Treat Count 2023: Which B.C. neighbourhoods have the most trick-or-treaters this Halloween night?
A lot of British Columbians have Halloween traditions. Some, like fireworks in the Lower Mainland, are more particular than others.
But the deep-rooted customs of All Hallow's Eve — decorating your house and giving candy to costumed visitors at night — have endured across the province, even through a global pandemic.
CBC British Columbia and the Simon Fraser University City Program, which promotes citizen participation in civic issues, have teamed up once again to track the neighbourhoods with the most visitors on Halloween night.
Andy Yan, director of the SFU City Program, says Halloween remains one of the best ways to track how the "spirit" of civic participation manifests in different neighbourhoods.
"It's one of those things that everybody seems to get into because it's not religious," he said.
Halloween decorations are pictured at homes on Trinity Street in Vancouver on Oct. 30. Andy Yan, director of the SFU City Program, says the street — and Vancouver's Douglas Park neigbourhood — have historically shone during Halloween. (Ben Nelms/CBC)
Yan said he wants to know how the influx of newcomers to B.C. and Metro Vancouver gel with the region's Halloween customs.
He said one of the years he did the treat tracker, he encountered an international student who knew nothing about Halloween and gave out ramen noodles instead of candy — calling it just another way that the "generosity of spirit" manifested itself.
"Diverse cultures may or may not get Halloween," he said. "That's just how Vancouver changes."
How to participate
Once again, the CBC is asking you to help us find the spookiest neighbourhood in B.C., and the one with the most treats.
You can do that by filling out this form to report the number of trick-or-treaters who came to your house on Tuesday night.
Count the number of costumed visitors that came knocking on your door, tell us what you gave them, and show us how you prepared for their arrival.
Then, watch as a colour-coded map reveals the Halloween hotspots and no-shows across B.C. on Tuesday night.
To get an idea of how it works, you can view last year's results at this link.
We're also bringing back a question from last year about inflation, and whether it's affecting your Halloween.
Yan said historically the Douglas Park neighbourhood in Vancouver and the Queen's Park neighbourhood in New Westminster have shone during Halloween.
He also said he's interested to see how non-traditional Halloween celebrations — like daytime events and community festivals — are marked across a province that is becoming more diverse by the year.
Fill out the survey and watch the map update with B.C.'s spookiest neighbourhoods:
