The Halloween Spirit Is Already Happening
2020 is the year of no-chill... why should the holiday season be any different? For years, the consumer animatronic market has been pretty stagnant. We get promised these Hollywood level productions only to open a box that was obviously built by the lowest bidder in China. It's just the way things are... That being said, as evident from the video, Spirit Halloween is actually trying this year, and it's probably because they're playing catch-up.
I'm fairly sure it was way back in either late March or early April that the rumor hit the web that Spirit Halloween was cancelling their normal Fall operations. No pop-up stores, no costume sales, literally nothing for the year 2020. While many people who follow them on social media remember those corporate posts, the official story is "it was a rumor" and things are going on as they do any year.
We know first hand that the staff at our Lawton Spirit Halloween has been busy putting the store together since early August. The promise of a little normalcy in an All Hallows Eve was a bright spot in an otherwise gloomy Summer. Then of course, the discussion swung to "Is the City of Lawton going to allow Halloween?" They've since answered that question too, but as much as our leadership tends to change positions as if they were playing parkour, I don't think they have the stones to challenge the first big holiday of the season anyway.
On the brighter side, people seem to be in the spirit. I'm a week away from putting my skeleton in my passenger seat for the month of October. I've had my Halloween tree up for two weeks now. I'm ready for the season to begin, especially since it already feels like fall outside anyway. It might be worth going full-Halloween this year.