For tens of thousands of years, the merchants of Cortland Avenue have opened their doors during the evening hours on October 31st and put out candy baskets for children, so that families in Bernal Heights can introduce their kids to the rituals of Halloween in locavore safety and style.
This year, that ancient tradition continues, and Neighbor Darcy from Heartfelt brings the details:
Bernal Heights Halloween festivities take place on Saturday, October 31st. The merchants on Cortland start giving out candy for the wee crowd at 4:30-5:00 p.m.
Please take note that Cortland is not closed off to vehicle traffic. Please talk to your trick or treaters and ask them to abide by some basic safety rules:
- Look both ways before crossing the street. Use established
crosswalks wherever possible and please use the sidewalks
do not walk in the street.- Carry a flashlight and/or put reflective tape on your costume.
- Trick or treat with friends or adults.
Have a super time, it is a wonderful night in Bernal and we hope this is a grand one.
Love,
Darcy, aka the queen that night
Looking for some last-minute costume ideas? Check out these greatest-hits galleries of Bernal costumes from 2012 and 2013. But it may be tough to beat the incredible, interactive video costume Neighbor Dan Rosenfeld created:
ALSO, please share your photos of Bernal Halloween 2015 costumes with us during the weekend, so we can do a greatest hits costume roundup for this year too. Send your costume photos to bernalwood *at* gmail dot-com.
PHOTOS: Top, Neighbor Goldilocks and Two Bears, spotted on Cortland Avenue during Halloween 2013. Below, Big Head Dan. All photos by Adrian Mendoza.
Bernalwood 
Why doesn’t Cortland close down? I’ve always wondered that. Fear of it becoming the Castro from years ago?
The difficulty of rerouting the bus line is the reason I’ve been given. Makes sense to me.
On Sunday after Fiesta on the Hill, I watched in awe as a half full 24 MUNI circled Holly Park a couple of times before eventually going west(down) on Appleton to Mission. Not sure if there was still a closure or what but it sure was a sight to see
Really wish we could close it to traffic! Yes, it would be difficult to re-rout buses, but they do it for other streets. 4:30-8:30 would do it. No?
CANDY ALTERNATIVES: For the past 10 years (but now this year) a group of us had been hosting a Halloween street party in the city of Richmond, Instead of giving out candy, we gave out little toys (whistles, bubble soap, rubber snakes, small dolls, necklaces, etc). Many kids actually PREFERRED the toys to candy! Some would come back for an additional toy. And then for a couple years we got access to kids’ BOOKS. So, we put up a “scary library” with a “scary librarian” It was the Lost Library of Brigadoon” — borrow the book for the next 100 years, etc.
One 7-year old boy had been given a book. He was astonished. He walked around showing the book to everyone. “It’s a book on dinosaurs! I’ve been wanting a book like this MY WHOLE LIFE!”
Do to some logistical problems with the street closure and trying to get enough volunteers to pull off the stage show, karaoke, and other things, we’re not doing it this year. But the toys and books Halloween was so successful it eventually drew 1,200 kids!
(By the way, my photo here comes from that Halloween event from a few years ago. I’m actually in full pirate regalia and lit by a blue light; my face wasn’t painted blue.)