With COVID-19 safety precautions in mind, many Kingston residents went out of their way to keep the Halloween spirit alive this year.
As a yearly tradition, Philip Maclean and his family spent eight to 10 hours transforming their front lawn for Halloween.
“We still want to participate, but it’s got to be a little different this year,” says Maclean.
The Macleans are switching things up to ensure everyone that stops by for candy is safe.
“We are going to set up some to chutes drop the candy down in the driveway rather than having them come up to the front door,” Maclean said.
Using chutes is the new Halloween must-have in 2020, he added.
“Hopefully it makes the kids want to come and keeps the parents happy and everybody can be safe with it.”
Since Kingston isn’t one of the current hot spots for the novel coronavirus in Ontario, Kingston Frontenac Lennox and Addington Public Health has given the green light for people to go door-to-door — cautiously.
KFL&A Public Health is advising those giving the candy and those receiving it should wear proper masks, remain six feet apart and use hand sanitizer.
“We feel very comfortable in KFLA that there’s limited community spread, and as a result of that, I think our community should benefit from the opportunity for trick-or-treating on Halloween,” Dr. Kieran Moore, medical officer of health, said in a press briefing last week.
Evan Sharma, who decorates his house with a different theme every year, said he’s “really not sure what to expect.”
“In previous years, we’ve had up to probably 200 people.”
This year, safety is top of mind, Sharma added.
“We’re going to try and keep visitors coming one at a time and we are going to lay everything out individually so people don’t have to touch everything. We are trying to take all precautions really.”
Maclean said hopefully this year’s Halloween will be a one-off.
“I just hope we can go back to normal this time next year,” he added.
With files from Global News’ Alex Mazur