Cincinnati Trick-or-Treat Could Permanently Move to Weekend Evenings

Cincinnati City Council members are considering putting Halloween trick-or-treat on a permanent weekend schedule.

Liz Keating has introduced a motion to move the annual tradition permanently to weekend evenings but says the change will only happen if a city-wide survey reflects the “community has a shared interest.” She says that she wants to know what parents think about the potential action.

Council’s co-sponsors to the motion include Meeka Owens, Scotty Johnson and Reggie Harris.  

The motion language says the change will “aid in keeping our city’s children and youth safe, providing more visibility for both pedestrians and drivers, and creating more accessibility for parents and guardians.”

The month of October has the highest rate of pedestrian injuries and fatalities among children, according to Safe Kids Worldwide, a nonprofit that works to keep kids safe from injuries. Halloween is the worst day of the year for these crashes. While pedestrian crashes among children have trended downward nationally over the past 20 years, pedestrian crashes overall have trended upward, according to data from the U.S. Department of Transportation.


Most pedestrian crashes involving children, about 69%, happened when the child was located in the roadway, not in the area of an intersection.

To maximize safety for kids during trick-or-treat, Safe Kids Worldwide suggests that trick-or-treaters and parents:

• Cross the street at corners, using traffic signals and crosswalks.
• Put electronic devices down, look left, right and left again when crossing.
• Teach children to make eye contact with drivers before crossing in front of them.
• Always walk on sidewalks or paths. If there are no sidewalks, walk facing traffic as far to the left as possible.
• Teach children to never dart out into the street or cross between parked cars.
• Join kids under age 12 for trick-or-treating. If kids are mature enough to be out without supervision, tell them to stick to familiar areas that are well lit and trick-or-treat in groups.

Council's potential change would not apply to Halloween this year; that trick-or-treat is still scheduled for Monday, Oct. 31 from 6-8 p.m.