Sherbrooke, Que., backs down on proposal to shift Halloween to Saturdays

Halloween will fall on Oct. 31 this year in Sherbrooke after all. The city council debated the idea of changing the spooky celebration to Saturdays when it falls on a weekday but ultimately decided against it in a meeting Tuesday night.

City councillor Marc Denaultraised the contentiousissue after hearing from some concerned parents.

"A citizen asked me about it," he said. "I think it's more interesting for young families to be able to do it on [a Saturday] than after school."

Finding volunteers to ensure the safety of young trick-or-treaters might also have been easier with Halloween on theweekend, he added.

Denault said it was important to make sure that "such a change would [create] more satisfaction than create dissatisfaction."

Cue the dissatisfaction

Coun. Laure Letarte-Lavoie used her Facebook page to ask residents for their opinion after a school principal contacted her to ask if the city council could evaluate changing the date to simplify life forparents and the school.

About 30 people answered her and most of them told her they wanted to keep Halloween on Oct. 31.

"It's like Christmas. Those are special days," Letarte-Lavoie said. "At school, at daycare, there are activities that are planned. It breaks up the routine."

In practicalterms, even if trick-or-treating were to happen on Saturdays, it doesn't mean there wouldn't be any activities on Oct. 31, she said.

"For parents, it's twice the work. It's two days of make-up, or costumes, of organization. It wouldn't necessarily be a win for families," she said.

But for the few people who did want it moved, what stood out was their desire to simplify the organization of it all, she said.

"I also asked young people who told me that if they wanted to party, the next day they would be off."

Halloween moved in other cities

It's not the first time this controversial debate has come up in the province.

In 2019, the city of Montreal and a few other cities decided to postpone Halloween because of bad weather, although some kids defied the rain anyway.

In Rouyn-Noranda, Que., a town in the Abitibi-Tmiscamingue region, Halloween has been celebrated on Saturdays for more than a decade.

A spokesperson for the city, Julie Roy, said having it on the weekend helps with organizing security patrols.

This year, trick-or-treaters in Rouyn-Noranda will be going out on Oct.29.