Most Central Ohio communities have scheduled trick-or-treating for Thursday, Oct. 29, while a sizable group will stick with Saturday, Oct. 31—and many are ignoring a regional planning body's advice.
The Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission has long recommended moving trick-or-treating to the Thursday before Halloween when Oct. 31 falls on a weekend. It does this year. Plenty of towns aren't buying it.
The Recommendation
The commission's reasoning centers on safety and scheduling conflicts. Football games, community events and heavier weekend traffic put more drivers on the road. On a weeknight, the thinking goes, kids and cars stay apart. That's a sensible case on its face. But it's a recommendation, not a mandate, and Central Ohio's local governments are treating it that way.
That's how it should work. Each community knows its own streets, traffic and calendar better than a regional commission does. The result is a patchwork: many communities aren't following the suggested date this year.
Who's Going When
The Thursday camp is larger. On Oct. 29, trick-or-treating is scheduled in Bexley, 5:30-7 p.m.; Blendon Township, 6-8 p.m.; Canal Winchester, 5:30-7:30 p.m.; Circleville, 6-8 p.m.; Chillicothe, 6-7:30 p.m.; and Columbus, 6-8 p.m. Dublin, Gahanna and Grove City each run 6-8 p.m., while Groveport, Heath and Hebron run 5:30-7 p.m.
Hilliard goes 6-8 p.m. Johnstown and Lancaster both run 6-7:30 p.m. London and New Albany go 6-8 p.m., and Newark runs 5:30-7 p.m. Obetz, Perry Township, Pickerington, Prairie Township, Reynoldsburg and Upper Arlington are all set for 6-8 p.m. Washington Court House and Westerville are, too. West Jefferson runs 5:30-7:30 p.m., and Whitehall goes 6-8 p.m.
The Saturday holdouts are fewer, but firm. On Oct. 31, Bellefontaine runs 6-7:30 p.m.; Delaware and Galena go 6-8 p.m.; Gambier runs 5:30-7 p.m.; and Genoa Township goes 6-8 p.m. Marion is set for 5:30-7:30 p.m., Marysville for 6-8 p.m., and Mount Vernon for 5:30-7 p.m. Orange Township, Pataskala, Powell and Worthington all run 6-8 p.m. Plain City starts earliest, at 5-7 p.m.
What Families Should Know
The practical upshot is simple, if a bit annoying. Hours differ from town to town, and so do dates. A family living in one community and visiting relatives in another could easily land on the wrong side of the calendar. Parents will want to check their own municipality's listing before sending kids out the door.
Start times cluster around 5:30 or 6 p.m., and most windows last about two hours, though several run a tighter 90 minutes. Plain City's 5-7 p.m. slot is the earliest on either list.
The split also shows something healthy about local self-government. No single authority dictated the date. Councils and townships weighed the same safety concerns, looked at their own circumstances and landed in different places. Neighbors may disagree, but the decision stays close to the people it affects.
Why This Matters:
On its surface, this is a scheduling story. Underneath, it's a small lesson in how decisions get made. A regional commission offered expert advice grounded in safety, and elected local officials could take it or leave it. Most larger communities took it; a good number of others didn't. Nobody compelled them, and no new rule was layered on residents. For families, the cost is minor confusion, easily solved by checking a local schedule. For the larger question of who decides, the answer stays where many conservatives think it belongs: with the community itself. The safety concerns the planning commission raised are real, and parents in Saturday towns will want to weigh the extra traffic and event conflicts themselves rather than assume someone else has handled it.