Teal Pumpkin Project Aims To Raise Awareness About Nut Allergies During Halloween Season

Halloween is one of the most highly anticipated holidays of the year for young children. The thrill of getting to dress up as their favorite cartoon or video game character, superhero or pop star, combined with the excitement of unfettered access to free candy, means they start talking about it and counting down the days as soon as the new school year begins.

For children with food allergies, and their parents, there is often an accompanying shadow of anxiety that can loom over Halloween, with the potential to put a serious damper on all that joy.

Beverly and Matt McGrath know all about this.

Their 4-year-old daughter, Eloise, has a peanut allergy, meaning that many of the most popular Halloween candies and treats pose a threat to her health.

The McGraths learned she was allergic to peanuts the hard way — giving her peanut butter when she was 7 months old, then watching as she broke out in hives and her lips swelled.

Their family, which includes 19-month-old twin boys, adjusted, but Beverly McGrath says it’s unlikely that Eloise will ever be able to eat peanut butter, and that presents a challenge.

“We’re finding it hard when she wants to be a normal kid,” she said. “At a birthday party, she had an epic meltdown because she couldn’t have cake, because we didn’t know who had made it and if there was peanut butter in their kitchen.”

In an effort to protect her daughter from that kind of disappointment — and do the same for other kids with food allergies — Beverly McGrath reached out to the Sag Harbor Chamber of Commerce and asked them to put the word out to local businesses and stores that participate every year in the popular Pumpkin Trail event for Halloween, to raise awareness of peanut and other food allergies.

The Pumpkin Trail is the main event for young children and their families for trick-or-treating on Halloween. Beverly McGrath shared information with commerce members, and asked them to pass the word along, about an organization called The Teal Pumpkin Project, an initiative of Food Allergy Research and Education (FARE).

The mission of the Teal Pumpkin Project is to raise food allergy awareness and make Halloween more inclusive for children with food allergies by offering the option of nonfood trinkets and toys in a separate bowl for trick-or-treaters. Those who choose to participate can put a free printable sign from FARE at their front door or put out a teal-colored pumpkin to signal their participation and support. They can also add their location to a detailed map on the FARE website that shows all the locations in any given neighborhood where people are participating in the Teal Pumpkin Project, allowing parents to map out their trick-or-treating route accordingly.

Beverly McGrath said she reached out to chamber members during HarborFest and that they were receptive, passing the word and information along to businesses that participate in the Pumpkin Trail every year.

“I think the whole thing I want is for people to be more aware about it,” she said. “I wanted to encourage businesses to participate and include a nonfood item, or there are so many brands that are top nine allergy free. There are so many kids with so many allergies, whether it’s peanut, dairy, sesame. The teal pumpkin is a symbol for kids walking by, that this is a safe place if you have an allergy.”

Ellen Dioguardi is the president of the Sag Harbor Chamber of Commerce and said she was happy to pass the word along to the businesses that participate in the Pumpkin Trail. She said the chamber has been doing the Pumpkin Trail for more than 35 years, which each business handing out close to 1,000 pieces of candy every year, and it’s been a great success, one they want to continue, and that in recent years they’ve made an effort to accommodate children with allergies, based on feedback from the community.

“Last year, one community member did reach out and ask us to please consider that some children suffer from food allergies,” Dioguardi said. “We got this message out to our membership with a link to the Teal Pumpkin information so they could be more informed. This year, we had one more community member reach out with the same request, and we will be alerting our membership to this concern again.

“At our recent membership meeting, we brought this up, a couple of businesses said they switched years ago to lollipops due to nut and chocolate allergies, some offer stickers as an alternative. Not all businesses who participate in the Pumpkin Trail are Chamber members (members have an official chamber pumpkin sign in their windows) but we’re making sure our membership knows about this concern so they can offer a choice or an alternative for anything that might be an issue.”

Beverly McGrath said she appreciates the understanding and support of the chamber and the community at large.

“I’m happy that it’s getting exposure,” she said. “It makes me happy that other people are caring about other people.”

For more information on the Teal Pumpkin Project, visit foodallergy.org/our-initiatives/awareness-campaigns/teal-pumpkin-project/map.