After Nature’s Trick, Will You Let Your Kids Go Door to Door?

Parents across Southington will face a “game time decision” tonight after nature threw an unexpected curveball on Halloween this year, dumping more than six inches of heavy snow that caused trees to fall across the community and left more than 13,000 in town without electricity.

When the sun goes down and most streetlights are out, are you going to let your children go door to door to participate in the annual Halloween tradition of trick-or-treating?

Garry Brumback said Sunday that it’s a decision the parents are going to have to make.

“We are not going to dictate whether people can or can’t go out, but it’s certainly not recommended,” Brumback said in a phone conversation Sunday. “If you are going to go out, make sure you do it safely and that the neighborhoods are safe to walk through.”

Across the state, it is a decision that towns are going to have to make.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said Sunday that it is not up to the state to determine whether each individual municipality is safe or not and that what applies for one town may not apply for others. He said the decision should be left up to local community leaders based on conditions.

Danbury was among one of the first town’s in the state to make a decision, asking parents to voluntarily forego the traditional house to house walk in exchange for a trick-or-treating adventure inside the Danbury Fair Mall.

Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton made the decision and announced it on his Facebook page after several residents heard rumors that the non-government holiday had been canceled.

Other communities have also contemplated the idea of “moving” Halloween this year, instead asking that town’s let the children go through the door to door tradition later in the week or on Saturday when power has been restored to many neighborhoods.

In Southington, it seems the final decision will rest on the parents.

If residents are taking their children out this evening, both Brumback and Malloy said parents should make sure they are walking alongside their children, even if they are older and don’t want them there.

“Under no circumstances should any child, of any age, be allowed to participate in Halloween events without the proper parental supervision,” Malloy said. “There are no guarantees that all neighborhoods will be safe and that all live wires have been addressed. If you are going, be safe.”

So what should Southington do?