Bondurant bucks Beggars' Night tradition, sets new day for trick-or-treating

Bondurant is bucking a decades-long Beggars' Night tradition by setting a new day for trick-or-treating. 

The Bondurant City Council in January passed a resolution that sets the door-to-door trick-or-treat night to the last Saturday of October. That means this year, trick-or-treating is from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Oct. 29 in the Des Moines suburb.

In future years, trick-or-treating could be as early as Oct. 25 or on Halloween itself.

Since the 1940s, cities across the Des Moines metro have held trick-or-treating on Beggars' Night, the night before Halloween on Oct. 30, to avoid what had become some Halloween-night mischief. Most communities in the Des Moines metro will stick to that this year. 

More:What time does trick-or-treating begin? Here are dates and times for Beggars' Night in central Iowa

In Bondurant, the idea to change to the last Saturday of October came from a community Facebook post. The city later conducted a survey to gauge interest.

Of the 141 people who participated, 65% said they supported holding Beggars' Night on a Saturday.

City staff identified pros of setting a permanent day-of-the-month, which included consistency, less rushing for families to enjoy the celebration, and kids not having school the next morning.

More:From the archives: Here are your best (and worst) Beggars' Night jokes

Some possible cons included an impact on households with weekend or non-traditional work schedules, confusion about being the only metro community with that date, and a possible influx of people from other communities coming to trick-or-treat.

Ultimately, the Parks and Recreation Board recommended the change, and the City Council signed off on it. 

Residents are asked to keep their front door lights on to indicate that trick-or-treaters are welcome.

More:Tips to keep kids safe while trick-or-treating

Chris Higgins covers the eastern suburbs for the Register. Reach him at chiggins@registermedia.com or 515-423-5146 and follow him on Twitter @chris_higgins_.