With the season of giving right around the corner, campus fraternities and sororities decided to give back to the community on Halloween night.
The 12th annual Fall Carnival was held on Oct. 31, from 5 to 7 p.m. on the Pennington’s front lawn. The Office of Multicultural and International Student Affairs, Black Student Union, Office for Student Engagement and Recreational Sports and Wellness, hosted the event and were paired with Office of Student Engagement’s event, Trick-or-Treat with the Greeks.
The event was open to children of all ages in the neighborhood and children were encouraged to dress up in Halloween costumes. Different sororities and fraternities were offering a range of different activities for the children to participate in and receive candy for.
“We usually do this to just give back to the community to see the smiles on the kids faces, a little bit exciting when they get the candy and stuff, so it’s a warming feeling for us and it’s rewarding as well,” said Frank Newton Jr., an Alpha Phi Alpha member and alumnus.
The activities included spacewalks, face painting, ring tosses, beanbag tosses, sack races and more. Costumes ranged from superheroes to fruits, like bananas. Lots of families came dressed up together.
Academic fraternities, such as the English Honors Society fraternity and Sigma Tau Delta also participated in the event. They handed out free comic books to encourage reading and creative thinking.
“The comic books come from Comic Cafe,” said Chris Genre, a faculty advisor for the Sigma Tau Delta. “Of course that’s kind of our literary aspect of it if you will, keep em’ reading.”
Sigma Tau Delta also had other activities for the kids to participate in.
“We’re offering free comic books and we’re doing face painting and of course, candy out of our chest of gold over there,” said Genre.
Genre also mentioned that Sigma Tau Delta has participated in the carnival every year.
“Because it’s fun, yes, we love Halloween,” said Genre. “We love the kids, the whole nine yards. That’s fun.”
The Fall Carnival was created to provide a safe alternative in comparison to the usual door-to-door trick-or-treating.
“This is our annual service effort,” said Brendan Daigle, coordinator of the Office of Multicultural and International Student Affairs. “Our goal is to provide all of the typical traditions of Halloween in a safe, carnival atmosphere.”