In the small town of Schuylkill Haven, residents get creative to give out candy
Writing and photos by Wes Cipolla
Alicia Klinger, Destiny Silfies and Taylor Haysock go Trick-or-Treating in Schuylkill Haven.
Originally published in the Pottsville Republican-Herald on November 1, 2020
SCHUYLKILL HAVEN — On Halloween night, Jody Cooper can’t even get through her own front door. She’s covered her entire front porch with skulls, zombies and monstrous babies. Every year, she has a different theme — for Halloween 2020, it’s monster babies. A lot has changed since Halloween 2019, when Cooper decorated her home with pumpkins and corn. But a lot hasn’t.
“I was gonna hand out candy no matter what,” Cooper said.
The candy still flowed and hundreds of children and their families dotted the streets of Schuylkill Haven on Saturday night for a good old-fashioned Halloweening, pandemic style.
Jody Cooper in front of her Schuylkill Haven home.
“You gotta make sure you stay away from people,” said Caitlyn Neiswender, who made a light-up ghost costume for her 3-year-old daughter, Lilly. “It’s not the ‘hi, hello, how are you doing’ sort of thing.”
Caitlyn and Lilly Neiswender, and Denny Jalonski
Nevertheless, the children of Schuylkill Haven were as excited for treats as ever before, wondering what houses were giving out full-size candy bars and asking for another glow stick “for my brother.”
“It‘s different because a lot of people are scared,” said chainsaw-wielding Gavin Wade, 13. “A lot of people are staying home. I love trick-or-treating, it’s always fun to go out.”
A long, backed-up processional of trick-or-treaters shambled like zombies up Union Street. A little grim reaper and evil nun passed the Covenant United Methodist Church. Some homes left bowls of candy on their doorstep, which seems like a lot of trust to put in the hands of sugar-hungry kids. One house had a motion-sensing ghost girl who leaps out of her chair when someone grabs a piece of candy.
Others got creative. Ben Kovaleski turned some leftover gutter in his garage into a tube to slide candy down from his porch.
“I knew COVID was happening,” Kovaleski said, laughing. “I didn’t know how people were going to react, I wanted it to be safe and fun, so I decided to make this contraption.”
Laura Rhody created a candy chute themed after “101 Dalmatians,” her granddaughter’s favorite movie, complete with black and white-spotted pumpkins and a huge paper dog’s mouth.
“I based the chute on social distancing so I wouldn’t have to interact with any children except for through the chute,” she said.
“It feels normal,” said Doreen Brish as she waited for trick-or-treaters. “It feels good. I like to see everyone dressed up, the kids expressing themselves.”
The pandemic inspired 12-year-old Jackson Brennan’s costume — a medieval plague doctor.
“I don’t wanna wear a mask,” he said, “so I wore this.”
Sean Coyle, Brice Tucker and Zack Taylor, all 16, didn’t trick-or-treat, but rode around town on skateboards. Tucker, who dressed up as a hot pepper with the words “hot stuff” written on it, said it just felt like a good idea.
“With the whole COVID thing it’s been a bit spaced out,” he said. “It does feel a bit off.”
“I haven’t seen as many people out as in previous years,” said Zack, who was dressed as a banana. Coyle was dressed as a hot dog. The three skated away into the blue night.
“It’s even better than last year,” said David Staskel, one of several candy mongers dressed as a werewolf. “People want to get out because of whatever’s going on right now.”
He gave some candy to 4-year-old Hailey James.
“We still have more houses to go,” she said. “It’s so much.”
“I wanna eat this right now,” she said about her lollipop. “It’s so yummy!”