UPDATE: Here is the official statement on trick-or-treating in the City of Joliet:

The City of Joliet has received many inquiries concerning Halloween and trick-or-treating for 2020. Joliet does not have plans to cancel trick-or-treating and believes residents have a choice whether to participate in the activity or not. The City of Joliet’s trick-or-treating hours will be from 3 to 6 p.m. on Saturday, October 31, 2020 for those who choose to participate.

In order to celebrate safely, the City asks that residents consider the following:

1. If you do not want to participate in passing out candy, do not turn on your porch light. In addition, there is a printable page available here or at City Hall (150 W. Jefferson) for display on your front door so trick-or-treaters know you are not participating.
2. Wear a mask or face covering when you cannot socially distance from other individuals.
3. Stay home if you are feeling sick.
4. Follow the Illinois Department of Public Health guidelines for group sizes.

Enjoy a safe and happy Halloween!

You can find additional safety tips for celebrating safely here.

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Before the above official pres release was released, Joliet city councilman Larry Hug posted this on his personal Facebook page:

Larry Hug

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I’m not sure the city can actually stop families from trick-or-treating, but we’ve all had on our eyes on suburban cities and what their official stance will be.

As a parent of trick-or-treating aged kids, this one is TOUGH for me! First, I realize that it is an outdoor activity and therefor low risk in terms of spreading through the air (unless you have large groups of kids hanging out together for long periods of time…which seems likely…). What’s a bit more concerning for me though is having a bag of candy filled with items touched, coughed on, sneezed on by who-knows-who. If there are respiratory droplets on those fun size snickers bars, then it could easily cause some spread if you are not careful? If I’m off base on this, I’d love to be corrected!

Now I can hear a lot of you screaming at me right now, “If you want to live in fear, just stay home!!! It’s our right!!” Ok…fair enough. That will protect my family, but what it doesn’t do is prevent the virus from spreading in my neighborhood, which in turn IS risky for my family and could raise the positivity rate in the community and bring about further state-sanctioned restrictions. No one wants that.

One thought I had was just dousing all the candy packages in disinfectant. Seriously…just put it in a bowl, spray the hell out of it with some Lysol or brewery-made canitizer, toss it around like you are seasoning a bowl of food, letting it sit to kill the germs, and boom…all is well. After some thorough hand washing, it should be safe enough for me!

Yeah, I’m right on the fence with this one, friends! I can certainly see both sides.

We’ll see how it goes! Just another crazy event in 2020.