Petition asks Gainesville to close Denton Street for trick-or-treating

A Gainesville resident is petitioning the city to keep cars off part of Denton Street in the historic district while children trick-or-treat this Halloween. Martin Phillips's petition asks the city to close Denton between Pecan and Hird streets during the busiest trick-or-treating hours on Oct. 31.

Minutes from the Sept. 1 City Council meeting record that Phillips asked for a Halloween street closure in the historic district. The minutes show no vote on the request and no decision to deny it. GvilleTX did not find a public statement from the City of Gainesville about the proposal.

The petition says a closure would make the walk safer for families and lower the risk of cars striking people on foot. It describes hundreds of children and families gathering in the neighborhood each Halloween. It gives no count and does not say where those families live. A 2026 update says the effort began in 2025 and asks earlier supporters to sign again.

Gainesville's parade ordinance, adopted in 2000, sets out how the city reviews permit applications. Officials who decide on an application must weigh traffic on nearby streets and normal police coverage. They must also consider access for fire crews and ambulances. For a single event, the ordinance generally calls for an application 10 to 180 days ahead, but the police chief may waive the minimum. An applicant who is denied has five days to appeal. The nonrefundable application fee is $25. Applicants may also owe charges for other city services, and they must pay for any extra police protection deemed necessary. Government agencies acting within their functions are exempt from these rules.

The Texas Department of Transportation said in an October 2025 release that pedestrian crashes and deaths in Texas usually peak at this time of year and that most happen after dark. A study of federal fatal-crash records from 1975 to 2016 compared Halloween evenings with the same hours one week before and one week after. It found pedestrian deaths more than 40 percent higher on Halloween, with a tenfold rise among children ages 4 to 8. The study used national data. It does not show whether a closure like the one Phillips proposes would reduce that risk.

In nearby Sherman, council minutes from Nov. 2, 2015, record an organizer thanking the council for closing Travis Street for trick-or-treating. He estimated that about 4,000 people came, far more than the few hundred he had expected.

Gainesville's Guiding Gainesville 2040 comprehensive plan calls for promoting downtown as a place for entertainment and events, with new festivals. The city's parks and trails master plan lists street fairs at the Farmers Market, with nearby streets closed to cars, as an action for the next one to three years. That recommendation applies to the Farmers Market site. It does not approve the Denton Street closure in the petition.

The city calendar lists other Halloween events. The ninth annual Scare on the Square runs from 1 to 3 p.m. on Oct. 31, with free activities and trick-or-treating at downtown businesses and the Farmers Market. The Frankie Fright Express runs Oct. 27 to 29 at Leonard Park, with trunk-or-treating from 6 to 8 p.m.