MILWAUKEE — Milwaukee residents are split on the city's decision to hold trick-or-treating on Halloween night this year instead of moving it to the weekend, as has been the tradition in recent years.
The city announced last week that official trick-or-treat hours will be Friday, Oct. 31, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., marking a departure from the usual Sunday afternoon festivities that many families have come to expect.
Catherine Casey, who lives in southwest Milwaukee, said the change disrupts her family's Halloween tradition. Her grandchildren travel from Madison every year to trick-or-treat with her.
"We like to spend Halloween together on Sundays," Casey said. "They go trick-or-treating, I go with them, then we come back and we have a big dinner to celebrate, and then they head home, but now we can't do that on a Friday."
Casey said she wishes the city had announced the change earlier.
"I think if they were gonna change it, they should've changed it a month ago," she said.
Watch: Milwaukee trick-or-treaters divided over city's Halloween night schedule change
However, not all residents are disappointed by the scheduling shift. Jessica Westphal, who grew up in New Berlin and now lives in Milwaukee, welcomes the return to Halloween night trick-or-treating.
"I love the Sunday trick-or-treating, but I'm actually kind of excited for it to be on Halloween," Westphal said. "It's fun doing it during the day, but growing up, we always did it at night."
Westphal said she wants her daughter to experience nighttime trick-or-treating like she did as a child.
"The biggest thing is the nostalgia, you know, I really think it's going to truly feel like Halloween," she said.
According to a city spokesperson, Milwaukee has established a consensus to hold trick-or-treating on Friday, Saturday or Sunday when Halloween falls on one of those dates. When Halloween falls on Monday through Thursday, trick-or-treating gets moved to the Sunday prior.
The scheduling change has created some confusion among residents about when to expect trick-or-treaters.
"That's my concern is that some people are still going to show up on Sunday and some people are going to show up on Friday," Westphal said.
This story was reported on-air by Jenna Rae and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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