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Back in the day, on Halloween night, we would rush through dinner, hurry and wash the dishes, and hasten to put on our costumes. Since it almost always rained and was cold in Chicago, the costumes were larger than we were to accommodate our winter coats under them. The rain we didn’t bother about as having to wear raincoats as well would have been to combursome.

We had many large apartment buildings in our neighborhood and loved to “haunt” them because everyone opened their doors to fill our bags with all sorts of candy. Because we had a curfew, we didn’t bother to eat any of it at that time because we wanted to ring as many doorbells as possible, and stopping to unwrap a candy bar took time away from that pursuit.

Over the years, Trick or Treating changed and kids would gather at a mall or a special neighborhood for their revels. Then, with the pandemic last year, the rituals once again underwent a metamorphosis. Not wanting to deprive kids of the fun of collecting candy, a new idea came to surface. Here in Lehigh Acres, many minds gathered to do something spectacular for our youth.

Our flea market developed a Haunted House, complete with people dressing as ghouls and there was also a venture known as Trunk or Treat where cars lined up with goodies to be passed out. In conjunction with the members of the flea market, our Auxiliary at VFW Post 4174 donned witches costumes and participated in passing out the candies donated by the Post.

Our witches outdid Glenda (from the Wizard of Oz) in being good, and also enjoying the day spent with the children and we’re happy to report that no house fell on anyone! Our Post and Auxiliary are starting up many projects with the flea market which is located on Beth Stacy Boulevard. The Lehigh Acres Combat Trauma support Group is our next big venture. We are looking forward to reaching out to our community as part of the VFW Outreach Program and are inviting the citizens of Lehigh to visit the flea market and familiar themselves with all the new activities which will be springing up.

Our VFW Post is at 25 Homestead Road and we would be happy to welcome the Public in joining us in our many activities. You’ll be glad you did!