It’s a treat to have the Toronto Blue Jays in a position to win the World Series. The trick for many families and baseball fans will be being able to watch it happen.
And for those souls who sacrifice watching Game 6 to take the kids trick-or-treating, beware of Mother Nature. In some parts of the country, she’s not going to be playing nice.
The confluence of wicked weather and the chance of Canada’s only professional baseball team winning its first championship in 32 years could be forcing some tough decisions about celebrating Halloween tonight.
It’s not the first time that the World Series has fallen on Halloween, but the Blue Jays weren’t playing in those games.
The last time the Jays played in the World Series was in 1993, but the series ended on Oct. 23 when they beat the Philadelphia Phillies. A year earlier, they won the series against the Atlanta Braves on Oct. 24.
Tonight’s Game 6 against the Los Angeles Dodgers gets underway at 8 p.m. ET in Toronto.
Venues that were planning Halloween parties are now scrambling to set up for a doubleheader.
Barbara MacPhee is among them. The Torontonian goes all out for Halloween, turning her midtown sports bar, The Cat’s Cradle Sports and Spirits, into a scene straight out of Tales from the Crypt and hosting karaoke.
But, as MacPhee told The Canadian Press, this year she has to push all of that back.
“I’m built on Halloween, and my husband is built on sports. So this day is like a mega-amalgamation of him versus me, pretty much,” she quipped.
She’ll take her three kids out from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m., hand out candy from 7 until 8, and then drive to the bar, which she said takes roughly 45 minutes with traffic.
After the game, they’ll return to scheduled spooky programming.
At Joe Kool’s sports bar in London, Ont., owner Mike Smith is anticipating a packed house of World Series watchers and Halloween revellers on top of the usual Friday night crowd.
But it’s a bit of a tricky situation, Smith said. Joe Kool’s is normally a haven for fans of the Detroit Tigers, which the Jays beat to get into the World Series.
Nonetheless, he said it will be unique to see the bar full of people dressed in costumes and cheering for Toronto.
“I don’t know how you do a Blue Jay Halloween costume, but it’s going to be different than other nights, for sure.”
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People in Eastern Canada may have an easier time balancing festivities, thanks to their time zone, but living on the West Coast means the game gets underway at 5 p.m. PT — when many families start hitting the streets.
Spirits in many places in Canada might be further dampened by the weather.
Environment and Climate Change Canada has issued warnings and statements about heavy rain and strong winds across a swathe of eastern Ontario and Quebec and throughout the Maritimes. Warnings are also in place in much of British Columbia.
Up to 80 mm of rain could fall in Metro Vancouver; Montreal could see about 60.
But wind and rain aren’t necessarily going to keep the ghosts and goblins at home.
“We’ve done previous Halloweens where it was wet, so I’m not really scared,” said 11-year-old Malka Detcheberry, who told CBC News she’s planning to trick-or-treat as Louis Pasteur, the inventor of the first rabies vaccine.
Ten-year-old Lily Podlog isn’t worried either. “We have a Halloween umbrella, she said. “Maybe we can put some glowsticks on it and make it glow a little bit.”
But Tina Wentzell, owner of the website West Island Mommies in Montreal, has some tips for parents to keep youngsters dry while still trying to have fun.
“You can buy clear ponchos at the store, so that their costumes still show. Waterproof shoes, so rainboots or boots. Keep the feet dry,” she said. “Pack an emergency kit. Grab a Ziploc [bag]. Throw some extra socks in there.”
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There are some communities in the Maritimes that have pushed Halloween festivities to Saturday night due to the inclement weather conditions.
Larger cities in the southern part of New Brunswick, including Fredericton, Moncton, and Saint John, aren’t letting the weather forecast get in the way of Friday night festivities.
But in the northern part of the province. Bathurst and Nouvelle-Acadie pushed Halloween events — including knocking on doors for candy — to Saturday evening, citing safety concerns.
“It’s one thing to go trick-or-treating with a bit of rain and cloudy conditions, but when we’re talking about substantial amounts of precipitation and a substantial amount of wind, then we’re talking about a different situation altogether,” City of Bathurst communications manager Luc Foulem told CBC Radio’s Information Morning Moncton.
“It just takes one injury to send things awry, that’s one too many,” he said.
There were similar sentiments in Prince Edward Island, where Charlottetown, Cornwall and Stratford issued a joint statement Thursday morning advising that trick-or-treating would be postponed to Saturday due to the messy weather forecast.
The weather may be a little better in that part of the country on Saturday, but there’s still a chance of showers.
And there’s also a chance that any delayed trick-or-treat or costume party plans could conflict with baseball once again.
If the Blue Jays don’t win tonight, Game 7 will take place in Toronto on Saturday night.
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