Las Vegas Scores Wicked High For Best Halloween

A list of the best cities in the country to spend Halloween dropped recently. Las Vegas is not at the very top, but we're scary close. So let's see where we nailed the All Hallow's Eve celebration. And where these guys think we can do better next year.

The survey comes from Wallethub. They compared 100 cities based on a variety of Halloween-relevant factors. Including the number of potential trick-or-treaters and potential trick-or-treat shops. Costumes stores per capita and candy stores per capita was also looked at. As well as more general things like crime rates and weather.

First things first. Las Vegas was the clear winner for "Halloween Fun" (obvi!). We scored at the number one spot for that category. Which included costume stores, party supply stores and candy and chocolate stores per capita. Also the number of pumpkin patches, farms and haunted houses per capita were counted. For some reason, they also measured the number of movie theaters and movie ticket prices. Which we won't complain about because that probably helped our average in the category.

Two areas in the Las Vegas valley were specifically on the list of costume stores per capita. Las Vegas was on the list of most costume stores at tying for number one. But North Las Vegas was on the list of fewest at number 96. We also tied for number one on the list of most candy and chocolate stores per capita.

Scoring so high on the Halloween fun list is definitely why we ended up so close to the top overall. Because we kind of tanked in the other two categories. We came in at number 40 in "Trick-or-Treat Friendliness" (wallethub.com). That measured things including crime rate, perceived safety, and ease of walkability in trick-or-treating areas. Henderson did come in at number four on the list of cities with the lowest crime rate. New York City took the number one spot in this category. Surprisingly, Las Vegas also scored low in the weather category. We landed at number 38 there. Sacramento took the number one spot in best Halloween weather.

Overall, the Silver State took the silver medal for the list of Best Places For Halloween (2023). Our total score was 63.52. The number one spot went to New York, NY, who killed the competition with a total score of 74.38. Second place and beaten only by the Big Apple? Sure...we'll take that.

-Wendy Rush, 96.3KKLZ

First of all, let's answer the question everyone is asking: What the heck is in this stuff? According to vox.com, the recipe for Brach's candy corn is sugar, corn syrup, confectioner's glaze, salt, dextrose, gelatin, sesame oil, and honey. And then a bunch of artificial colors and flavor additives. So, sugar, sugar, sugar, more sugar, and then some additives.

The treat was first made to resemble corn because it was made in a time that much of society were farmers. And corn was something that was familiar to them. This insight comes from the Unwrapped episode of How Candy Corn Is Made on the Food Network. You can check out the whole video here.

According the video, 1898 was approximately the year the Goelitz candy company started making their candy corn. Which has a different recipe than that of Brach's. They include vanilla flavoring and marshmallow creme in their recipe. It was a candy maker from Philadelphia, named George Renninger, that's given the credit for inventing the candy corn. Which he did in the late 1880's (vox.com).

Some folks, like Susan Whiteside from the National Confectioners Association, think there's a reason for candy corn's popularity. And that it might be because it's only available one time of year (vox.com). Which makes sense. Would we like peppermint ice cream so much if it wasn't just sold at Christmastime?

The Food Network says that over 20 million pounds of candy corn from various candy makers will be sold just at Halloween time. And you know you're going to find them in every nook and cranny after Halloween passes. So what are we to do with all that candy? We came up with a few tasty ideas.

-Wendy Rush, 96.3KKLZ

This recipe will satisfy any sweet tooth looking for a hot drink. It's mixed with white chocolate chips and cream. And you can do it in a slow cooker with this recipe. Or make it in less than 15 minutes with this recipe.

There are two ways I recommend doing these. You can either mix the candy corn in the batter before you lay it all out in the pan. Or you can melt the candy down and drizzle it on top of the pan of treats before you cut. Either way, it'll be tasty. Here's an easy recipe to use.

Mix candy corns in the batter of your favorite sugar cookie recipe. Or for a real sweet treat, add it to this white chocolate chip cookie recipe. Yum!

This recipe takes just candy corn, milk and cream. And you can make it even sweeter by sprinkling more candy corn on top. Here's the recipe.

This is the easiest thing to do with leftover candy corn. Make it the sweet ingredient in any snack or trail mix. You can add any mixture of popcorn, pretzels, cashews, peanuts or any other salty favorite. Try out this recipe to get you going.

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