Lower Saucon Council Approves 2018 Trick-or-Treat Date, Time

Lower Saucon Township Council Wednesday approved a 2018 Trick-or-Treat date and time that will coincide with Hellertown’s, but not before several council members questioned the borough’s choice of time, the need to follow the borough’s lead and what one council member said is a lack of dialogue between the municipalities about the beloved Halloween event.

Councilwoman Priscilla deLeon said she was “a little disappointed” that borough representatives to the Saucon Valley Partnership–a local council of governments–did not discuss their 2018 scheduling ideas with other partnership members before deciding that Trick-or-Treat will be held Sunday, Oct. 28 from 3 to 5 p.m.

“We’re supposed to be a community,” deLeon said.

The borough has chosen a different day and/or time for Trick-or-Treat annually for roughly the past five years, although this year the public was invited by Mayor David Heintzelman to participate in the discussion about when it should be held. That invitation drew little input at a borough council meeting last month when council voted to hold it on a Sunday afternoon.

One Lower Saucon Township councilman questioned why it couldn’t instead be held on Oct. 31.

“I sort of have a natural inclination to have it on Halloween,” Ryan Stauffer commented at Wednesday’s meeting.

And council president Sandra Yerger opined that it might be fun to have Trick-or-Treat at a later time, when darkening skies help lend an air of spookiness as costumed kids go from house to house collecting candy.

Yerger, however, said she understands that the earlier time is probably more appropriate for the many small children who will be participating.

“I feel that Sunday the 28th from 3 to 5 is a wonderful time to have Trick-or-Treat,” said councilwoman Donna Louder, who went on to suggest that the township consider setting its Trick-or-Treat schedule “in stone.”

Throwing down the proverbial gauntlet–even if it is made of candy corn–by mandating permanence could mean that the borough’s Trick-or-Treat won’t align with Lower Saucon’s in the future, deLeon cautioned.

Louder said that in that case, the borough could follow the township’s lead, which is what the township has been doing with Trick-or-Treat for years.

Township manager Leslie Huhn recommended bringing the subject up at the next Saucon Valley Partnership meeting, and deLeon said it would be.