My first (Chicago) Halloween

Happy (almost) Halloween, Chicago!

Decked out house in Gold Coast Historic District!

This is my favourite holiday and I tried to find some information on Chicago’s history with Halloween to put in this article. I hope you learn something new and are able to come out to Green City Market this Saturday at 9am to take my very special Halloween-themed market tour where I will fill you in on all of the Halloween traditions associated with local foods! Everyone is invited…just look for me dressed like Little Bo Peep!

A preview of my Little Bo Peep costume for Halloween 2009.

The earliest known reference to ritual begging on Halloween in Chicago was in 1920.

On 23 October 1921, Jane Eddingon of the Chicago Daily Tribune wrote the article “Halloween Fal-Lalls and Fare”, which discussed the popular Halloween candy of the time:

There was a profusion, even a confusion, of candies in orange and black. There were orange gumdrops, orange jelly beans, orange buttercups, and chips and hard candies. And there were black (licorice) gumdrops and jelly beans and buttons and all possible devices that were ever seen in black candies…There were lovely and dainty opera sticks in both orange and black, tied often with ribbon and for the center of some of the endless arrangement of these things in Halloween candy boxes–witch and black cat decorations on them–and ultimately tied with wonderful pompons of black…ribbon.

Chicago newspapers in the early 1920s reported that children of Chicago would go out on Halloween in costumes and be rewarded from neighbours with with nuts and candies for their rhymes and songs. Unfortunately, not every child (or adult!) was nice and vandalism became the prevalent “trick” on Halloween nights. This continued to grow through-out the 30s in Chicago until one day Chicago put an end to the shenanigans. In 1939 at the start of World War II, Chicago entertained the idea of banning Halloween. In 1942 the Chicago City Council banned Halloween for the duration of the war, substituting “Conservation Day” in its place.

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What did people do on Conservation Day? While I could not find information specific to Chicago, Karen Hybertson in her book “The Return of Chaos” describe nation-wide Conservation Days as such:

Community-based Halloween parties were enlisted in the war effort. For example, one hundred and fifty pounds of salvaged paper was the price of admission at one Halloween party where revelers enjoyed traditional games. Advice for Halloween parties reminded the reader that wartime Halloween parties required easy and inexpensive decorations fashioned from available materials. Some of the large scale community celebrations turned Halloween parades into celebrations of their contributions to the war. Parades showcased Red Cross Units, Air Raid Wardens, and Auxiliary Police Units; all attired in Halloween costumes. The climax of the parade was often a War Bond Auction with prizes donated by local merchants and sold for war bond pledges.

The coordination of this new style of celebration was quickly standardized by the National Halloween Committee. Their purpose was to allow children to enjoy the holiday, to aid the war effort, and to entertain men and women. Traditional Halloween activities were created in wartime images. For example, traditional scavenger hunts were transformed into campaigns to collect needed scrap materials.

Of course, the ban did not last forever and Halloween was restored in Chicago after the ending of the war in 1945.

The state of Illinois is not only the nation’s leading pumpkin producer but also the leading pumpkin processor: Libby’s (ya know, the canned pumpkin people!) plants 5,000 acres of pumpkins a year! That’s a lot of pumpkin pie!!!

The record low on Halloween in Chicago occurred in 1873 when the temperature dropped to 23 degrees! The record high is 84 degrees set in 1950.

My Halloween costume in 1988 (2 years old)

If you have any other cool Halloween vintage photos or history (even if it is just personal history!!) please share in the “comments” section.

Happy Halloween, Chicago!

Dev xx