Where have all the kids gone?

The year was 1971, the place Newmarket, the time 6 p.m. on October 31 and I was 10 years old.

I can remember being so excited for Halloween night and all that it brought with it. We would gather at dusk, we would plane our route for days, we would knock on every door within a 10 mile radius. Yes I said mile, it was 1971, remember? I can recall traveling the streets in packs, what seemed like hundreds of us. We would have to return home on several occasions throughout the night to ''dump'' our ''haul'' only to run out the door not to fall too far behind the other tramps, witches, ghosts, and ghouls.

Do you remember that lady that lived down the street that made fresh homemade candy apples for all the kids from our street? We walked right into her kitchen to pick our apple off a tray on her counter. Does this still happen?

Last night, in Barrie, I was so disappointed as I am on most Halloween nights, of late. I decorate my house, with spiders and pumpkins, smoke machines and full size handmade coffins. I wear my traditional scary mask and I sit and wait. to share my 100's of chocolate bars, bags of chips, and sweet treats, and I wait and I wait. I am pretty sure that I had fewer than 10 kids rap on my door last night. I did not have a single knock after 8 o'clock. The local elementary school seems to house 100's of kids during the day. Do they just not have the drive that we had? Is it too much effort for them? Are they too busy playing it safe?

Where have all the kids gone?