Ogilvie, MN to trick-or-treat for first time in 30 years

A Minnesota town hasn’t had a Halloween of trick-or-treating in about 30 years, all due to a ban that never actually existed.

For more than three decades, those living in the town of Ogilvie, Minn. have had to travel for miles just to trick-or-treat, but this year one family is bringing the tradition back and putting some long standing, ghoulish rumors to rest.

Loralie Leonhard, a wife and mother of two, says the small town deserves to have a real Halloween again.

“I just kind of want to do the old fashioned trick-or-treating,” Leonhard said. “People that have lived here forever think it has been banned!”

After moving to Ogilvie, which is home to about 375 people, Leonhard’s husband learned the hard way about the lack of trick or treating.

“I moved in the put up a few decorations and left a porch light on and got a bowl of candy and dressed up and waited for trick or treaters to show up and nobody showed up and that was pretty odd to me,” Dave Leonhard, who is also a member of the Ogilvie City Council said. “I've always felt we were missing something by not having trick or treating.”

Mayor Mark Nilson says the rumors of a trick or treating ban here date all the way back to the 1980s.

“There was issues with the treats having needles and razor blades and contraband of different kinds put it in and it was very unsafe,” Nilson said.

However, there was never an official law making it illegal.

“We couldn't find anything that said it was against the law, it was just not recommended,” Nilson said. “It was just kind of accepted that nobody trick or treated in Ogilvie.”

Robin Etter has had to travel at least seven miles to trick or treat for years.

“I grew up in Ogilvie. I've been here since I was 5 years old,” Etter said. “We always had to go to Mora and I had a daughter and had to take her to Mora.”

Heading to Mora wasn’t always easy, often people wondered why she was not celebrating Halloween in her home town. 

“'Where you from? what town do you live in? where if you don't live in Mora we've not giving you any candy!' which hurt when you were a kid,” Etter said of the experience.

Others have also felt the burden of having to travel for candy.

“I don't really like loading up everything and getting into the car because it's very uncomfortable when you have a costume on. Sitting and having to buckle up and stuff. I just want to go around with my friends and go around in the neighborhood,” Aurora Field said.

But now, much to Field’s delight, decorations are starting to go up around Ogilvie.

“I wonder if they have big Hershey’s bars or something!” Field said with excitement after seeing one house brimming with decorations.

The excitement is starting to catch on.

One of the things the Leohnards are most looking forward to is reviving and keeping the long standing tradition alive in Ogilvie. If you'd like to join the town as they bring trick or treating back to their town this weekend click here.