Although it seemed to start slowly (we had only 77 trick-or-treaters in the first hour), it turned out to be another banner year for Halloween on old Montgomery Street. We had 253 visitors by the time we ran out of ammunition and had to close down.
One of the benefits of living in Old Town is the level of city services we enjoy, particularly public safety. Several times during the trick-or-treating hours, a police cruiser came by, siren off but lights on, leading a small procession of cars at about 15 mph. That is a very sensible defense against the possibility that a motorist lacking the sense that God gave a lemon should decide that would be a good time to drag-race.
I've never seen the squad cars deployed like that before, but as I now have three grand-kids out there (they were Briar Beauty, Luke Skywalker, and a 10-month-old walking dinosaur), I hope the city sends the cars out every year.
Elden Carnahan
Laurel