Halloween is a Great Opportunity to Connect with Neighbors

My family moved to Wayzata over six years ago from Connecticut and when we rolled into town in August we did not know a soul. After moving into my home in Highcroft I quickly learned Wayzata was a very welcoming community.

Right away, I was invited into a neighborhood play group. Those weekly get togethers allowed the kids to relax and the moms to connect. I left every week with a list of to-do's on which activities to enroll the kids and which to avoid, which contractors to call and which doctors to checkout.

The neighborhood ladies book club was no different. Right away I was welcomed into a community of women who gathered monthly to read, discuss and generally support one another. The age range is wide and the discussions are colorful!

Our first Halloween was eye opening, as well. Having just moved in three months before, no one would expect to have such a fun-filled, friend-filled experience. But we did! As we circled the neighborhood, I was stunned to already know as many neighbors as I did from the play group and book club. I was introducing my husband at almost every home we visited.

As we wrapped up trick-or-treating, we ended at an outdoor neighborhood party offering cotton candy, beverages and room for the kids to run off all that sugar they had just consumed. The parents gathered around a big bonfire, and we all stayed late into the evening. My husband and I can say that 75 percent of our friends six years later were somehow tied to that original Halloween bonfire.

The neighborhood tradition continues and rain or snow we save some portion of Halloween evening for getting together with neighbors. The cotton candy house has changed hands but the tradition continues. We go out trick-or-treating in a large group that resembles locusts swarming a farmer's field. After we pass, there is little candy left in any dish!

Now that Halloween falls on a school night we've had to change the festivites to "Halloween Lite." Bed time may be a bit earlier, but we are all still looking forward to spending one of the last fall evenings outdoors with friends and neighbors.We usually end the evening at our house with a bonfire, roasting marshmellows and relaxing. The evenings conversations run the gammit of crime fighting, local elections, real estate happenings and introducing new faces. 

I hope some of my new neighbors (and we have many this year) will find tonight as comforting and welcoming as my family did six years ago.