhood is darker than usual. You mean to tell me people aren't handing out candy here? I had never seen something like that in my life. We ended up having to hop in the car and drive around until we found an area with kids roaming it.

We find a spot, get the kids out, and let them collect as much as they can. It wasn't their best haul. The disappointment was enough to kill us.

After the evening had passed, I talked to a few people about the lack of trick-or-treating here. Come to find out, only a few neighborhoods ACTUALLY do it up right. If you aren't in those neighborhoods, you aren't getting candy.

Can we form some kind of initiative to where ALL neighborhoods go back to participating? I personally enjoyed sitting at home, whether inside or outside, handing out candy to the kids. It's also pointless for me right now to be the only one on my block doing it.

Let's get back to the days of it being something where the entire neighborhood gathers, plays music, has the lights going...and the candy flowing. I don't want to have to drive somewhere just to let my gets snag some goodies.