What city would you guess to be the halloween capital of the world? Salem, Massachusetts? Derry City, Ireland? Somewhere in Romania? Sleepy Hollow, New York? No, it's Anoka, Minnesota. The story of exactly how Anoka was first bestowed that title was lost when fire destroyed the original documents, but the declaration has been made again since then. There's no doubt that Anoka goes big for Halloween, with celebrations lasting the full month of October, and touches of Halloween available all year long. The origin of these celebrations goes back a full century.
It all began on November 1, 1919, the day after Halloween, when Anoka residents woke up to a prank of epic proportions at the hands of some of the local youth. As the sun rose, community members were greeted by wagons parked precariously on rooftops, overturned outhouses and cows roaming freely throughout downtown and inside the halls of the county jail. To prevent a similar debacle from happening the following year, civic leaders banded together to create a Halloween celebration that would not only prove entertaining for people of all ages, but would also curb any attempts at future hijinks.
“[Before the inaugural event], the pranks were getting bigger and bigger, with kids throwing chickens off of buildings,” says John Jost, who serves as chair of the celebration’s 100th anniversary, which will occur in 2020. “It had to stop. That was the purpose of the celebration, to divert pranksters and keep them busy.”
Anoka has embraced the holiday ever since. Check out the city's Halloween website. Read about Anoka and its Halloween obsession at Smithsonian.