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Wrightwood’s Halloween, more story fodder…

Elizabeth, Bobbi and Scott Holmes

Writers often insert bits from their own life into their works of fiction.

The first book of fiction I ever published was Lessons. It was released under my pen name, Anna J. McIntyre and later was retitled, Coulson’s Lessons, and became book three in the Coulson Family Saga—a series with five books.

In Lessons, the main character, Alexandra, becomes involved with the local chamber of commerce, and then she gets involved with the community’s annual Halloween trick or treat, where local children trick or treat at the local business, instead of going from house to house.

Alexandra’s Coulson Halloween came from my own personal experience. I was actually the one who instigated the program for the village of Wrightwood, California, about thirty years ago. From what I understand, it’s still a thing in Wrightwood.

Back then, I was publishing a community paper called, Mountain Hi-Desert Guide, and I became active in the local chamber of commerce. Our kids were in elementary school at the time.

One Halloween, after the new mall in Victorville, California, opened, they advertised for the community to bring their children to the mall to trick or treat.

Back then, it seemed the entire village of Wrightwood descended on one neighborhood to do its trick or treating, the Apple Orchard area.  Since many of the cabins in the other neighborhoods were not occupied by full time residents, Wrightwood wasn’t the best place to take kids for trick or treating. And I always felt sorry for those living in the Apple Orchard, who were slammed each Halloween with swarms of village kids.

My husband Don and I decided to take our kids to Victorville that year, instead of staying in Wrightwood. While the mall had a good idea, it seemed every business was handing out the same cheap candy. Part of the fun for the kids is to sort through their haul. Having a bag full of the same candy rather spoiled that.

While the mall sort of missed the mark, it gave me an idea, which I brought to the Wrightwood Chamber of Commerce the next year. Why don’t we sponsor a local trick and treat for community kids, where they come to the village and the local shops. It will be our gift to the community.

The chamber bought the idea, and I ran with it. However, there were two things I insisted on back then.

  1. No Advertising in the local newspaper. I knew that if we advertised or even ran an article on the upcoming event, we’d have kids swarming up from the surrounding desert communities and overwhelm us. The original intent was to host an event for our local community.

Instead of newspaper advertising, I ordered imprinted trick or treat bags, which I distributed to the local elementary school. Every child in the school took home a trick or treat bag—and on that bag was information about the  upcoming Hallween event.

  1. The second thing I insisted on, I wanted variety on what was given away.

The Chamber provided candy to its members to pass out on Halloween. Instead of going to Victorville to purchase candy at some discount store, I purchased the candy locally, and made sure we had a variety.

As it turned out, the local grocery store ended up donating bags and bags of candy for us to distribute, so it actually cost us less than had we gone off the hill to make our purchase.

It’s been almost thirty years since that first Wrightwood Village trick or treat. From what I understand, it continues today, yet the word has gotten out, and it’s no longer confined to just the village kids.

Where I live now, in Lake Havasu City, we have a similar event. Every Halloween main street swarms with trick or treaters. We’ve lived in our house for over a decade, and I can’t remember getting a single trick or treater on Halloween night.

(Photo: That’s me and my two children, Scott and Elizabeth. Halloween, 1990, on the front porch of the Mountain/Hi-Desert Guide office, Wrightwood, California.)