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Using Halloween for Economic RenewalFrom $1Table of contentsNo headersSession III Section C Windsor is looking for a tourist attraction to bring people to an area which has lots going for it but may not be well known. We can’t duplicate the successes of others in the same fields but need to find an untapped resource. Frankenmouth Michigan has grown from a sleepy Midwestern town with a “Christmas Store” and a good chicken restaurant to an industry based on Christmas. Bronner’s, the Christmas Store, rivals or exceeds Wal-Mart or Costco in size and volume of merchandise. Zehnder’s serves all-you-can-eat chicken dinners to the busloads of tourists who arrive daily. At Chistmas, Thanksgiving, other traditional festivals, people are torn between demands to visit multiple sets of grandparents. Which parents get the kids on the day? How many visits can we fit into a short enough span to count as visiting you at Christmas? Hallowe’en has become an extremely popular “holiday” even though no one even gets the day off possibly because Hallowe’en comes with no “baggage” Hallowe’en can be anything you want it to be and no one can say you’re doing it wrong. No one expects you to come for dinner. You don’t even have to buy presents. Dress like a Wookie, a Stormtrooper, a with or a Mummy or anything else you can imagine. Windsor could tap into the burgeoning popularity of this modern take on All Hallows’ Eve by adopting the theme and creating a veritable theme park of tourist attraction. .Imagine year ‘round haunted houses, carnival style funhouses, retailers selling, renting and custom making costumes, themed bars and restaurants, municipal garbage cans in the shape of pumpkins and cauldrons. The neat street brigade can dress up. Businesses like the ones cropping up in malls and plazas who sell stuff-your-own toys (and costumes and accessories for them) and host birthday parties can sell carve/paint-your-own everlasting pumpkins.
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