I live in a little town in southern New Hampshire. Halloween is one of my favorite holidays, it is all about kids having fun and candy, what’s not to like. A challenge we have out here is that most neighborhoods aren’t well lit, and kids have gotten hurt.

The town officials and police department decided that it would be great to shut down the center of town and invite everyone to trick or treat in the car free, town center. This is great for the kids, but I don’t live in the town center, and no kids came to my door for Halloween.

We have a beautiful town center with a green that has a few paved paths. I was ranting that I would like to go to the green, setup a door, and hand out candy. My makerspace friends looked at my strangely, which is common, and asked why don’t I?

We talked to our local Recreation Department and explained what we wanted to do and that we thought others would have a similar desire to hand out candy. The idea was that we would sell a 10-foot by 10-foot plots of land on the paved path, stand up a door, let people decorate and hand out candy.

Doors on the Green was born.

To my amazement, there were lots of people with the same desire I had. For one night I get to be the major of a tiny town made up of doors with the sole purpose of handing out candy to kids, and toys to kids that can’t have candy. Everyone has a fantastic time.

To call it a success would be an understatement. If the weather is warm, we are visited by about 2000 kids. We have run the program for over 8 years, and it gets bigger every year. My better three-quarters recommended we open an hour before the official town trick or treating to allow little kids, strollers, and kids with sensory issues to come through before things get crazy.

This is what living in a small town means to me. People getting together to have a tradition that means something to us. I hope you had a great Halloween.