I mentioned earlier something about terrible jokes for Beggar’s Night and got… um… no questions over what I meant by Beggar’s Night. All the same, I wanted to share a local tradition that is unique (I believe) to the Des Moines area. You see, trick-or-treaters are expected to share a joke before getting candy unless they are too young. Nobody withholds the candy for lack of a joke, but the child and their parents are known to be transplants and not native central Iowans. We take pride in our local culture here and appreciate it when transplants learn the customs and share in them with us. It’s neighborly. It’s a reciprocity of “Iowa nice.”
Here’s a story shamefully lifted from the Des Moines Register. If you click through to it, you will come to a page with video and sound that plays automatically.
Detroit has Hell Night.
Carbondale, Ill., used to have Fright Night.
When it comes to bizarre local Halloween traditions, however, few communities can match the Des Moines metro area and its 60-plus-year-old ritual of – well, let’s just call it Bad Joke Night.
In most places, the Halloween tradition goes like this: The kid says, “Trick-or-treat.” The homeowner gives him candy.
In Des Moines and surrounding suburbs, it’s more like this: The kid says, “Trick or treat.” The homeowner says “What’s your trick?” Then the kid tells a joke of the sort usually found on Bazooka gum wrappers.
Why didn’t the skeleton cross the road?
He didn’t have any guts.Whether or not the homeowner is amused, the kid gets candy.
