The Halloween Capital Of The World? You Decide.
Welcome to my first travel blog post!
I wanted to find a way to give a much more detailed and better explained review or guide of sort to aide you on your spooky journeys!
To begin, I wanted to start off with one of my biggest hits and the location I’m best known for visiting online….. the controversial Anoka Minnesota.
Pulled my U-Haul over to snag a Selfie of course
On August 9th, 2021- I visited a childhood legend I once heard, of the town that claims to be the Halloween Capital of the World. (and to me, for a great reason.)
“Anoka, Minnesota is believed to be the first city in the United States to put on a Halloween celebration to divert its youngsters from Halloween pranks. When Anokans awoke to find their cows roaming Main Street, windows soaped and outhouses tipped over, they decided something had to be done.”- an excerpt from The towns Halloween history pages. Which includes a fantastic timeline of events.
In 1920, George Green and other local civic leaders suggested the idea of a giant celebration. They created a Halloween committee to put on a celebration and the United States First Halloween Parade. Costumes, Candy, Masks and a growing number of attendees.
After making a video about the town and posting it to my TikTok account I found that everyone has their own opinion on who the Halloween Capital of the World is. However, according to Afar.com the claims have been brought to Congress to make that decision.
“ In 1937 an Anoka boy named Harold Blair traveled to Washington, D.C. to petition Congress to officially designate Anoka the Halloween capital of the world. As the story goes, Congress did uphold Anoka’s claim with a proclamation, but Anoka County Historical Society’s archivist, Audra Hilse, says the paper trail to those events has been tough to track down, in part because of a fire in Anoka that destroyed much of Anoka Halloween’s early documents. Hilse also says something similar was done in the 1970s to reestablish Anoka’s claim. Either way, it’s a title this Minnesota town would be hard-pressed to relinquish.”-Miranda Smith and afar.com
With 4.3 Million views and growing & 560,000 likes… the 6000 comments definitely had a lot to say. They even questioned what my opinion on Ireland being the Halloween Capital would be and started to grow angry with my sharing of the towns claim, saying that if I’m not from the country directly then I wasn’t even Irish at all! Which is now news to me and my DNA results from Ancestry.com that although I am primarily Irish, the comment section says- no i’m not. Ha!
I’m however thankful for the coverage on my visit, you can find the POPSUGAR article here. Although I suggest to visit the town in October instead of in the summer. Which I had done with my black cat Church, who waited for me patiently while I hopped out of my U-Haul to snag a few photos.
I was even reached out to by one of the producers of The Drew Barrymore Show -Emily, for their Halloween episode. She thanked me for introducing them to Anoka, Making a series on Halloween towns from my video that stirred up trouble. Did you know? ( you can watch the shows segment on Anoka by clicking here )
Yes, my back hurt very badly sleeping like this but a babies gotta do what a babies gotta do.
The town itself has a gift shop which has limited hours and get yourself a Halloween Gift! Unfortunately it wasn’t open for me, but I’m always glad to share. You can find some of these wonderful town all year road side attractions as follows.
Located at 1925 2nd Ave South, Anoka, MN 55303
Located at 500 West Main St., Anoka, MN 55303 . On the back of Anoka Shopping Center.
The pumpkin in front of City hall
Located at 2015 First Ave., Anoka, MN 55303
The Pumpkin Round About is located behind Anoka Middle School. 1523 S. Fifth Ave Anoka, MN 55303 and at the intersection of Washington St., Fourth Ave and Military Rd.
If you like to stay up to date with my travels- stay tuned! I have great things to share.
Thank you for reading my first blog post. Stay Spooky.
