Which Chicago neighborhoods are attracting the most young families? Can we take Halloween as a rough gauge? Yo’s truly lives in Bucktown and was a little surprised to see only about five groups of trick-or-treaters rock up to my door. I was visited by a seven-year-old pimp; a very cool Jason from Friday the 13th, complete with hockey mask; a 15-year-old two-headed ghoul who made suggestive comments to me and another woman in my building; assorted fairies; and a precocious racing car driver who made a point of tossing back the Milky Ways and telling me he didn’t like them.
A resident of the Prairie Avenue District told me recently that four years ago he took his kids up to Mayor Richard M Daley’s neighborhood of Central Station because there were no other families along South Indiana Avenue. “My youngest was dressed up as a skunk one year, and Maggie [Daley] invited her in and made sure the Mayor saw her,” he said. But last year, this South Looper stayed home and doled out candy to about 100 trick-or-treaters, as families continue to pour into the neighborhood.
Yo wants to hear about the Halloween turnout in your neighborhood. Anyone live in West Lakeview? I’m sure it was lively up there. Bridgeport Joe – what was it like in your ‘hood? And high-rise dwellers – do trick-or-treaters knock on your door?