Downtown Napa is bracing for its busiest day of the year as merchants along First Street prepare for Hometown Halloween, the free daylight trick-or-treating tradition that has drawn families to the district for more than two decades. Shop owners are stocking up on candy, hanging black and orange balloons in their windows, and getting ready for a flood of costumed kids and their parents.
The event is organized by the Downtown Napa Association, according to The Napa Valley Register, which notes that Napa's downtown trick-or-treating tradition has lasted more than 20 years. Mike Casey described it to the paper as downtown's busiest day of the year, a reputation that lines up with the scale organizers expect this time around: close to 100 businesses are set to display the telltale black and orange balloons that signal kids are welcome to stop in for treats. Bill LaLiberte now leads the association as executive director, the Register reports, with former executive Craig Smith — who wrote the original account of this year's event — now retired from downtown Napa but still, by his own account, a fan of the district.
A Tradition Born From Safety Concerns
Earlier coverage from the Register described Hometown Halloween as a two-hour stroll for children, parents and others, created in 2004 as a way to let children trick-or-treat in a safer setting with full daylight, according to napavalleyregister.com. That same report counted more than 100 businesses taking part in a prior year, with thousands of children and parents streaming down First Street to visit restaurants, wine tasting rooms and boutiques handing out candy and chocolates. The Downtown Napa Association has organized the event alongside Bank of Marin, whose staff have also helped arrange photo opportunities with costumed characters from Disney and other movies, per the Napa Valley Marketplace.
Napa Valley Marketplace has supported downtown Napa events from the beginning, and its account of the event frames it simply: a community, family fun, fall afternoon. The Downtown Napa Association itself has described Hometown Halloween as one of several popular community events, telling the City of Napa that its events, including Hometown Halloween, draw crowds that are mostly local.
Candy By The Pound And A Haunted Library
Some merchants may go through 75 to 100 pounds of candy each to keep up with demand, the Register has reported, and this year Hopscotch & Bark — the new children's store on First Street associated with Susan Melendez — is using 40 pounds of candy of its own. Melendez has participated in the event since her store opened five years ago, telling the paper, “I wouldn't miss it.”
Just across First Street from the Archer Hotel, the Napa County Historical Society transforms its entire building into a haunted museum for the occasion, an undertaking the Register has described as a one-day makeover of cobwebs, fog, and tables topped with candelabra and gravestones inside the historic Goodman Library. Ten volunteers dress in period costumes to hand out candy during the transformation. The society, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, otherwise operates a museum and an active research library and archive inside the same building, according to napahistory.org.
A Family Tradition That Keeps Repeating Itself
Anette's Chocolates co-owner Anette Madsen has watched the event evolve into something generational, noting that some of the youngsters who trick-or-treated in its early years now have children of their own, the Register reported. The Downtown Napa Association, which created the event, has described it plainly: the group thought downtown would be a great place for safer trick-or-treating, and the event was born from that idea.
Timing for this year's event has varied by source. An official Downtown Napa listing places Hometown Halloween on Saturday, October 31, between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., according to donapa.com, while other listings have placed similar downtown trick-or-treating activity on October 25. Families planning to head downtown should watch for the black and orange balloons marking participating storefronts, a cue the Napa Valley Marketplace says has long helped kids know exactly where to knock.
