Candy, Candy, Candy, Candy, and a really long line?

Wow.

It's been a few years, but I went with April and the boys again this year to Trick-or-Treat(ing) at the zoo. This is a yearly event held at Madison's FREE Henry Vilas Zoo. Support your local zoo, they are wonderful places. Of course, this time of year, most of the animals are away or inside, but we really weren't focused on the animals now were we?

The kids got a fair bit of candy, got to see a few animals, got some coupons to share with Mom & Dad, and even got to get scared or amused depending on the kid in question. Overall, I think they enjoyed it, but everyone got impatient at some point.

I'd like to say it was a wonderful experience and I'd recommend it to all, but it wasn't, and I wouldn't. It requires quite a lot of patience as you deal with endless lines and constant newcomers looking for their place in line.

In truth, it's got to be a huge undertaking to plan and I wouldn't want to be part of that team of people. I think they do their job as well as they can. In my opinion, there is something about the zoo that makes this event very difficult to manage. The zoo has not one, not two, but three different entrances and is more or less arranged in a meandering looping path. What this means, is that vendors giving out candy and treats set up shop along this loop, and there's no one place to start or finish. This of course means that after you've been waiting sometimes ten or more minutes in line patiently (or not) for the next booth, there's a good chance that a group of newcomers (I'm going to assume that nobody willingly went back for seconds) will push their way into the line in front of you, further increasing your wait for the next grab at candy. Of course this turnabout is fair play since when you got there, you had to do the same thing to get in line and start your run at the candy and treats right? This coupled with the fact that kids hot and tired and bored can be especially unpredictable so there was always some incident or another to slow things down even further. One more annoying bit, a tent/booth that looked much like all the others was situated on the route, and we couldn't figure out who the vendor was. They had no candy, just a kid holding a sign with bad grammar (I can't remember what it said) a guy making comments to all passers by, and another guy peeking out of a coffin standing up in the back of the tent. No candy, just a tease. ;)
After all is said and done though, we managed to make our way around the line in around 1.5 hours.

As I said though, mostly the kids had fun. At one point, I felt a bit like a heel as the boys excitedly went into a tent with a sign that read "Enter if you dare". I jokingly said they'd probably come out crying. About 5 seconds later, Ethan did. A largish man wearing a black cloak, bloody spikes on his shoulders, and a skeleton mask was popping out inside and grabbing anyone who got too near. Lesson learned though I hope. 1. Halloween is a time for scares, so expect them. 2. Think twice before entering a tent signed "Enter if you dare."

I think this event is a great opportunity for local vendors to get their names out there though. The ones who handed out coupons with their candy were the smart ones in my book. I can think of a few other local stores that would do well to have a presence there.

Incidentally, I should have mentioned before, we went to the zoo with Elena, her husband Jared, and boys, Drew and Noah. Tim (Elena's bother) and family were also along.