Will you welcome trick-or-treaters this year? Photo: Chris Roe/File.
Before we turn to the ghoulish festival that has staged a hostile takeover of our Octobers, let’s take a quick glance back to last week’s poll, and an equally unpleasant surprise delivered to motorists via hidden speed cameras.
With the State Government backflipping on the decision to remove warning signs ahead of speed traps and accusations of revenue raising ahead of actual road safety, we asked: Do you support the NSW Government’s decision to ban hidden speed cameras?
A whopping 73 per cent of our readers declared “Yes, hidden speed cameras are sneaky revenue raisers”, while 27 per cent felt perhaps that the signs spoil the surprise and help to “keep us safe“.
This week, we’re taking a look at that curiously creepy festival that seems to sneak up every year and fill our stores with spooks just before the Christmas decorations take over.
While its origins are thought to date back to the Celtic tradition of Samhain with a veneer of Christian saintliness applied in the Middle Ages, the modern Halloween is very much an American export.
In the 1980s, movies such as ET gave Aussies a glimpse into a world of costumes, candy and trick-or-treating, and Halloween crept into our consciousness over the decades, aided in no small part by retailers keen to sell us more festive landfill.
According to a recent study by the Australian Retailers Association, one in four Australians plans on celebrating Halloween this year, with spending expected to reach $430 million.
Kylie Cook from Wagga’s Bargain Buys has spent the past few weeks listening to cackling witches and shrieking clowns in a store that’s packed with paranormal paraphernalia.
“It’s not been too bad,” she says when asked whether locals are buying in ahead of the 31st on Monday.
“It’s been picking up a little bit this week, but Saturday and Sunday will be our big days.”
Wagga’s Bargain Buys is bursting with ghoulish surprises. Photo: Chris Roe.
Halloween, it seems, tends to be a last-minute thing.
“For some strange reason, people tend to buy a day or two before Halloween and I don’t really know why,” Kylie says with a shrug.
The pandemic also gave retailers a surprise boost in a year when most events were cancelled.
“Interestingly, last year it was quite big and the year before it was even bigger,” Kylie explains.
“I think people were just looking for something to do. They’d been stuck at home for a long time and it was time to get out!”
So our question for you this week is about whether the Riverina is on board for some spooking in 2022!
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