On the Halloween evening on 31st October, I went for a walk to see how people are going to celebrate the day after the super storm Sandy. It seemed the storm could not stop neighbors in Jackson Heights from putting their Halloween masks on faces. Kids were overflowing streets in their various and colorful Halloween costumes, such as batmans, supermans, wizards, gorillas, skeleton, princess, fairies and many more. They were knocking door to door, store to store for Halloween candies with buckets in hands. Not only kids were happily chosen to become mythical characters as Halloween theme, but also parents were equally dressed up for the Halloween besides their children.
Watching the Halloween crowd on streets, no one can imagine that two days ago the same streets were completely empty during the storm. People were stayed homes all day, glued their eyes on news channels, and tried to contact with family and friends to find out how they were doing? There were only few groceries and restaurants were opened on 74th and 75th Streets. The streets were like a dead zone.
After spent two days at home without doing any outside activities, people from all ages enjoyed their time outside on the Halloween day, and went back home with lots of Halloween candies.
My neighborhood in NYC put a lot of effort into seeing that kids still celebrated Halloween, despite the post-hurricane conditions. I think it was a way for everyone in the community to raise their spirits during a particularly dismal time. Back in my home state of New Jersey, towns “rescheduled” Halloween for the following week. Gov. Christie even mandated a rescheduled Halloween across the state. Given the overwhelming responsibility that fell on his shoulders during and after the Hurricane, it’s uplifting to see that he took a second to focus on New Jersey’s children and secure such an exciting holiday for them.
My neighborhood didn’t have many trick or treaters during Halloween, but I think it’s amazing that yours did. It’s a day for the children and the fact they were probably scared by the storm and stuck at home for days, it was only right for them to enjoy Halloween. I agree with Lisa, I think it is amazing that Governor Christie rescheduled Halloween, especially in NJ. Luckily some parts of NYC didn’t get so badly so they had the option of celebrating Halloween, nonetheless, most parts in NJ didn’t have that option. Having Halloween on a different day gave the children, and their parents, something happy to look forward to in the middle of all the commotion Sandy left behind.