Holbrook Events, an Adoptable Friend, and More

Introduction:

Hey Holbrook! I am beyond excited for this week! Why? Because hopefully on November 6th I will stop receiving SO MANY political ads…EVERYWHERE! “Oh, a text that I didn’t sign up for and another postcard yelling at me? This will definitely change who I vote for president,” SAID NO ONE EVER.

Sorry. In this newsletter you’ll find:

1. An updated list of upcoming events.

2. A personal observation about this last Halloween

3. A featured friend from the animal shelter

Upcoming Events in Holbrook, AZ (that we know of) :

Don’t see your event listed? And sometimes I make mistake 🤷. If it’s non-profit and for the whole community, we’ll probably list it for free*. Email us at [email protected]. *_{We do reserve the right to not list any event if we feel it does not belong in this section.}

I Felt Sorry for the Lonely Houses on Halloween…Some Thoughts:

At first I hesitated to write this because it’s always dangerous when involving a personal opinion/observation…ever, but I thought I’d throw this out there and offer a collaboration with the Holbrook community.

Typically I do what many others do in Holbrook on Halloween. I take my two trick-or-treaters up to “The Hill,” and hope for a safe experience for my kids (…and full-sized candy bars). But this year it felt conspicuously emptier than previous years. We still made the mile and a half or so of walking, there were still plenty of houses participating, and it was an experience I’d call…fine. (And frankly if more people on “the hill” are checking out - I don’t blame them - it gets crazy up there! We also went while the Spooktaular was happening at the fairgrounds which probably didn’t help, but I digress).

Afterwards we come home, shed the costumes, begin relaxing, start to get warm, and I go to my addiction of scrolling on Facebook and find many Holbrook residents online saying “Hey! I have tons of candy - please come to my house! I live at _________.”

So I tell my kids “Hey if we go to _________, you could probably get a ton of candy,” but to find them in PJs, bundled in blankets, and testing how many mini Reece’s peanut butter cups can fit in a mouth at one time. All I hear is a garbled response of “Nah, we’re good,” as they push in more peanut butter cups. There’s no chance I’m getting them back in the cold and all I can think to do is give a little sympathy like on their Facebook post. But that’s when my brain did a dangerous thing and thought, “there’s got to be a better way.” There are people doing really cool things and handing out A LOT of candy on Halloween but are seeing very little traffic because of their location in town. So we can move the candy-givers to the candy-takers (Trunk or Treats, etc.) or we can try and move the candy-takers to the candy-givers (that’s the tough one).

Another side note: I don’t blame those who aren’t going to the non-hill residents either. The “are-they-giving-out-candy-or-not game” is a tricky one. Okay there’s a porch light on, but it looks like all the lights inside are off hmmm…there’s a carved pumpkin, but it’s not lit hmmm. This is the only house on the street that is maybe giving out candy…But what if they don’t have candy, and what if the house panics and doesn’t no, and what if they give my kids like a can of corn or something…will my kids at least be polite about it? The game is a tiring one.

So I reach out to the community - If you have a better way, any idea, let me know and I want to partner up for next year and help make it a possibility (If Hey Holbrook is still around in a year 😅 ). My first idea is a mobile-friendly map of Holbrook that would show participating houses (which would at least show a concentration of participating houses/neighborhoods), but I’m not sure how feasible that one is. Again, if you have an idea but what has stopped you in the past has been advertising power, let me know, I want to see if we can help the houses stranded with a full bowl of candy and underappreciated decorations. Thanks for hearing me out.

An Adoptable Friend from the Shelter

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Thank you for reading! Have any feedback for me? I try and listen! Just reply to this email or you can always reach us at [email protected].