"We are inclusive," says a Morgbot leader. Inclusive, my ass! See below.

BTW, what's the point of refusing to trick or treat on Sunday but still handing out candy? Makes no sense, per usual....

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Tricky treat: Alberta town moves Halloween
Fri Oct 29, 7:07 PM
By Tim Cook, The Canadian Press


EDMONTON - Dracula, make the change on your calendar.
Frankenstein, you better update your itinerary.
Sexy nurse, your Sunday shift has been moved up.
Halloween will be happening a day early in some Alberta towns this year.

Oct. 31 falls on Sunday and, every time that happens, a handful of communities in southern Alberta approve the rescheduling of observances to Saturday the 30th.

Communities such as Raymond, Cardston and Magrath, where there are sizable Mormon populations, all make the move.
Raymond Mayor George Bohne says the town has moved every Halloween on Sunday to Saturday for the last century and they've never heard a negative word.

"The bottom line is tradition," Bohne says."We are basically a faith-based community. We have many different religions. We still close down on Sundays. We don't have Sunday shopping. We keep Sundays reserved for family activities."

That's not to say that Halloween isn't family friendly, Bohne says.

"Halloween is a family-fun activity with little kids all out trick-or-treating," he says. "It's just a family thing. They like to stay home on Sundays and get out the rest of the week."
Raymond town council actually passes a resolution making the move official. They do the same thing with holidays such as Canada Day when they fall on a Sunday.

While perhaps a novel idea to Canadians, the debate about moving Halloween to Saturday when it falls on a Sunday rages in several communities south of the border.

Towns and counties in states such as Georgia, Oklahoma and Utah make the change citing religious reasons.

But not every community makes the move with religion in mind.
Some cite the convenience of trick-or-treating on a non-school night. Others say it makes it easier to party a little harder.
In Jacksonville, Fla., however, a councillor's motion to have Halloween moved to Saturday was recently withdrawn when, among other things, it was pointed out that it would conflict with the Florida-Georgia university football game.

Bohne says the move to Saturday from Sunday works for Raymond and he doesn't anticipate things changing in the future.

"Our families are all inclusive. We won't turn anybody away from the doors if, for some reason they chose to go on Sundays — on the traditional day — as opposed to the day we've set.
"But by and large, we've had almost 100 per cent co-operation."

It is ridiculous. Nothing could be more family oritented than parents walking around with their kids on Halloween in their community -and actually it may be the only time Mormon parents smile and act like they wish to interact with us nevermos with a few words. If Sunday is not good for all people then they should say the LAST SAT of Oct. and let it be. Glad it is the 31st- SUN.- where I live.

Living in UT, I find Mormon culture extremely odd and annoying, but this to me is no big deal at all.

I'm not anywhere near the Alberta area, but in my local newspaper, some idiot wrote a similar letter to the editor recently, citing the importance of "family" as an excuse to throw all the normal Halloween traditions away. She went on and on about how "it's not because of trunk or treat that our familiy doesn't do trick or treat anymore....it's because Halloween, for us, is a family day. We reserve that day for family celebration." It was painfully obvious that she was automatically included in the stupid trunk or treat party because she is a practicing mormon; therefore, her kids all get to participate in a community Halloween celebration (albeit a boring, watered-down poor substitute for normal Halloween) without feeling like they're crashing some strange church's party. She might feel differently about it if her kids' only choices were to crash the mormon's party since that's the only place anyone's handing out candy or to not trick or treat at all. This choice is what my kids are saddled with. I offered to take them to the church parking lot if they wanted to go (even though I dread showing up on mormon turf), and they asked if it was "that thing where you just walk around in the circle of cars in the parking lot." I told them it was and they thought a minute and said, "No, I don't want to go." It was too boring for them to bother with even if they were getting free candy out of the deal.

My question for all those people who suddenly are soooo concerned about Halloween being a "family day" is, "Why can't the traditional trick or treat on October 31st be an activity enjoyed by the whole family?" That's my beef with trunk or treat (besides that it's boring - even for the kids).....that it's a cop-out. Parents too busy for their kids can just speed on down to the church and throw candy into bags for 45 minutes, speed back home to the TV with their huge sugar load to eat while they watch, and be done with it. Accompanying your kids on a traditional trick or treat takes up much more time and more effort to get the big stash the kids are hunting. But why is that a bad thing? Spend one night of October every year devoted entirely to your kid, building great memories and promoting a real sense of community...not just the selected members of the community that enjoy marching in circles in a church parking lot and to hell with anyone who doesn't want to do that. If your kids are starting to outgrow trick or treat (and therefore trunk or treat, as well), why couldn't a family stay home, light the Jack-O-Lanturn, play Halloween games, take a walk down memory lane together with the old photo albums with pictures of Halloweens past, have a Halloween themed meal together, watch a spooky DVD or read aloud together a Halloween book while answering the trick-or-treaters at the door? Why couldn't any of those scenarios qualify the Halloween celebration as a "family day"? I'll tell you why....it's because their beef isn't really that the traditional celebrations somehow prevent families from spending time and building memories together....it's that it takes too much time and effort to do it the normal way. IMO.