Despite the pandemic, John Bogart never considered not setting up the extensive Halloween haunted cemetery this year in front of his Windsor home.
He does it every year and decided 2020 would be no different.
"People need some normalcy once in a while, and Halloween brought some normalcy to a lot of people," Bogart told BlackburnNews.com.
In the past, Bogart has collected donations for Toys for Tots. This year, he decided the homeless would be the benefactor, so he contacted the Downtown Mission.
"I collected 1,494 socks," he said. "I'm going to add another six pairs to make it an even 1,500 for the year. It's actually the most requested clothing item."
Typically, he sees around 500 kids at his home on Caledon Court in Forest Glade. COVID-19 did mean lower numbers this year, but about 300 still came out.
"A lot of them had masks on," he said, explaining the protocols taken to protect children from the spread of the virus. "I have hay bales at the end of my driveway, so they just came up individually, and I handed out candy with tongs."
Bogart expects the Downtown Mission to pick up the socks on Monday and plans to collect socks again for it next Halloween.