This Halloween was certainly different from those in years past. The College’s COVID-19 regulations prevented the large gatherings characteristic of normal Halloween celebrations, but thanks to some creativity from student groups, the weekend was still a success. On Friday and Saturday, groups across campus sponsored fun and safe events.
On the evening before Halloween, students staged a haunted house in the Lovejoy academic building. Participants walked down the dark hallways and through creepily decorated rooms. Cassie Lieblein `23 helped set up the haunted house with the ski team.
“My team volunteered to do it. I helped set up the haunted house. I did the clown room in particular,” Lieblein said. “We put up lights and pumped up a bunch of scary balloons and displays.”
This year, the visitors of the haunted house were different than normal.
“Normally the haunted house is for little kids from the Waterville area, but obviously that wasn’t possible because of the COVID-19 rules, so this year it was just for Colby students,” Lieblein explained.
She was very happy with how the haunted house turned out. It surpassed all of her expectations.
“I saw the other rooms, and they looked really cool. It turned out really well!” Lieblein said.
On Halloween, scores of students participated in the Monster Dash for Mutual Aid, which the Student Government Association (SGA) hosted. Starting at Runnals Field, students in costume ran a two kilometer course through the upper Arboretum.
The Monster Dash was a great opportunity to have fun while enjoying the beautiful fall nature around campus, but it also included an important charitable aspect. SGA asked participants to encourage ten of their friends to donate to the Colby Mutual Aid Fund, a student-run fund that supports the College’s first generation low-income, BIPOC, Trans, and Queer students. Along with the run, SGA also provided food, set up games, and put on a costume contest, the winner of which received a one hundred dollar gift card.
With her teammates on the field hockey team, Lauryn Nelson `23 participated in the Monster Dash.
“One of my teammates is in SGA and arranged for my team to walk the event. It was very chill and a really fun time,” Nelson said. “As a team, we wanted to support Colby Mutual Aid. It was a great way to incentivize our friends to donate toward an awesome cause.”
Nelson believes that SGA did a great job setting up the Monster Dash and creating a fun, inclusive environment.
“SGA really went all out. They decorated the trail with cobwebs and other Halloween-themed decorations. They taped off the course, and CER was on stand by just in case,” she said. “We dressed up in costumes, and one of my teammates actually won the costume contest.
In the last hours of Halloween, seven of the College’s most talented bands hosted a concert in Foss Dining Hall. The Colby Music Incubator, an organization that promotes student bands and coordinates music-related events, organized the Halloween concert. For over four hours, the bands and musicians entertained a socially distanced crowd.
Doug Werner `23 plays saxophone and sings for Basement Picnic, one of the bands that headlined the Halloween concert. Werner and Basement Picnic covered songs from a variety of genres, including “Sunday Candy,” “I Will Survive,” “Psycho Killer,” and “Heart of Glass.” He thought that the concert was a great success, as it balanced COVID-19 compliance with Halloween fun.
“Everyone was wearing their masks, which was good. They wanted everyone to sit down, which I imagine had something to do with COVID-19,” Werner said. “It was a success overall. It was a great time.”
Werner noted that because of the limited seating in Foss, the crowd was tightly controlled. Many eager concert-goers were unfortunately turned away at the door.
“It didn’t seem like a lot of people were let in. Probably whatever the limit is for a room of that size. Maybe fifty people. There were mobs of people at the top trying to get in, but they had to leave,” Werner said. “The last concert was outside, but since it’s cold out now, I guess they wanted to do it inside, which makes sense.”
~ Matt Rocha `23
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