Halloween should be a fun celebration for many households in the country, but one HOA board in Knoxville, Tennessee, is trying to gatekeep it. Recently, a Redditor shared a facepalm-inducing notice, where some HOA board members are trying to keep Halloween guests away from their community. The ironic thing here is that these entitled people are trying to do this, not in a gated community, but in an open one, raising many eyebrows among those residents who are expecting people on the spookiest day of the year.
Redditor blasequeen shared the image of a HOA board that sent out a Halloween notice in a community in Knoxville, Tennessee. In the image, you can see how the board starts talking about how they want to enjoy this festivity and prioritize the kids who live in it. So far, so great. However, it seems that the board isn’t too happy about outside guests, as last year they suffered from “depleted candy supplies.” So, the best HOA solution is to ban all outsiders from their celebration.
If you read further down the notice, you can see how the board is gatekeeping trick-or-treating for the kids in this community, meaning that if other children arrive to ask for candies, HOA members will give them the metaphorical boot. Furthermore, here’s the kicker: the HOA board is asking for volunteers to stand watch at the entrance so they can check which vehicles are entering and leaving a public street. Emphasis on public.
On top of that, the ones who wrote the notice kindly encourage those who are expecting outside visits to “make alternate plans.” If this isn’t entitlement, I don’t know what is.
While there’s nothing wrong with trying to prioritize the kids who live inside this place, the truth is that this isn’t the way. If you live on an open street, it doesn’t matter if you are part of a HOA; the street is open to all, and you can’t ban trick-or-treating. Then again, HOAs tend to believe they have more rights and power than any other citizen around, so lo and behold.
Naturally, this eye-rolling situation drew many comments online, with some stating facts about this entitled notice and a few others throwing funny remarks at whoever wrote it.
“Unless it’s a gated community, they can’t stop anyone from entering,” said HollowForge.
“I have no issue with outside kids. I just hate when parents drive door to door. Make them walk. Make them work for it,” commented Lorgskyegon.
Hopefully, the HOA board will back down from this statement. But let’s face it, it’s more realistic to expect Freddy Krueger to appear during Halloween than to expect HOA members to have some common sense.
