Halloween in Michigan? Trick or Treat or Bag It Until Next Year?

I was in my local Sam's Club here in Michigan a couple of weeks ago and right as I passed the newest 400-inch TVs (I might be exaggerating) - there they were: kid's Halloween costumes and walls of Halloween candy. My first thought was, "Already?" My second thought was, "Halloween? This year? We'll see about that."

Last year in the U.S., Americans spent $8.8 billion on Halloween, that's second to only Christmas, according to a story from the L.A. Times, via the Honolulu Star Advertiser. The big theme parks on the west coast have already canceled their big Halloween celebrations and now - after we all thought things would be back to normal in the fall, people are coming to grips with the fact that we may all be at home watching "It's the Great Pumpkin" and eating bags of Reese's Pieces in the dark. That's exactly what Melissa Poole, VP of Hershey's investor relations, suggests:

If trick-or-treat tends to be a little lower than expectation, clearly, we will focus even more on the ‘treat for me’ and the candy bowl.

What do you think? Is there a way to still make it happen? Will you still take the kids out trick-or-treating? Or is this going to be the year Halloween is on Zoom and Microsoft Teams?

And yeah, college kids - dressed up as "sexy (fill in the blank)", getting together and "celebrating"? That should probably not happen this year.

It will - but it probably shouldn't.

Here's the story.