A HALLOWEEN-crazy Erewash town will again lay claim to being the trick-or-treat capital of the UK – as kiddies in their thousands swarm through its shopping streets clad as ghosts and witches.
The children of Ilkeston – many of them just toddlers – don scary costumes as parents take them around stores offering free sweets in what has become a spook-tacular family tradition.
This year’s fancy dress extravaganza on Friday 31 October is poised to be the biggest yet – six years after a big-hearted retired policeman imported the idea from the pumpkin-mad USA.
Ex-bobby Joe Cahill, 69, said: “I used to visit my brother in Florida at Halloween. Shops and businesses there hand out treats – so I thought, Why not do the same in Ilkeston?”
The Ilkeston Trick or Treat Trail debuted in 2019 after he lobbied town centre businesses to provide sweets. It has now become a monster event – with almost every shop letting youngsters fill their baskets. Last year saw children visiting everywhere from Specsavers to the town hall. Trentbarton put a Halloween-themed bus on the Market Place – and it will be appearing again. In the past even a funeral parlour has joined in – thrilling youngsters with a Ghostbusters hearse.
Joe has long campaigned to keep the town thriving by ending the blight of shops being left empty. The grandad is behind a Facebook group with 5,600 members called Ilkeston’s Incredible Shops. He paid tribute to all the businesses who buy trick-or-treat sweets to dish out. Joe grinned: “My brother Adrian says Ilkeston has taken the idea and smashed it. It is now a much bigger event here than in Florida!” Among the official stops on the Halloween trail is the Erewash Museum, which is near the Market Place. It will be tempting youngsters with an “All Treat and No Trick” experience from 11am to 4pm. Children are invited to “discover a treat behind every door – no scary surprises here, just sweet fun and smiles for all ages”.
Erewash’s Mayor Cllr Harry Atkinson will be taking part in the trail. Council Deputy Leader Cllr Becca Everett, who is Lead Member for Community Engagement, described the event as “a terrific example of local people showing community spirit and kindness”. She said: “All credit to Joe for turning it into such a huge event. He has become a great champion for shops and businesses in the town.”
The former cop remains modest – despite having won an MBE for his youth work in the past. He described himself as “just a retired Ilkeston bloke who loves the town of my birth”. The Ilkeston Trick or Treat Trail kicks off at 3:30pm and lasts until around 5pm . . . “or when the sweets run out”. Some of the participating business are listed below:
BATH STREET: Bespoke Funeral Care; The Stanton Cask; Premier Community Mobility; Little Warrens Den; Petals Florist; Framed and Locked up; Rays second hand shop; Paragon Marshall Arts Academy; Leigh-Marie hair salon; Little Footsteps Boutique children’s wear; Hereditary Breast Cancer charity shop; Studio Mega Sun; B Beauty; Specsavers; Bargain Den; Emz4Massage; Slightly Potty; Ryders Bar; Mabels 1902; Heron foods; D I Blow Opticians; Spring Cottage New; Nottingham Building Society; Renshaw Wealth – Mortgage & Financial; Renshaw Estates; Annie’s Coffee shop; Purplehaze’s Parlour; Totally Polished beauty Training Academy / Salon; Tangled Hair and Beauty/Hair HQ; Trent Barton; The Market Inn; Scala cinema; GRANBY STREET: The Vape Shop Hemo HQ; SOUTH STREET: The Hub; Hair and Beauty Collective; Legs Wine Bar; Treetops; Delilah’s Bar and Bistro; Tudor Jewellers; The Spanish Bar; Earls Hair & Beauty; Ilkeston Sewing and Janome (Market St); ON WAY INTO TOWN: Ward’s Environmental (old Albion Leisure); Manor Health & Racquets; Morrisons; Rutland Sports Park; Morrisons Daily (Little Hallam Lane): The General Havelock; House of Antiques at Armstrong’s Mill; Home from Home café (Station Road).
Pictured: Squeals on the bus . . . families queue to board ghostly Trentbarton attraction – and Trick or Treat Trail youngsters on Ilkeston’s Bath Street
