Will you see a ghost tonight? How about a princess, or perhaps Donald Trump?
Halloween is a major tradition in the United States and one that many Americans name among their favorite holidays. Although Portland-Vancouver is not listed among “America’s Top 20 Cities for Halloween” by the personal finance website WalletHub, that company and the U.S. Census Bureau have unearthed some interesting facts about our favorite creepy holiday:
• $8.38 billion — the projected spending on Halloween this year. That includes $3.14 billion spent on costumes and another $547.9 million spent on candy. Halloween is the fourth biggest candy-selling holiday. Haunted attractions will rake in an estimated $300 million in ticket sales.
• 41.1 million — the number of trick-or-treaters ages 5 to 14 who will solicit candy tonight. Warning: if you live in one of Clark County’s nicer, newer neighborhoods, they are all coming to your house.
• 78.7 percent — the number of U.S. households that agreed their neighbors could be trusted, according to the 2013 American Housing Survey. Still, be sure to examine your children’s treats before the eat them, and don’t keep anything homemade from a source you don’t know.
• 37,128 — The number of people employed by U.S. manufacturers of chocolate and cocoa products. Another 17,185 work in candy factories that don’t make chocolate. And they say Americans have an obesity problem!
• 40,900 — acres of pumpkins harvested in the United States in 2015. The crop had a total value of $90.2 million. Illinois is the top pumpkin-producer. (Washington is not a top pumpkin state. We grow apples. Lots and lots of apples.)
Halloween has been celebrated for centuries. According to The History Channel’s History.com website, it is thought to have originated with an ancient Celtic festival, Samhain, where people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off roaming ghosts. In the eighth century, Pope Gregory III designated Nov. 1 as All Saint’s Day; the evening before soon became All Hallow’s Eve and, eventually, Halloween.
In what became the United States, Halloween wasn’t much of a holiday in Puritan New England, but was more commonly celebrated in Maryland and the South. By the second half of the 19th century, Americans began to dress up in costume and go house to house asking for food or money. According to History.com, some young women used tricks with yarn, apple parings or mirrors to try to envision the name or countenance of their future husbands.
By the time the baby boomers were old enough to grasp an orange plastic jack-o’-lantern, today’s Halloween traditions were set. Children will be out in force by dusk tonight, so watch carefully for small spooks if you’re driving after dark.
Oh, and America’s top city for Halloween, according to WalletHub’s survey? It’s Santa Ana, Calif. Though a city with a name of Santa should be a top place for Christmas, the Los Angeles suburb fits the metrics, including the number of candy stores per capita, reasonable cost of a Halloween party ticket (Disneyland is in Anaheim, not Santa Ana), and a favorable weather forecast for trick-or-treating.
Whatever you do tonight, even if it is just staying home to watch “Dancing with the Stars,” we wish you a spook-tacular Halloween. Finally, don’t be among the 72 percent of parents who admit to stealing Halloween candy from their kids.
