Lawmaker to introduce bill to permanently move Halloween to Friday
Jan 13, 2023, 9:30 PM
(Ravell Call, Deseret News, KSL-TV Chopper 5)
SALT LAKE CITY — When the 2023 Utah Legislative Session gets underway next week, there will be many bills debated. One of those bills would be to permanently celebrate Halloween on a Friday.
That’s a bill Sen. Kirk Cullimore (R-Sandy) plans to introduce to lawmakers. He joined KSL NewsRadio to share his thoughts.
“I think this past year, in the past couple of years we’ve had Halloween fall on weeknights,” he said. “Or at least the following day was a weeknight.”
And as such, Cullimore says it’s becoming a problem for parents and teachers.
“And the thought was, you know, we’re not so presumptuous to say that we’re changing the date of Halloween,” he said. “We’re simply changing when we might celebrate Halloween. ”
He says kids would still be able to do their Halloween activities at school and then do trick-or-treating that night. But then would have the weekend to rest up and be ready for school on Monday.
Halloween on a Friday and adults
Cullimore says it would also work well for the general population.
“I know a lot of offices that like doing Halloween parties,” he said. “And like dressing up. And so, that’s why I thought Friday would be good to give kids an opportunity to dress up to school, to have people at their workplace still have opportunity to dress up on a Friday when it’s less disruptive.”
Cullimore says he isn’t trying to change tradition. Instead, he wants to have a discussion.
“I think that’s really what we’re trying to do is just kind of help steer the conversation because I’ve heard from lots of parents,” he said.
He says among teachers and parents there’s almost unanimous support for the bill.
Jeff Caplan’s Afternoon News can be heard on weekdays from 3 to 7 p.m.
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