Ghouls, goblins, ghostbusters return en masse to the streets of Montreal

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Last year, Halloween faced a global pandemic.

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The previous year, windstorm warnings prompted the mayor to ask for a postponement.

On Sunday night, beasts and beauties of all stripes, freed from the constraints of real-life horrors, flooded the city streets once again to revel in the glory of free candy, despite constant rain. .

For parents who herded their fairies and Batmen while reminding them to “say thank you” to the candy dispensers, this year’s Halloween brought hope that the worst is over.

“It feels good to be able to kick-start some normal family activity and tradition,” said Pam Montgomery, with her two-year-old son Teddy, a green dinosaur in a blue plastic car driving along Strathearn Ave. in Montreal West. “We feel lucky if we can participate in things almost normally, even if it is in the rain.”

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Montgomery and her husband, Mike, said they were a bit in awe of the extent to which some of their neighbors had decorated their homes, with skeletons, elephant-sized spider webs and explosive ghosts swinging on the lawns and roads. input. He had a feeling the décor had been stepped up a bit to make up for the interruptions of years past.

“It’s better for sure, although last year was pretty amazing with everyone doing the candy slides,” said Amanda Mendelsohn, who was accompanying skeleton son Max, five, and tiger’s daughter, Zoey, two-and-a-half.

“It is a nice feeling to feel that we are arriving, returning to normality. The rain is uccch, but this is for the kids. And the kids don’t seem to care. “

Dave Cervantes, whose home won Best Halloween Decorations in Montreal West last year, said 2020 involved much more thought about how to distribute candy remotely, which in his case included clotheslines and tubes.

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“It was a bit too much,” he said.

Despite the restrictions, it gave away nearly 700 chocolates and candies last year.

This year he was content to place Snickers bars on the edge of his balcony, a Grim Reaper with a scythe dispensing sugar.

“There is a different level of comfort, but we try to give the kids ample space and help themselves,” he said as Peanut Butter walked up the stairs, followed by his friend Jam.

Cervantes has no choice but to take the holidays seriously: he met his wife at a Halloween party. She was a flapper dancer, he a devil.

“I think people push themselves too hard at Christmas and Thanksgiving. This is the one that gives you all the fun, without anxiety. “

Halloween has had a rough patch in recent years. Last year, he wasn’t sure if children would be allowed outside because Quebec had an average of 1,000 COVID-19 cases a day and there was no vaccine yet.

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It was not until October 15 that Prime Minister François Legault gave his go-ahead, but with conditions: no tricks or treats with friends, and the sweets were supposed to be distributed at a distance of two meters. This led to all sorts of inventive innovations in candy dispensing, including candy slides and dispensing candy with the use of a long stick. In Canadian tradition, many were delivered via hockey stick.

Halloween parties for adults were banned. This year they were allowed, albeit with a limit of 10 people.

The previous year, spooked by forecasts of strong winds and torrential rains, Valérie Plante and other Quebec city mayors tried to change Halloween a day later instead of risking the little goblins flying away like soggy tumbleweeds.

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However, it turned out that high winds in Montreal were only expected the day after Halloween, so many ignored the mayor’s directives and sent their children into the rain anyway. The postponement sparked an online backlash, dubbed “#halloweengate,” where commentators accused the city of being overly security conscious or simply not reading weather forecasts. In the spirit of the holiday, Plante tweeted: “Let’s just say #halloweengate is a classic case of damn if you do, damn if you don’t.”

On Sunday, the condemned and the princesses regained their streets. Among them was 11-year-old Jason Gauthier, who was accompanying his three young sisters and his mother, his body illuminated by Glo-Stick lights. What is the best part of all this? They asked him.

“Candy,” he replied.

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