Children, students and local families dressed up in costumes ranging from The Hulk to “Frozen”‘s Elsa and everything in between at Lehigh on Sunday afternoon. The costumed children ran from activity to activity and played games with Lehigh students.
Spooktacular, an annual event hosted by the Community Service Office, took place Sunday to help local families celebrate Halloween.
The event allows for the families, specifically the children of South Bethlehem, to participate in traditional Halloween activities for free.
Activities ranged from pumpkin carving hosted by Psi Upsilon, two haunted houses hosted by Alpha Tau Omega and Phi Delta Theta, trick-or-treating throughout campus dorms like Trembley Park, and making Halloween-themed arts and crafts were available at the University Center.
“This year we have a lot of new decorations, a lot of different chapters, different clubs and different organizations participating,” program coordinator Ceara Tomaino, ’17, said.
A variety of food and sweets were offered to the participating members. Children could decorate some of their treats, including sugar skulls that were stationed at the Hispanic society’s booth.
Tomaino, who was appointed this year to coordinate Spooktacular, said she had big shoes to fill when the prior coordinator, Nick Leight, ’16, finished up his three-year position of running the event.
“(Leight) had run the event for the last three years, so he left this huge legacy and I was really excited to work from where he left off,” Tomaino said. “He wrote an awesome transition report, and he had a lot of ideas in his head. We distributed them onto paper and realized how we can change it and make it better for next year.”
Tomaino estimated that more than 500 people attended the event, which was a sufficiently larger group than prior years, and over half of the attendees were young kids from families in the Bethlehem area.
All Lehigh organizations were encouraged to participate in the Spooktacular program. Students in multiple chapters, clubs and organizations across campus who participated in the event enjoyed their time.
“Working with the kids was a lot of fun and they were very enthusiastic about the whole experience,” said Dani Joy, ’17, who worked at one of the activity stations. “I enjoyed being here and seeing the smiles that this event put on the kid’s face.”
Spooktacular was advertised to the surrounding schools in the South Bethlehem area. All of the Lehigh homework clubs for these local institutions informed students and parents of the event in hopes of their attendance
“It’s a wonderful thing, and Lehigh does great things for the South Side,” said Linda Terrick, one of the participating children’s parents. “All the kids that run the event are very friendly to all the kids.”
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