Portage la Prairie, MB-
A new bus tour operator is looking to cash in on a growing trend and change how Portage does Halloween.
The Great Canadian Halloween Pumpkin Tour Company is already half sold out for next year and hoping to haul all Portage treat seekers to communities around Portage rather than canvassing our streets.
“Our pitch to parents is to give us twenty bucks and we’ll take your kids to communities around Portage,” owner Paul Romanski said. “Portage parents will be able to turn the lights out and let us gather candy from neighbouring places.”
Romanski got the idea after watching kids being brought to Portage in vans and school buses for years.
“Rural places like to come to Portage for candy so I think its time for us to reverse the trend,” Romanski explained. “I run a tourism company so I thought the kids and parents would love this. We can offer the relative safety of smaller rural settings and freedom from handing out candy.”
The tour company believes there are large stock piles of candy and treats that have been building up in these other communities and this could mean Portage kids can really cash in by travelling out-of-town.
“I think we’ll be bringing some joy to those poor souls left behind in these rural communities waiting for kids in costumes. Can you imagine how sad it would be to sit there year after year with no kids coming by?” Romanski shared.
If the company continues to fill its bookings at the current rate an announcement on cancelling Halloween could come by Christmas.
“It would be cool if Portagers could know by December that they won’t have to hand out candy next year,” Romanski said. “The towns around us would have some warning as well that they may have to bus their kids to Winnipeg or Brandon.”
The Halloween Tour Company sees some great potential in expanding into larger centres like Winnipeg and Brandon.
“For sure, we’d like to start bringing kids out of Winnipeg but it might be hard because Halloween is a scary day and most Winnipeggers are terrified to leave the city so we’ll have a challenge for sure.”
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