Local outlet mall did a “Trick or treat” promo years ago. I took my then just walking son in his dinosaur costume for his first trick or treat experience. We got there 30 minutes after it started and our 1st five stores were cleaned out by groups of “teens” not in costume. locust types from nearby Birmingham. My wife snapped a pic of of my son with a sad and confused look on his face that still kinda jabs me in the guts. Fortunately, some stores had kept a reserve for costumed children and little ones, and his luck got better. I just got the feeling that the mall promoters did not expect what they actually got. I dont know if they ever did another.
I did a TDY in Williamsburg VA in 1987, when my daughter was four (and cute as a button). We were staying in a middle class condominium complex, the kind of place back home in New England where everyone would be doing Trick or Treat. Only one or two (I forget the exact number) even answered the door. One of the people who answered said, something to the effect, “Y’all must be from New England. We don’t do Trick or Treat around here.” If people in Williamsburg did trick or treat, they would be flooded with mobs from Newport News. I recall that on a home visit, I noticed that all the workers at a local McDonalds were white. Every one of them. I rarely, if ever, saw a white person working in a fast food joint in Virginia.