, with the reminder that \u201cwe\u2019re not back to Halloween as usual.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\nThat message has since expired. This year, crowds of children and their (sometimes reluctant) caretakers stretched westward on Club Boulevard from the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics.<\/span><\/p>\nMany homeowners on the stretch take this responsibility very seriously. The Eggers, who have lived on the street for 29 years, estimate they spend about $200 on candy every October.<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cThey call it the Club Boulevard Tax,\u201d Helen Egger told me from her porch, as she passed out candy with her adult children and friends. Her husband, Daniel Egger, was skeptical of the characterization. \u201cWho calls it that?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\nAs we spoke, a constant stream of costumed kids made their way up to the steps to fish around in the candy bowl. A small nurse combed through the bucket. She carefully held each piece up to the light until she found a satisfactory piece.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span>Some households silently protested the tax by shutting their doors and windows against the onslaught of sugar-hungry juveniles. One can only imagine the residents of such houses drawing their blackout curtains and climbing into root cellars to wait out the fearful night.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cA lot of our neighbors, when their kids weren\u2019t little anymore, stopped doing it,\u201d said Daniel Egger. His wife frowned at the thought. \u201cShe tells them they\u2019re mean,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cWhy don\u2019t you want to see adorable kids in costumes?\u201d wondered their daughter Rebecca Egger, who grew up on the boulevard.<\/span><\/p>\nAcross the street, April Henry, sporting green face paint, basked in the praise for her well-decorated home surrounded by plastic jack-o-lanterns and skeletons. \u201cEvery year you guys have the best house,\u201d said a 4-foot tall superhero.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cWow, I love all of your decorations,\u201d another child mumbled through a mouthful of chocolate.<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cEvery year my goal is to buy something new!\u201d Henry told her d\u00e9cor admirers. \u201cI tried talking my husband into getting a 12-foot skeleton but we weren\u2019t sure where we would store it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cTrick-or-treat, I\u2019m a haunted bed sheet!\u201d said a cloth-covered lump, while a Cinderella carefully hiked up her skirts to climb the stairs to Henry\u2019s porch.<\/span><\/p>\nHenry, who has lived on West Club Boulevard for 10 years, estimated she spends about $400 each year on jumbo bags of candy from Costco. Sometimes even that hasn\u2019t been enough to satiate the grabby little fairies and minions. \u201cYou want me to be honest? If my kids are home, I take candy out of their bags.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\nThe Eggers and Henrys said they usually see anywhere between 1,100 and 2,000 trick-or-treaters, citing handheld clicker counts from years past.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nA young woman and man carried a 2-month-old in a bundle of blankets. \u201cFor you,\u201d Henry said, pressing a few candy bars into the mother\u2019s hand. \u201cYou don\u2019t have to share,\u201d she said, eyeing the man.<\/span><\/p>\nHenry\u2019s house even attracts some adults in search of sweets. \u201cCan I get some candy? I\u2019m an immortal gay Victorian,\u201d said a costumed adult clutching a pride flag.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nMeanwhile, the Flash made his way up Henry\u2019s steps and peered into the bowl. \u201cIf you let him negotiate, he\u2019s going to negotiate, watch out,\u201d warned his mom. \u201cHe\u2019ll start trading stuff he already has.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cI like kit-kats,\u201d the Flash said innocently.<\/span><\/p>\nNot all costumes are cute. Henry averted her eyes from several clowns over the course of the night. \u201cThis is not good,\u201d she said, holding out the bowl. \u201cI\u2019m just going to look the other way.\u201d A small clown offered a garbled \u201cthank you\u201d through his mask.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nAcross the street, an oversized inflatable chicken wobbled its way towards another well-lit porch.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cEveryone\u2019s back on Club Boulevard!\u201d Henry exclaimed, dropping a chocolate bar into a plastic pumpkin as another clown climbed the steps to collect the Club Boulevard tax.<\/span><\/p>\nAbove: Halloween revelry on West Club Boulevard; the Egger family greets trick-or-treaters on their front porch. Photos by Rebecca Schneid \u2014 The 9th Street Journal\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It can feel difficult to find areas of consensus in our polarized country. But on Oct. 31 in Durham, a few universal truths were recognized…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8520,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-a-durham-moment","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n
A Durham Moment: \u201cEveryone\u2019s Back on Club Boulevard!\u201d - 9th Street Journal<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n