Monmouth County Floor Biz Gives Out Candy Tubes To Save Halloween

OCEAN TOWNSHIP, NJ — It's a sobering reality: Coronavirus cases keep rising and state health officials say New Jersey will very likely get a second wave this October and November.

Can Halloween and door-to-door trick or treating still safely go on? This Ocean Twp. man wants to make sure the beloved holiday can still happen — with six-foot-long tubes, perfect for handing out candy from a safe social distance.

Marshall Fox, 44, works at his family's flooring and carpet store in Ocean Twp., Fox Floors on Sunset Avenue. He was scrolling through Facebook last week when he noticed an Ohio man had posted something similar using a PVC pipe.

"I thought, well, we have a ton of those extra cardboard tubes lying around that we roll carpet in," said Fox. "I could just give those away for free."

On Monday, he put up this Facebook post and said he never imagined the kind of response he'd get.

"It's been crazy. I put it up on Monday and now I'm on tube patrol. Every day it's non stop with people either calling the store or walking in and asking if we have any more tubes," said Marshall. "People are putting them on their mailboxes. One woman is on the second floor so I gave her a 10-foot-long tube and she's going to shoot the candy down from the second floor or tie it to a handrail."

Fox gives the tubes away entirely for free; he's given out 200 tubes so far. The tubes are usually very long, more than 12 feet. But he's been cutting them to a desired length, and most people ask for a six-foot-long tube.

"I've given out so many that I actually started running low, but I called suppliers and ordered more," he said. He still has tubes in stock as of Friday morning.

Fox has two children, a 15-year-old and a 12-year-old. He is letting them go out trick or treating or hang out with their friends on Oct. 31, but "I'm telling them to play it safe. Wear a mask and social distance. (Halloween) is one of the most special things a kid can do."

"I wasn't trying to save Halloween or anything like that," he said. "We just had a million of these tubes and they usually wind up in the Dumpster. I never realized it would get this insane. But it's been cool because I've met so many people and people with kids. People have been asking if they can donate somewhere and I told them to give to the Make a Wish Foundation, because my son's best friend, who's 14, has cancer."

Fox Floors is a third-generation family business, and Fox has a side job making rugs for celebrities and rappers. He counts Run-DMC, Odell Beckham, Smokey Robinson, Chaka Khan, Wu Tang Clan and Warren Buffet among his clients. Yes, really. You can see his work, and clients, on @rug__life and @defrugs on Instagram. See his tubes in action from NJ.com: