This weekend was my first Brooklyn Halloween.  My landlord did a great job of decorating our house for his annual party.  Our front lobby, complete with rolling puffs of fog, pulsating strobe lights, and anthropomorphic mannequins was a huge hit with the neighborhood.

Trick or Treat!

Our block consists of brownstones packed side-by-side, each about 18 feet wide.  As I watched the trick-or-treaters make their way down the block from house to house, the following occurred to me:  I was witnessing the most efficient candy collecting operation imaginable. Most homeowners were waiting on the bottom step with candy for the trick-or-treaters.  The rate of candy collection must have been upwards of 30lbs/hour!

Would you accept candy from these people?!

Most of my childhood Halloweens were spent in suburban Pennsylvania where the houses are spread far apart.  The amount of candy collected on Halloween Night was constrained by a limited window of opportunity (typically from 5:30pm to 8:30pm) and the maximum distance we were able or willing to walk before we started getting blisters on our feet!  We probably collected candy at about 1/5th the rate that I witnessed last night in Brooklyn.

The main limiting factor in Brooklyn, or any residential neighborhood with tightly packed residential units, is essentially the size of the candy bag or the willingness of the child to carry the increasingly heavy bag.  Perhaps Brooklyn trick-or-treaters stop at home throughout the night to empty their candy bags?

Late in the evening, the candy started running low. Why don’t I “take a quick trip around the block and restock our dwindling supplies?” half-joked my miserly landlord…a brilliant strategy, but one that certainly wouldn’t work in suburbia!

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