Holiday weekends are supposed to be the safe ones, the ones we plan around. This Halloween weekend, at least eight people were killed and dozens wounded in mass shootings across the country, with the deadliest episode coming just up I-35 in Dallas’s Deep Ellum neighborhood. Three shootings in about 75 minutes early Sunday left four people dead and 15 injured, and federal authorities in Texas have a news conference scheduled Monday on their response as investigators search for suspects and motives.

The violence spread far beyond Dallas. Two shootings outside Legion Field in Birmingham after the Magic City Classic football game killed one person and wounded eight. A Halloween costume party at a Jackson, Mississippi nightclub ended with two dead and six injured. Seven were wounded near Indiana University’s Bloomington campus, and additional shootings were reported in Fayetteville, Arkansas; Newark, Delaware; and Bloomington, Illinois. City officials in the affected communities condemned the violence, and researchers note that gun violence historically spikes on weekends, nights, and holidays like Halloween.

For Waxahachie, the story is a reminder more than a headline. Our town runs on community gatherings, from the county fair and rodeo to Friday nights at Lumpkins Stadium to busy weekends on the courthouse square. Keeping those spaces safe takes planning, awareness, and conversations that shouldn’t wait for a crisis. What would you like to see the city do to keep our biggest community weekends safe?