Mini Poll: Tricks or Treats in the City?

Back when MayorSlay.com was just a little newsletter, people celebrated a single night of Halloween. Families had little parties -- maybe watched a scary movie on TV. Young children dressed up in costumes, like Wonder Woman or Richard Nixon, to go trick-or-treating. Precocious youth had riddles (see the mayor’s own list here). Adults had Tootsie Rolls and candy corn.

Today, neighborhoods throughout the City celebrate Halloween with parties that would make Lady GaGa blush. Soccer moms from St. Louis Hills line up outside Johnnie Brocks to buy animated stuffed witches and digital jack-o-lanterns. Americans spend $2 billion a year just on candy. Commercial haunted houses dot the local landscape like cobwebbed Walgreens.

And it is a measure of something, probably not something good, that people now talk about “the Halloween season.”

Season? When did Halloween turn into a days-long, outdoor decorations kind of celebration? Christmas is a season. Sukkoth is a season. Kurban Bayrami is a season. Heck, SuperBowl Week is a season. Not Halloween, surely.

But, as usual, you are the real arbiters of the region’s best behavior. So, MayorSlay.com has a few questions for all you Mummies and Deadies.

What are your plans for Halloween? Stay at home and pass out candy Escort the kids (or grandkids/nieces/godchildren) for trick-or-treating Attend a Halloween party Turn out the lights and pretend not to be at home Last minute canvass for the candidate/issue of my choice No plans

If you were dressing up for Halloween, what style costume would (or will!) you wear? Something traditional, like a pirate or a cat Something trendy, like an Avatar or Twilight costume Something imaginative, like the Red Water Tower or an iPad Something tasty, like a chicken leg or a grilled cheese sandwich Something already in my closet, like a bridesmaid dress or sports gear Something anti-social, like a mascot costume with a big fur head Something complicated, like a two-person horse

How many trick-or-treaters do you expect at your door this Halloween? Fewer than 10 11-25 26-50 More than 50

If you have kids, on what night will your kids do most of their trick-or-treating? Wednesday The prior Friday The prior Saturday The prior Sunday The following Saturday No trick-or-treating for my kids No kids/No kids of the right age

Will you go to a haunted house this year? Yes No No, not unless you mean City Hall

Do you support the St. Louis tradition that trick-or-treaters should arrive with a Halloween joke or riddle? Yes No No, but: "What happens with a ghost who gets lost in the fog? He is mist."

At what age does trick-or-treating become "unseemly begging in a sheet"? 10 12 15 20 31 Never too old to trick-or-treat

Should lessons about Halloween be part of the curriculum at public schools? Yes No No, and fire the guy who wrote that question

Which of the following is the scariest movie? Psycho (1960) Night of the Living Dead (1968) The Exorcist (1973) Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) Halloween (1978) Alien (1979) The Shining (1980) A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) Paranormal Activity (2007) Cloverfield (2008) Zombieland (2009)

If St. Louis dressed up for Halloween, what character would we be? Chicago. We already have neighborhoods to wear Cincinnati. We already have the red team uniforms and the whole northern industrial river thing Paris. We already have plenty of fleur de lis and Frenchy street names New Orleans. We already have plenty of Mardi Gras beads Sarajevo. We already have plenty of cevapi and burek Kansas City. Oops, too scary!!

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Mini Poll: Tricks or Treats in the City?

What are your plans for Halloween?

Stay at home and pass out candy Escort the kids (or grandkids/nieces/godchildren) for trick-or-treating Attend a Halloween party Turn out the lights and pretend not to be at home Last minute canvass for the candidate/issue of my choice No plans

If you were dressing up for Halloween, what style costume would (or will!) you wear?

How many trick-or-treaters do you expect at your door this Halloween?

Fewer than 10 11-25 26-50 More than 50

If you have kids, on what night will your kids do most of their trick-or-treating?

Wednesday The prior Friday The prior Saturday The prior Sunday The following Saturday No trick-or-treating for my kids No kids/No kids of the right age

Will you go to a haunted house this year?

Yes No No, not unless you mean City Hall

Do you support the St. Louis tradition that trick-or-treaters should arrive with a Halloween joke or riddle?

Yes No No, but: "What happens with a ghost who gets lost in the fog? He is mist."

At what age does trick-or-treating become "unseemly begging in a sheet"?

10 12 15 20 31 Never too old to trick-or-treat

Should lessons about Halloween be part of the curriculum at public schools?

Yes No No, and fire the guy who wrote that question

Which of the following is the scariest movie?

Psycho (1960) Night of the Living Dead (1968) The Exorcist (1973) Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) Halloween (1978) Alien (1979) The Shining (1980) A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) Paranormal Activity (2007) Cloverfield (2008) Zombieland (2009)

If St. Louis dressed up for Halloween, what character would we be?

Stay at home and pass out candy
Escort the kids (or grandkids/nieces/godchildren) for trick-or-treating
Attend a Halloween party
Turn out the lights and pretend not to be at home
Last minute canvass for the candidate/issue of my choice
No plans

Fewer than 10
11-25
26-50
More than 50

Wednesday
The prior Friday
The prior Saturday
The prior Sunday
The following Saturday
No trick-or-treating for my kids
No kids/No kids of the right age

Yes
No
No, not unless you mean City Hall

Yes
No
No, but: "What happens with a ghost who gets lost in the fog? He is mist."

10
12
15
20
31
Never too old to trick-or-treat

Yes
No
No, and fire the guy who wrote that question

Psycho (1960)
Night of the Living Dead (1968)
The Exorcist (1973)
Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
Halloween (1978)
Alien (1979)
The Shining (1980)
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
Paranormal Activity (2007)
Cloverfield (2008)
Zombieland (2009)