Just as kids enjoy dressing up in costumes and going trick-or-treating, adults get into the spirit of Halloween too, trying to outdo their neighbors with over the top decorations and heading to haunted houses and other spooky attractions.
And buying candy, lots and lots of candy. Overall, Americans are on track to spend more than ever on Halloween this year: $12.2 billion according to the National Retail Federation.
On this episode of Florida Matters, we talk about the business of Halloween and how it got so big, with Carol Osborne, director of the Zimmerman Advertising Program at the University of South Florida, and journalist and author of '100 things to do in Tampa Bay before you die', Kristen Hare.
And as WUSF's Steve Newborn finds out, in some places the scares are not all make-believe. Newborn takes us on a tour of the Tampa Theatre, where some believe the veil is lifted between this world and what possibly lies beyond.
Halloween-themed community events include a decorating contest in St. Petersburg's Old Northeast Neighborhood and the annual Spooky Strollin Tampa's Seminole Heights. And there are plenty of opportunities for families to go trick or treating in Sarasota, Lakeland, St. Petersburg and elsewhere around the greater Tampa Bay region.
