Josh Kowalkowski, The Examiner
2007-10-15 07:00:00.0
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Columbia, Md -

Students at one Columbia elementary school will have to leave their SpongeBob, Dracula and Harry Potter costumes at home this Halloween. Guilford Elementary is forgoing the traditional Halloween celebration and will instead have a fall festival Nov. 1.

“Our school was having increasing numbers of families who said they didn’t celebrate Halloween,” said PTA President Kris Woodson.

Woodson estimated that 40 to 50 of about the school’s 490 students, as well as many teachers, don’t observe the Oct. 31 holiday.

“I’m for anything that creates a sense of inclusion,” she said. “I feel like this is where we’ve come — It was the most logical step for the school.”

Woodson, who has two children at the school, and the PTA have worked with Principal Genee Varlack to develop the fall festival.

Instead of a parade of ghouls, children will decorate pumpkins, work on arts and crafts and participate in a 1-mile turkey trot. The day will conclude with apple pie and apple juice.

“When we celebrate a season, everybody can participate,” Varlack said.

Some counties have been holding fall festivals for several years.

“We do encourage fall festivals and things in connection with the season rather than Halloween,” said Don Morrison, a spokesman for Harford County schools, who said fall festivals have been around several years.

“Halloween is a long-standing tradition in some of the schools. It’s impossible to keep out of the schools, but we don’t encourage it.”

Anne Arundel school system spokesman Bob Mosier said decisions regarding Halloween were left up to the schools and there was no written policy. Most schools, though, are moving toward fall festivals, he said.

jkowalkowski@baltimoreexaminer.com