Looking Back: Halloween in Grain Valley

by Marcia Napier, Grain Valley Historical Society


Halloween began as the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, which marked the end of summer and the harvest. The Celts believed that on the night of October 31st, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead blurred; spirits of the dead would return to earth, causing trouble and damaging crops. They lit bonfires and wore costumes to ward off these ghosts. People carved faces into turnips, pumpkins, or other root vegetables to put a candle inside, creating "Jack-o'-lanterns" to ward off spirits. 
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The Catholic Church later incorporated some of these traditions into the Christian holidays of All Saints' Day (November 1st) and All Souls' Day (November 2nd), with the evening before becoming "All Hallows' Eve" which was eventually shortened to Halloween. Over time, these traditions evolved in America to include trick-or-treating and jack-o'-lanterns, becoming the holiday we know today. 

Last Friday, as I sat in my driveway and greeted the two or three hundred ghost, great pumpkins, football players, cheerleaders and princesses, or the older teens without costumes, I reflected on the Halloween nights of my youth.

First of all, there were no Disney characters or superheroes in my day. There certainly were no inflatable dinosaurs. Rather, there were homemade costumes, many of which would be politically incorrect today. Of course, there were ghosts, wearing an old bed sheet, but mostly, there were gypsies, hobos, cowboys, and cowgirls.

There were three basic sources of “treats!”

Churches had parties for the kids. We bobbed for apples, pinned the stem on a pumpkin, and paraded around in a circle while the “judges” selected the best costumes.  And we ate! Cupcakes, candy, popcorn balls and apple cider.

At my church, the party was held on the Sunday night before Halloween and us kids divided into small groups and went door to door, not to get candy, but to Trick or Treat for UNICEF; the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund. While we usually got some change, sometimes a “rich” resident would give us a dollar! One year, I think I was in 7th grade, we collected $45. We were beyond excited to be able to send so much money to the organization in New York City.

Elementary school children had Halloween Parties. The room mothers provided the treats, and the teachers provided games and activities. After lunch, we generally had time for one lesson before we were dismissed to go to the restroom and change into our Halloween costume.

Do any of you recall, as I do, that your masked was usually unrelated to the rest of your costume. Now what was that all about? Sometime in the mid- 1990's, Halloween Parties were discontinued at many schools. In recent years, many schools have introduced Harvest Parties.
 
​Finally, there was Halloween night when even the country kids came to town to go door-to-door and trick or treat. There was usually one house on every block that you didn’t knock on the door.  They were mean, meaning they didn’t hand out candy. Remember the Armstrong house, The Grain Valley News, October 9. 2025?

And speaking of candy, in my day you might get candy, but more than likely you got a popcorn ball, homemade cookies, or an apple, if they had an apple tree in their yard.

​Of course, everyone went to the Frantz’s house on Charlotte Street. Roland and Louise owned the grocery store and they gave out candy bars that cost a whole nickel!
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