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Pleasant Hill postpones Beggars' Night due to weather

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Pleasant Hill joined other major cities in moving Beggars' Night from Wednesday to Thursday due to predicted rain and storm risks.

Instead, Beggar's Night for Pleasant Hill residents will take place on Halloween night from 6 to 8 p.m.

The city of Des Moines and most other metropolitan municipalities also announced plans Tuesday morning to move Beggars' Night to Thursday. Pleasant Hill initially said it would not change its trick-or-treating procedures. The date was set by a city council resolution and there was not enough time to hold a special meeting to make the change.

Why did Pleasant Hill change Beggars' Night?

“Pleasant Hill received an official notice of possible severe weather from the Polk County Emergency Management Agency, Iowa, at approximately 5 p.m. on Tuesday, October 29th,” reads a social media post sent Tuesday evening. “This formal notice gives the City of Pleasant Hill the opportunity to issue an emergency declaration to change the date for this year’s Beggars Night in the best interest of the community.”

The post cited Wednesday between 4 and 10 p.m. as the most likely time for “damaging wind gusts, hail and the possibility of tornadoes.”

The city said in a Facebook post Tuesday morning that the date for trick-or-treating would be determined by a city council resolution. Because open meeting laws require the city to notify the public 24 hours before a council meeting, the city said it was too close to the date to call a meeting to make a change.

“The change was legally necessary to follow this process as the date had previously been made permanent by a 2013 resolution,” the post said Tuesday evening.

More: Here's where the Beggars' Night festivities take place around the Des Moines metro:

What's the forecast for Wednesday in Pleasant Hill?

Showers and thunderstorms are expected on Wednesday afternoon, with heavy rain possible and high temperatures around 25 degrees. Rain will continue into the night, temperatures will drop to 45 degrees and winds will shift to the north-northeast at 10 to 14 mph.

What's the forecast for Halloween in Pleasant Hill?

It will be much cooler on Halloween Thursday, with highs of 53 degrees and wind gusts up to 28 miles per hour during the day and lows of 34 degrees under clear skies at night.

Cooper Worth is a service/trends reporter for the Des Moines Register. Reach him at [email protected] or follow him on X @CooperAWorth.

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