Natchez &8212; Saturday or Monday? That was the question flying around the trick or treat set Thursday.

A day after Mayor Phillip West and the Natchez Board of Aldermen announced Halloween would be observed on Saturday, the mayor said people &8220;could do as they please.&8221;

&8220;Those who want to celebrate it on Saturday can do that and those who want to celebrate on Monday can do that,&8221; he said.

Natchez residents reacted loudly to the amended celebration date, citing weekend plans made long ago &8212; parties, homecoming dances, trips, even an LSU home game &8212; plans that were designed around a Monday night candy rampage.

&8220;If they were going to change Halloween, they should have done it a week or two ago,&8221; Kurt Russ said.

Russ said he called the mayor&8217;s office twice in the previous weeks to see if the city was going to shift observance of the holiday to Saturday and was told &8216;no&8217; both times. So he went ahead and planned a party for Saturday night.

He said he didn&8217;t want to sound overly critical and that &8220;it&8217;s a trivial thing&8230; But I wish they had thought ahead.&8221;

To hear the mayor and aldermen tell it, nobody thought very much about changing the date.

West said he polled the board at the end of Tuesday&8217;s scheduled meeting and a couple of them didn&8217;t have an opinion and a couple said to move it to Saturday. So he proposed the celebration be moved to Saturday and that was that.

Several aldermen said the mayor suggested it, they didn&8217;t see why not, they voted, and that was that.

&8220;Nobody thought it would be that controversial,&8221; West said.

Either way, somebody should have known not to move a celebration the week before, miffed parents said.

&8220;I don&8217;t mind the switch at all, I just think we should have had a little more time to prepare for it,&8221; Janet Dillard said.

Both Vidalia and Ferriday are having Halloween on Monday. Vidalia Police Chief Billy Hammers said the city only moves Halloween on years it falls on a Sunday.

Now that the mayor has given the all-clear sign for either day, parents are going to have to decide which day to embrace.

Faced with the potential for two nights of candy-grabbing, Natchez Police Chief Mike Mullins said his officers would be able to keep the peace and encouraged people to be careful.

&8220;If you&8217;re going to be trick-or-treating, please put on reflective clothing and a flashlight if you&8217;re going to be out close to dark,&8221; he said.

Wily candy farmers had better take advantage of the extended harvesting season because West promised it won&8217;t happen again on his watch.

&8220;Next year I&8217;m going to leave it on whatever day it falls on, unless there&8217;s some outcry from the community,&8221; West said.

Halloween 2006 falls on a Tuesday.