Shadyside plans to go from Halloween to Hallmark
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SHADYSIDE - The village of Shadyside will now have trick-or-treat on Halloween, Oct. 31, from 6 to 7:30 p.m.
During village council's meeting Monday evening, council member Melanie Haswell addressed a motion that was passed during council's previous meeting.
At the past meeting, Haswell made a motion that was passed that trick-or-treat would be Oct. 29 from 6 to 7:30 p.m.
The decision garnered a negative reaction on social media due to Shadyside High School having parent-teacher conferences.
"I had no idea that parent-teacher conferences were on that night. I did make that motion, so I apologize. Me being a teacher for many years, I of course don’t want to have it on the night of parent-teacher conferences, and I know it caused a little bit of a scuffle. But I do believe that we all kind of said that to have it on Halloween night," Haswell said.
Mayor Mike Meintel added that several of the social media comments suggested that the village has an ordinance declaring trick-or-treat to always be on Halloween, which is not true.
"I don’t believe that we should put it on one specific date because, for example, next year Sunday would be Halloween, and you might get a lot of blowback from the churches and different things like that, or if it ends up on a sporting event," Meintel said. "I think we’re just going to keep it the same way that we do now where we decide every year."
Meintel then announced that residents Macy Coffland and Natalie O'Donnell will be spearheading an Oktober Festival on Oct. 17 in the village's historic loop.
Haswell then announced that the village will be hosting its first Winter Festival on Dec. 19.
She said that the goal of the festival is to make the village look like a Hallmark movie.
The festival will include food trucks, holiday pie contests, craft vendors, stroller and buggy decorating contests, a holiday dog contest and Santa's final appearance in the village before he returns to the North Pole to prepare for Christmas.
In addition to the festivities, the Winter Festival will also host the inaugural 5K race, a toddler’s race and a 12-years-old-and-under race that will be one time around the loop.
Signups for the races will be at 4 p.m., and the 5K race will begin at 5:30 p.m.
Haswell said that she has also contacted All Year Sports Galaxy about providing its synthetic ice rink for the festival.
She added that the village has been organizing events such as the America 250 festival and the Winter Festival because it's trying to build a sense of camaraderie in the village.
"We're trying to build camaraderie not only in our community but existing communities on both sides of the river to bring them into Shadyside," Haswell said. "We live in a wonderful, nice little Hallmark town. So we welcome anybody to come over. That’s why we’re having more and more of these festivals."
She added that the village is trying to host as many events as possible to attract more people to Shadyside.
Keeping in the holiday spirit, Haswell also announced the 35th annual Sharing Tree will be starting a month early.
Haswell's mother, Bette Anne Ponzo, started the Sharing Tree as a way to provide Christmas gifts for children in the Shadyside School District whose parents weren’t able to afford gifts for them.
Haswell has since taken over her mother's initiative after her mother died as a way to continue her legacy.
Each year, Haswell passes letters out to all elementary and middle school kids. For the high school students, she contacts the teachers because she’s noticed that high school students tend to not pass those letters along to their parents.
This year, the flyers will be going out in October to allow her more time to shop for the children.