In a small town like Hanover, Halloween provides local businesses a chance to connect with community members and celebrate the fall season. Strolling down Main Street as Halloween nears, you might see skeletons or pumpkins adorning storefronts, or local residents dressed up for some spooky trick-or-treating.
Even before Halloween is officially celebrated, a number of business owners participate in the annual “Trick-or-Treat on Allen Street,” which was held on Oct. 25 and occurs each year on the Friday before Halloween.
According to Hanover Parks and Recreation events and media manager Hannah Falcone, the Allen Street event is the only town-organized celebration for Halloween.
“There are [also] some other small local organizations that are putting on events … and then I expect that there will be local trick-or-treating [in local neighborhoods] in Hanover as well,” Falcone said.
As I passed through Allen Street’s Halloween bonanza, Hanover businesses including Still North Books and Bar, Red Kite Candy and the Hanover Historical Society had decked out booths in Halloween-themed decor. Business owners handed out goodies to visiting children and families. I also spotted inspired costumes from participating adults, whether it was members of the Historical Society in colonial-era white wigs or one attendee dressed in a full moose suit, complete with an enormous moose headpiece.
Halloween is a perfect opportunity for Hanover business owners to give back and foster local community, especially for those who are from the area. H Rooker, the assistant store manager at Still North, grew up in the Upper Valley and said their personal history here makes community connection essential.
“[Still North] work[s] really hard to be a gathering place in between the larger Upper Valley community and the Dartmouth community,” they said. “[One of our] biggest goals is to be able to bring both of those communities together.”
As for specific activities, Rooker said on Halloween itself, staff members dress up in costumes and pass out candy to trick-or-treaters. This year, Still North is also hosting a day-of event in conjunction with Dartmouth’s English and creative writing department. Author Lucy Ives will conduct a reading on Halloween at Still North as part of the department’s Poetry and Prose series. The store, meanwhile, will have “a couple of her books for sale” at the event, according to Rooker.
Several local venues also lean into seasonal decorations to celebrate the holiday. According to Rubi Simon, the director of the Howe Library in Hanover, the library has “doubled or tripled” its decorations compared to previous years. When I visited, the library’s main desk was adorned with cobwebs and spooky signs, and the main library was full of life-size skeletons and other Halloween-themed decor.
“I think this is the biggest year we’ve had … in terms of really going all out,” Simon said. “We’ve gotten a lot of … great feedback from people just being excited about us really getting into it.”
On Halloween itself, the library will host a holiday-themed Storytime Stay and Play for children and their caregivers. Simon said she hopes that in the future, the library will expand its programming even further.
“Next year, we definitely are going to do a lot more robust programming around Day of the Dead, so for [Nov. 2] … and probably roll it into Hispanic Heritage Month as well,” she said.
Other local businesses have also embraced the spirit of decoration. Elaine McCabe, the founder of Red Kite Candy, said the store “always go[es] all out” in terms of decoration.
“It’s a win-win both ways,” she said. “I like to do it for people, and then they get enjoyment out of it.”
As I saw during my visit to Red Kite, the front window display boasted various intricately-constructed decorations which were crafted by Beth McGee ’84, McCabe explained. At the time of the interview, McCabe herself also sported a full witch costume in preparation for the Allen Street event, which took place later that day.
Halloween events and decorations in Hanover try to appeal to a wide audience, bringing community members of all ages together.
Although Howe Library’s decorations are intended “not to be too scary” because of the smaller children attending, Simon emphasized that the library’s celebrations have a wide target audience. In addition to the younger kids and teens, the library has seen “a lot of adults and seniors also come in and just … feel the excitement of what Halloween means to them,” according to Simon.
Similarly, Red Kite Candy tries not to cater to one single target audience. “I try not to make it too gruesome, so I do keep the kids in mind, but it’s for everybody,” McCabe said. “I just want to have fun.”
Even the businesses that lean less into intensive decor compensate with activities celebrating the season. The Fourth Place, which sells “games, comics and geek culture,” according to its website, has scheduled an array of Halloween-inspired programs.
According to founder and owner Ian Struckhoff, the main festivities take place on both the weekend prior to and following Halloween. Those include cooperative horror board game-playing, a drop-in costume contest, a spooky-themed Pathfinder Society fantasy-roleplaying event and a Halloween-themed “Magic: The Gathering” card game event. Halloween is especially significant for Struckhoff, who explained that the holiday fell right after the store’s opening two years ago.
“Halloween was our first big event … which means we’re doing our first ‘third annual’ anything as part of all the Halloween stuff,” he said. “It’s a big holiday for us.”
According to Struckhoff, Halloween is the perfect opportunity for people to express themselves, their hobbies and their interests with pride.
“A lot of what we do here, the mission is about being yourself, being extra yourself,” Struckhoff said. “Halloween is a great chance to turn that up to 11.”
Regardless of whether businesses celebrate with trick-or-treating, decorations or Halloween activities, vendors collectively bring the Hanover community together in celebration of Halloween.
“We’re just really fortunate that there’s so many wonderful organizations and business owners that [make] the time to come out and be with the community,” Falcone said. “You get everything set up and then you’re all ready, and then … the community comes, and it’s just so wonderful.”
