Westwood Postpones Trick-or-Treating to Thursday

With many still without power in Westwood Monday afternoon, town officials announced the decision to postpone trick-or-treating to Thursday, Nov. 3.

The decision comes after left a significant amount of damage around town, mostly to power lines and tree limbs. 

"With (residents) out of service, and some instances of having wires hanging with lines and brush and tree debris still in most of the neighborhoods, it is for safety reasons," said Town Administrator Mike Jaillet. "We are doing what many of the other communities are doing and postponing trick-or-treating."

The main concern, Jaillet emphasized, was in regards to child safety. NSTAR crews have been working to restore power to much of the state; as of Monday noontime, NSTAR reported that 509 residents (about 10 percent of the power company's customer base in town) were still without power in Westwood. 

And postponing Halloween isn't a decision officials came to lightly, but felt it was needed for safety precautions.

"We've never had a snow storm like this in October," Jaillet said. "We've never found it necessary."

Meanwhile, residents still without power are encouraged to through the end of the week. 

Officials had opened up the emergency shelter at the school on Sunday night due to the number of power outages and impending frigid temperatures. 

Due to low demand, however, the shelter was closed around 8 p.m., Jaillet said, as many who arrived at the shelter were only present for a short period, and returned home after their power was restored. 

He added, though, that the town is more than willing to comply with residents who still face outages, and those residents are asked to contact Westwood Police at 781-320-1000 with any questions or concerns.