I remember when I was growing up. When my parents wanted to go out Christmas shopping I only had a few options. I could stay home alone with my sister. I could head over to a friend's house and hope they were doing something fun. Or I had to head over to my aunt's house.
Once that calendar changed to October everything fun and just a little bit spooky took precedence in Amarillo. We didn't even really wait until the start of the month. We are ready for all the fall activities.