Adults seem to love Halloween as much as the kids

Happy Halloween, everyone! This used to be a great day for kids, but it seems so many adults are now determined to horn in on the fun.

Drive around town and you see Halloween decorations in practically every neighborhood. A story recently appeared online in which adults insisted they have as much of a right to go trick or treating as the kids.

More:Costumes and candy: Here is when trick-or-treating is scheduled for the Erie area

More:Dig in to this list of fall festivals, pumpkin patches and more underway, and ahead, for the season

One thing I enjoyed in years past at the newspaper offices was seeing parents who worked at the Times-News taking their youngsters, dressed in full costume, on a tour of the building. If they arrived at the various candy stations before the adults, they could make a pretty good haul.

Before you and the kids head out tonight, be sure your costumes won’t prevent you from seeing traffic or other threatening situations. And if you’re 8 or 80, you’re welcome to the candy at our house.

● The Philadelphia Phillies drive to the World Series just might punch Dave Dombrowski’s ticket to Baseball’s Hall of Fame. Dombrowski, 66, who serves as the Phillies president, has led teams to the World Series practically everywhere he’s worked in the big leagues.

He served as chief of the Florida Marlins, Detroit Tigers and Boston Red Sox when those teams won the World Series. Now he has a chance to duplicate that feat in Philadelphia.

Erie baseball fans remember Dombrowski well during the 13 years when he ran the Tigers, parent team of Erie’s SeaWolves. Dombrowski would visit Erie often during those years and he always graciously chatted with fans as he sat among them. It’s hard not to pull for a class act like Dombrowski.

● Horse racing season at Presque Isle Downs ended on Thursday. The casino bosses need to make some major changes and upgrades to lure fans back in 2023. I would say that the experiment of afternoon racing was a miserable failure.

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More:Presque Isle Downs & Casino earns more racing revenue in 2022 despite fewer horses

More:Presque Isle Downs & Casino cancels last day of horse racing after ‘safety concern’

● Nick Scott is smiling broadly after his Oliver’s restaurant on the top floor of the Hampton Inn on Erie’s bayfront was voted “Best Overall Restaurant on Lake Erie.” The award came from Lake Erie Living Magazine, and it’s quite an honor.

Scott said he’s greeted many couples that drive up from Pittsburgh to Oliver’s to celebrate their anniversary or some other big event. Oliver’s does offer a tremendous view of Presque Isle Bay.

● Sharp-eyed Carol Mingarelle spotted a reference in Buzz Bissinger’s book, “The Mosquito Bowl,” to World War II veteran James Quinn, of Erie. Bissinger’s book, which details “a game of life and death in World War II,” describes Quinn’s service in the war and tells the story of how he died heroically on June 4, 1945, on the Oroku Peninsula. Only 24 years old, he is buried on Honolulu in the National Memorial Cemetery.

Bissinger also wrote the best-selling “Friday Night Lights.”

● According to Faith magazine, the interior renovations at St. Peter Cathedral are almost finished. The blue ceilings are strikingly beautiful, and this makeover of the cathedral seems much more appealing than the renovations of two decades ago.

The smaller steeple on the south side of the front of the cathedral remains covered by scaffolding ― practically all the way to the top. The church, built in 1893, has needed a lot of TLC over the years.

● This seems to be a big year for acorns, as our front lawn below a large pin oak tree is covered with them. Every time the wind blows, and more acorns fall to the ground, our dog barks. Then she goes nuts when the squirrels scurry around and grab the acorns.

● What a year it’s been for Kathy Lynch, the former basketball hall of famer from St. Bonaventure University who then enjoyed a three-decade career as a college hoops referee.

Earlier this year, Lynch was inducted into the Erie Women’s Golf Association Hall of Fame, and now the girls high school golf team she coaches, Mercyhurst Prep, just finished second in the state.

For subscribers:Erie County female sports pioneers: Women who have made a difference in area athletics

● Sorry to hear that Icing on the Lake, the excellent bakery in the West Erie Plaza, plans to close at the end of the year. The cupcakes made there are to die for.

● Lou Baxter, news director emeritus and special projects coordinator at WJET TV-24, is excited about the recent national publicity Erie’s Land Lighthouse received in two magazines. Baxter points out that the TV station’s weather camera is perched atop the lighthouse.

More:3 new restaurants opening in Erie area: one in Corry, 2 in Millcreek. Icing on the Lake to close

● In an age when tens of millions of dollars are pumped into political races, two handwritten letters promoting different candidates arrived in our mailbox in the past two weeks. Years ago, this was a popular and inexpensive way to campaign, and it was usually effective. In this modern age, I don’t know if this method will work, but I suspect that it might.

Erie 2022 general election:Everything you need to know before heading to the polls Nov. 8

● Pleasant fall weather in the past two weeks helped attract anglers from far away to come to this area to fish for steelhead trout. The creeks have been loaded with fish that swim in from Lake Erie to spawn. I love watching the sleek and powerful steelhead when they soar over obstacles in the water.

Crowded out?Stream access builds concern despite Erie-area steelhead fishery successes

Kevin Cuneo can be reached at kevin.cuneo1844@gmail.com.

Kevin Cuneo

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Kevin Cuneo: Happy Halloween to all, the Phillies head to World Series