October it figures

Trick or Trivia

Acres in Matt and Mark Cooley’s Dixon, Calif. corn maze, considered the world’s largest: 45

Number of cities in the U.S. holding Green Halloween events: More than 70

Number of lit jack-o’-lanterns displayed at a 2006 pumpkin festival in Boston: 30,128

Number of people dressed as zombies who attended the world’s largest gathering of living-dead wannabes, in 2011 in Seattle: 4,522

Amount champion carver Ray Villafane of Arizona makes for giving a pumpkin-carving demonstration: $2,500

Hours it can take him to create one of his finely detailed, carved, pumpkin faces: 12

Ages of costumed youngsters treated to a free bag of apple slices on Halloween night, 2011, at McDonald’s throughout Southern California: Under 12

Safety Snippets

Cases of bagged apple slices headed for McDonald’s and Burger King meals that were recalled in August over possible listeria contamination: 300,000

Percent of home safety hazards that parents of 1- to 3-year-olds identified in a study: 47

Percent of hazards healthcare professionals identified: 29

Percent overall drop in accidental deaths among children and adolescents since 2000: 30

Percent increase since 2007 in children treated for accidental drug overdoses: 20

Minutes a bottle cap must keep 85 percent of 5-year-olds from opening in order to be considered “child-proof”: 5

Sources: Coolpatchpumpkins.com, Greenhalloween.org, Science World, WSJ.com, sdmcdonalds.com, Nation’s Restaurant News, Consumer Health News, Redbook