Editor’s Note: Some statements in this article have been modified from a previous version to accurately reflect the information.
Spectrum, Lehigh’s student-run organization committed to providing a safe space for LGBTQIA+ members and allies, held an event called “Rainbow Halloween,” Oct. 26 in Lamberton Hall.
Members of Spectrum volunteered at the event, working to encourage tolerance and acceptance of LGBTQIA+ students among the student body while also celebrating LGBT History Month.
“You don’t really see the queer community at Lehigh really interacting with some of the other students that might typically come to these Halloween events, and I think that’s really cool,” said Cody Blattner, the Pride Circle liaison for Spectrum.
Zach Vinik, the treasurer of Spectrum, said both Spectrum and Lamberton Live paid for the event. He said Spectrum and the Lamberton Fund have collaborated in the past for other events.
Rainbow Halloween is an annual event, and both Blattner and Vinik praised the large turnout this year.
“Wow, that’s 73 people within the first 25 minutes,” Blattner said as he read down the list of attendees, all of which used their Lehigh ID cards to swipe in.
The majority of attendees were dressed in festive onesies and joined each other on the dance floor. A Maltese dog dressed as a rainbow unicorn was ushered into the party and immediately surrounded by 20 cooing attendees.
Danielle Sato, ’19, who attended Rainbow Halloween, has been a member of the Pride Center since she was a freshman.
“The Pride Center staff came up with this (LGBT trivia) game last year for our signature event,” she said, signaling to the spinning wheel of trivia questions.
Blattner said a lot of the night’s events came from a previous Pride Center event called “Pride-a-Palooza,” which was set up like a carnival. Many of the other events were tailored toward attracting a larger, diverse crowd, and included a costume contest where winners were awarded with gift cards from The Goose.
Blattner said the Rainbow Halloween event also offered a pumpkin painting activity, T-shirt tie-dying station and free food.
Vinik said he thinks free food at events always draws a crowd. Blattner said the crowd itself was notably different this year, with a much larger turnout that was probably due to the broader aspects of the event.
“We changed the nature of the event this year from a dance party to more of a rock-the-block type thing where we’re hosting a whole bunch of different events,” Blattner said.
He also said the event was less structured in past years, and attendees left earlier after dancing and eating some free food. This year, the event was more structured, and the added activities like the pumpkin painting and t-shirt tie-dying kept attendees interested and engaged.
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