Colorado may be snowy this time of year, but that doesn't exclude wearing the coolest of costumes or enjoying a massive amount of candy. Below are 10 reasons why I love Halloween in Colorado.
10. The recognition garnered from friends and strangers when you boldly wear a costume out on the town that would be better suited to a summer day. What, below 20 temps are the norm on Oct. 31 in our state? Pff. I'll still be a mermaid. A lack of cover-up might encourage the first stages of hypothermia, but just think of all the high fives you’re going to get!
9. TV dinner anyone? Living in the land of Mountain Time means that TBS airs Hocus Pocus at the best possible time almost every evening.
8. A white Halloween means that the snow outside keeps your party’s spooky beverages chilled. When I had friends from California visiting one All Hallow’s Eve a few years ago, they looked on in quiet appreciation as I packed our white wine bottles and beer cases next to the front deck in a mound of fresh snow.
7. This year marks the sixth annual Zombie Crawl in Denver. Over 7,000 participants attend in their best undead attire to roam the streets together in search of brains. Food Bank of the Rockies recently linked up with the event to gather non-perishable food for the hungry. I’m struggling to think of anything more hip than dressing like a zombie for a good cause.
6. Those dang teenagers! If you’re young and rebellious, it’s pretty much a rite of passage to smash pumpkins in the street. I’m not endorsing this but if the local hoodlums do smash your beautiful, hand-carved jack-o-lanterns in the street, at least breezy Colorado temperatures keep the mess from smelling awful the next morning.
5. Seasons! As a Colorado native, I didn’t realize how much I had taken autumn for granted until I spent a year in Hawaii for school. As it turns out, the fronds of palm trees never turn orange. I was a homesick freshman when I wrote my parents about how much I was missing piles of crunchy, fall leaves. My awesome mother replied by mailing a refrigerator sized box full of golden and orange aspen leaves to my dorm on the Big Island. I promptly poured it out on the quad and made leaf angels while my Hawaiian friends stood around, utterly confused by my glee.
4. A Halloween hay ride is 110 percent more authentic in our state.
3. A fog machine pouring spooky spirits from a porch in Colorado is far more convincing (not to mention dense) in the chilly mountain air than anywhere else.
2. Five pure and promising words: Day-after discounted bulk candy.
1. Tomorrow is November! Tear away more links from your paper chains counting down to opening days for Keystone, Breckenridge, Beaver Creek, and Vail. It won’t be long until you’re burning off those (vampire bitten) Reeses peanut butter cups and handfuls of candy corn with the blissful, long awaited first turns of the 2011-2012 season.
Happy Halloween!
-- Clare Tischer