It’s not just candy filling up Halloween bags this year; some kids are walking away with something a little more… starchy.
Across the country, a new Halloween trend is taking root, swapping candy for potatoes.
Viral videos on TikTok and Instagram show homeowners handing out russets and Yukon Golds to laughing trick-or-treaters.
In Lancaster, Pennsylvania, one man known locally as the “Potato Man” helped spark the craze.
Pat Foy tells KDKA Radio, “it became a thing where you had a choice, candy or potato and they were big, baking potatoes, they weren’t dinky little things and you had to choose, you couldn’t have both and the kids latched on to it and we’re up to 200-pound of potatoes plus candy every year.”
Foy says when trick-or-treat is over, he’ll still have some candy left over, but the potatoes will all be gone.
He started offering spuds for fun about 20 years ago., and now kids actually look forward to getting one calling it a prize bigger than any candy bar.
Parents say it’s a refreshing break from the sugar rush, and for many neighborhoods, the potato giveaway has become part of the Halloween fun.