Itβs not the spooky decorations in their yard or the creepy music that has carloads of children showing up to their Glen Ellyn home on Halloween.
Susan Woods and her husband, Tyler, give out candy, but thatβs not why the neighborhood children line up on their front steps and down the street.
In their matching skeleton aprons, the husband-and-wife team cook and serve 350 hot dogs β all placed in buns and wrapped individually in foil β for trick-or-treaters.
βItβs absolutely bonkers. Hundreds of people come,β neighbor Tracy Mehr said.
The Woods family has been turning out Halloween hot dogs from their hillside Glen Ellyn home for the past 14 years. Around town, itβs known as the βhot dog house.β A separate condiment table is set up on the lawn so trick-or-treaters can help themselves to whatever toppings they want.
βItβs just so darn fun that we just have to keep doing it,β Susan Woods said. βItβs worth it. And itβs a fun memory for our family.β
When unsuspecting visitors arrive β child-size witches and vampires thinking they were only having candy for dinner β theyβre in for a surprise.
The hot dog bundle slides down PVC pipes from the front porch and out a huge skeleton face, through the right eye socket. Candy flies out the left.
Never one to rest on her laurels, Woods invented the hot dog delivery system β the 15-foot-long βHalloween hot dog slideβ β in a time of social distancing.
βSheβs just joyful, generous, fun and funny and committed to the community and just has been an absolute stellar friend to us and an amazing neighbor,β Mehr said.
The hot dogs β Woods buys in bulk β take over the fridge. All those frankfurters are cooked in big stock pots on the stove and kept warm in five roasters. While the parents work the kitchen, their children β Nile, a sophomore at Glenbard West High School, and Sylvia, a fifth grader β help send hot dogs down the slide before they go off on their Halloween haunts.
βIt is a lot of work,β Woods said. βYour kitchen kind of gets messy at the end of the night. Itβs kind of organized chaos.β
She doesnβt sweat the kitchen chaos. She relishes it. Sheβs a nurse who used to work a night shift in the ER on Halloween, a mom of two, a proud do-it-yourselfer.
βWe wanted to just keep it old-fashioned. We wanted to keep it simple,β Woods said. βWe didnβt want it to be fancy pantsy. People over the years, our neighbors, would say why donβt you hire someone or why donβt you cater it? We donβt want it to be something that itβs not.β
The idea seems simple: who doesnβt want a warm hot dog, essential Chicago food, on a chilly fall evening? For Woods, Halloween hot dogs are a taste of her childhood in Iowa.
Back in grade school, she and her friends would map out their trick-or-treating route weeks in advance. If their timing was right, they would get homemade popcorn balls from one house and grilled hot dogs from another.
βYou knew the dentist who gave out toothbrushes. And there was one house at the very end of a long street and they gave out full-size candy bars,β Woods recalled. βWe kind of just planned our route according to that. But there was always something special about the house that had hot dogs.β
Woods grew up in Council Bluffs, a city in southwest Iowa. This was the β80s. Trick-or-treating didnβt start until it was dark outside. Her mom made her Halloween costumes. She still remembers the brick house where she could have a hot dog dinner.
βItβs just a fun memory that I had as a kid,β Woods said, βand I just wanted to pass it on to my neighborhood and a new generation of kids.β
As newlyweds, Woods and her husband got out the grill and rekindled those memories. They started passing out Halloween candy and hot dogs from their home in Des Moines. The hot dog tradition continued when they moved to Wisconsin and then to Glen Ellyn in 2009. They had about 70 trick-or-treaters that year.
βI was really surprised and I thought, βOK, thatβs kind of weird or different,ββ Mehr said. βAnd then I saw people are maniacs for it.β
Woods and her husband ditched the grill and beefed up production to keep up with crowds. As for condiments, they have relish, mustard and β this might sound scary to Chicago-style purists β extra ketchup. βIn fact, I put out two ketchup bottles,β Woods said.
As word-of-mouth spread, the hot dog line kept getting longer and longer. The house became the stuff of Halloween legend.
βWe could be outside in the middle of summer, mowing the grass or planting flowers or whatever and kids will ride their bikes by ... and then theyβll be someone who says, βAre you the hot dog house?β β Woods said.
She and her husband can prepare, at most, 350 franks. They donβt keep track of the cost. Itβs a βlabor of love,β Tyler Woods said.
βAll the neighborhood kids enjoy it,β he said. βOur kidsβ friends come over now and theyβre hanging out in the yard if itβs nice enough. The yardβs full of kids.β
When their children were little, they took turns trick-or-treating with them and staying home to distribute hot dogs. Last October, Susan Woods was on crutches after she broke her ankle. She usually goes to her daughterβs elementary school Halloween parade, jogs home and starts getting the hot dogs ready.
βWe made it work. You canβt be the hot dog house and not have hot dogs,β she said.
The family encourages parents to take a dog, too. They tend to run out by 5:30 p.m.
βIt is just a gas,β Wehr said. βIt really creates such wonderful energy in the neighborhood.β
The neighbors roast each other. Sheβs a βgreat foilβ and she gives as good as she gets, Wehr said. Hot dog puns aside, theyβre a creative, thoughtful and generous couple, he said.
βThey love joy and love to be busy and love projects,β Wehr said.
Some kids show up toting a Halloween candy haul, Susan Woods said, but itβs the hot dog that they remember most.
βHopefully, they can pass it forward as well,β she said, βand there could be more hot dog houses later on down the road.β
https://www.dailyherald.com/news/20231030/house-of-frankfurter-how-glen-ellyn-family-gives-hundreds-of-hots-dogs-to-trick-or-treaters