Every year for Halloween, Wallingford transforms into a hotspot for trick-or-treating and other halloween activities. The festivities, which include the Goblin Gathering and the Happy Halloween Happenings, attract thousands of participants from all around New England.
As Wallingford Resident Nathan Rogers ’23 put it, “Halloween culture in Wallingford is really unique in that, for the most part, instead of trick-or-treating locally in their own neighborhood almost all Wallingford kids and their families go trick-or-treating on one street: North Main Street, where I live.”
North Main Street residents and former Choate HPRSS teacher Ms. Emily Brenner and her husband Mr. Dean Brenner are a staple of the North Main Halloween tradition. Ms. Brenner speculated that North Main Street has become a trick-or-treating hotspot for two main reasons. Firstly, amidst 2011 Winter Storm, Nemo, when most other residential neighborhoods weren’t available for festivities, North Main Street remained open. “A lot of Halloween celebrations in other towns were canceled, but not in Wallingford,” she said. “Once they discovered it was so much fun, they started coming here.”
The Brenners have grown accustomed to welcoming large crowds to their doorstep every Halloween. After a consistent large turnout each Halloween, Mr. Brenner, a baseball fan, began a tradition of counting how many guests they welcomed. “[Mr. Brenner] bought a pitch counter and he was like, ‘I’m just gonna count the kids. Punch it every time a kid comes up to the porch,’” said Mrs. Brenner. Over the last decade, their highest count has been 1,850 kids in one night.
The popularity of the neighborhood is also credited to the extravagant decorations employed by many residents of North Main. “A lot of the neighbors have become locally sort of famous for very intricate and elaborate Halloween displays,” Ms. Brenner remarked. This year in particular, Vince Proto’s “Circus of Souls” has been a popular attraction for trick-or-treaters and passersby alike. Proto, a Wallingford resident, filled his yard with pumpkins and skeletons and boasted a miniature roller coaster with a cart full of carnival games.
Mr. William Wright, Choate’s Director of Operations and former Wallingford Chief of Police, credited the Brenners with bringing up the issue of safety during the Halloween festivities. Back in 2015, in preparation for the high volume of trick-or-treaters, Mr. Brenner requested that the town close down the popular trick-or-treating roads. “It was just so many people that we had to do something,” agreed Mr. Wright. “Knowing it was a safety issue, it didn’t take much to convince me.”
Another one of Wallingford’s signature traditions is the Goblin Gathering, sponsored by the Wallingford Public Celebrations Committee and the Wallingford Parks and Recreation Department. This year, the event took place on Friday, October 22, near the Wallingford Town Hall. It included a costume parade, a Haunted Haystack Egg Hunt, a variety of Halloween-themed games, and music.
Director of Student Activities Ms. Alex Long and her family are avid participants of this event. She said, “I like that it’s an opportunity for the kids who might not go trick-or-treating together to get together and wear their costumes. They can wear their Halloween costumes and listen to music and dance. It’s great to be able to just hang out as a town.”
