Halloween changing in Granville: Town back to door-to-door trick-or-treating
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GRANVILLE - Town council will join its neighbors, Morgantown and Star City, when welcoming ghouls and goblins, voting Tuesday to hold trick-or-treat hours on Halloween, Oct. 31.
Previously, Morgantown City Council and Star City Town Council voted to always schedule trick-or-treat hours on Halloween, no matter what day it falls on. This year, Halloween is a Saturday.
Granville also decided to again have door-to-door trick-or-treating.
"Several of my neighbors have said they prefer door-to-door," said Councilor Patty Forbes, who was out of town but attended the meeting via speaker phone.
Forbes said at least one neighbor asked that the town send out postcards to let residents know about the Halloween plans so they can prepare.
Halloween 2025 was the first in several years that Granville returned to door-to-door trick-or-treating. For several years previous, the town hosted a Halloween party at Granville Park, complete with a DJ and refreshments.
The party "is a lot of work and a lot of work for our employees," said Mayor Patricia Lewis. "I've had people ask me already because they want to get decorations in their yards."
Council decided to set trick-or-treat hours as Halloween approaches.
Parks and Recreation
Becky Campbell, director of Parks and Recreation, said she will be checking into why work has not been scheduled on the town's softball fields. Council voted July 14 to approve $18,065 for Allpro Sportsfields in Ruffs Dale, Pa., to make necessary improvements to the fields, which host Mountaineer and Westwood middle schools' softball teams as well as USA softball tournaments and are busy from March through the summer months.
Campbell said she would reach out to Allpro and try to schedule the work for late September or early October, when no softball tournaments or events are planned.
Campbell told council that USA Softball has not been planning as many large tournaments as in past years and she is looking into attaching Monongalia County Softball league to a newer organization that may be more active.
"I'd like to see one [tournament] where we have to worry about parking," she said.
Campbell said Mon County Softball will soon have a new president and expects to know more about the new organization in Spring 2027.
Town police and fire departments
Police Chief Brian Hill reported that there were five candidates to join the ranks of the police department and conditional offers were made to three of them. One declined the offer. They must now conduct background checks before officially making any hires.
Hill said one of the officers can start next month, while the other would have to wait for the next class of the West Virginia State Police Academy, which will be in January.
Fire Chief Charles Renner said a new firefighter will be joining his crews Saturday and is expected to be sworn-in early next week.
Council approved a 14th paid firefighter for the department at its July 28 meeting. Renner previously said this additional firefighter will be plugged into one of the crews, but also used to fill in on the other crews when needed. The paid firefighters make up three of four crews working 24-hour shifts.
Public Works
Chip Buzzo, assistant supervisor of Public Works, updated council on the ongoing projects by his department, including sealing roads in University Town Centre and cleaning streets and edging sidewalks on Main Street and in the town center.
The department has also been monitoring drainage conditions throughout town.
Granville Town Council next will meet at 7 p.m. Sept. 8 at Town Hall, 1245 Main St.