Dover plans to move forward with trick or treating on Halloween and its annual holiday celebration in December.
Mayor Robin Christiansen expects the events to go on, and for those participating to wear face masks and social distance since COVID-19 still poses a threat.
Christiansen says the city wants to do this for the kids -and he believes trick or treating can be done safely.
"Children travel in small groups with adults or their older brothers and sisters. They are not going to be in a mass of four or five thousand people marching down the street," said Christiansen. "It's going to be no more threat with little individual groups and families walking up and down the streets trick or treating than it is for people to go to Lowes, Walmart, Home Depot."
Christiansen adds Dover’s Home for the Holidays in December - which includes a Christmas marketplace and other festivities downtown - will take place both in person and remotely.
"We're going to probably do some of it virtually, some of it in person, but it's going to be an event where we kick off the holiday season for all of our merchants here in the city and just bring a little bit of hope back to the children, to the families, and to the city of Dover that there is a light at the end of the tunnel," Christiansen said.
He notes the city has already sponsored concerts where families safely stay within circles and everyone remained socially distanced from each other.