And they’ll be on the streets of Wonder Lake today ready to scare the pants off you … while filling their bags with those oh-so-sweet tributes. That’s right; today is Halloween: Trick or Treat, the annual festival celebrating the carving of pumpkins, the wearing of scary costumes, consumption of large sums of candy and all the spooks that go bump in the night.

Children, from those experiencing their first All Hallows Eve as infants (carried in strollers or the arms of parents), through the adolescent years to those in their early teens, will don their favorite costumes and walk the neighborhoods knocking on doors accepting treats to forgo unspeakable-and-ghostly tricks.

For young Trick-or-Treaters, this is a particularly exciting time of year. They’ve given great thought to their costumes. Some are ghosts. Others witches. Then you have your zombies, monsters, wild animals and frightening characters from television and movies. Many of them are wearing store-bought costumes. Others put all their creativity and energy into creating their own costumes from scratch. But one of the last things on their minds is worrying about traffic as they comb the neighborhoods frequently crossing streets in the process.

For those who are driving this Halloween, this is a time to keep an extra eye out for pedestrians, even if those pedestrians are little ghouls and goblins. Or, you might say, be extra careful because those adolescent pedestrians are focused on scaring people rather than safely crossing the streets. This is all the more true considering slippery roads after the snow that started falling this morning.

The first step to take to ensure the safety of young monsters is to slow down. The speed limit on most side streets is 25 mph. That’s not slow enough. It may take you a little longer to get where you’re going but it take you a lot longer if you hit a young princess along the way.

Some Trick-or-Treating occurs near busier streets. In their excitement, a 5-year-old Buzz Lightyear may be thinking only of the candy he’ll get at the house across the street. He won’t stop to check traffic at all and could get away from a parent trying to coral a vampire, Batman and the Little Mermaid at the same time.

It’s your job, as the driver, to ensure that your car doesn’t turn a festival of spooky fun into a tragedy. That’s a tragedy you’ll share with a youngster, their family and friends.

Halloween in McHenry is a lot of fun. Enjoy the festivities but do so driving carefully.