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 How old is too old to trick-or-treat? And what time should
Halloween festivities begin and end?
Growing up in central Illinois and the western suburbs of Chicago, kids aged out
of going door-to-door somewhere around eighth grade. If you threw a few pumpkins
or eggs, you’d likely get caught and sent home.
But the laws on the books can be much more frightening than that.
A story on rules governing trick-or-treating in Roanoke, Virginia, went viral
earlier this month. In Roanoke, kids over the age of 12 who go trick-or-treating
are technically guilty of a misdemeanor, which is punishable by up to six months
in jail.
Scraping through a few hundred municipal codes in Illinois didn’t turn up any
trick-or-treat ordinances allowing for jail time. But fines associated with age
limits, curfews, masks and more were aplenty.
Belleville appears to be home to the strictest such laws in the state. In the
Metro East city, it’s illegal to trick-or-treat beyond the eighth grade.
Violation of that rule is punishable by a fine of up to $1,000. That’s a lot to
pay for a little candy.
And that’s not all. If you’re a Belleville resident over the age of 12 and would
like to wear a mask in public on any day other than Halloween, you need to
secure permission from the mayor or the chief of police. Without approval from
one of the head pumpkins, you’re as guilty as the criminal high-school freshmen
asking neighbors for a Payday candy bar.
Forsyth, outside Decatur, has one of the most unique and harsh restrictions in
the state. Those trick-or-treating in the Macon County village should beware:
Police can slap you with a fine of up to $750 if you “approach” a house that
doesn’t have its porch light on.
Halloween-specific curfews enshrined in law pop up all over the state: From
Chicago suburbs such as Orland Park (7 p.m., and a maximum $200 fine for a
violation) and Palos Heights (7 p.m., $200 maximum); to central Illinois’
Oakwood (8:30 p.m., $500 maximum); to southern Illinois’ Maryville (9 p.m., $750
maximum).
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Though it’s recently changed its tune, perhaps no
area of Illinois was more of a Halloween hawk than Carbondale. The
college town was home to infamous Halloween mischief for years,
which in 2000 resulted in thousands of dollars worth of property
damage. Officials said enough was enough and did everything they
could to curb the mayhem – shutting down bars, sending students home
for a few days and more – until just a few years ago. Later this
month will be the first time in nearly two decades that Carbondale
puts on a Halloween festival.
Nowhere else in the state comes close to what
Carbondale was dealing with. It’s an extreme outlier.
The common response from local officials when confronted with
Halloween laws that seem too harsh is 1) they were written long ago,
and 2) they aren’t enforced. To the first point, leaders passed
Belleville’s restrictions in 2008. The porch light rule in Forsyth
flipped on in 2009. To the second point, laws aren’t enforced until
they are. If they’re useless, eliminate them.
The simple truth is that Illinois has a problem with overregulating
fun.
We’re one of the only states left in the nation to ban most consumer
fireworks. State lawmakers earlier this year attempted to ban tackle
football for kids under age 12. And both the Illinois House of
Representatives and Senate passed a bill in the middle of the budget
impasse last year to enact a litany of new laws on trampoline
courts.
Thankfully, many communities don’t turn to special ordinances to
enforce Halloween decorum. Officials instead issue safety tips,
which can include recommended hours, costumes and more.
Village trustees in Carpentersville took a hands-off approach back
in 2000 and left the holiday to parental discretion.
Trustee Judy Sigwalt was strongly opposed to the regulations. “I
personally think safety precautions are a good thing, but whether
they’re all going to abide by them or not comes from the individual
parent; that comes from the home,” she told the Chicago Tribune at
the time.
Sigwalt was on the right path. There are plenty of local rules
already on the books to prevent harassment, loitering, soliciting,
destruction of property and more.
Special spells to ward off trick-or-treating are overkill.
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