Gusties celebrate a thrilling Halloweekend

   When Halloween falls on a Tuesday, you can guess that the entire weekend before is then destined to be a Halloweekend.

   There is only one thing better than a normal Halloweekend and that would be a Gustie Halloweekend.

   This past weekend halloween spirit spread across campus, and was present throughout many events and decorations, with lots of candy, and costumes.

    On Friday night, there were all types of events happening around campus including the Halloween Dive, and The Rock Horror Picture Show almost midnight screening.

   Unfortunately, this year the Linnaeus Arboretum Mystery Hike was cancelled due to the weather conditions.

   Down in the Dive, Her Campus, a campus organization focused on empowering women, hosted a Halloween/Stranger Things themed dance and costume contest.

   The Dive was covered with halloween and Stranger Things decorations, including a photo booth that resembled the alphabet wall in the popular Netflix show.

   “I am so proud of our Her Campus chapter and the work that we did to put together such a successful event. Between all of the activities we included, the event had a little something for everyone. I hope the Gustavus campus enjoyed it as much as Her Campus did,” Her Campus Co-President, Senior Shailagh Lannon said.

    Gusties piled in, dressed in their costumes, and got their groove on. So many Gusties came to join the fun that The Dive’s capacity was hit, and a line was formed out the door.

   The winners of the costume contest in The Dive included a pregnant Nun, a pair of cheerleaders, and Moana and Maui.

   Winners were decided by a crowd vote after each category had a dance off.

   “It was so much fun to work together as a team to organize the event and to have so many people show up that we hit capacity was awesome! I had such a good time dancing around with some of my favorite people” Sophomore Linsey Wolf said.

   Over in Wallenberg Auditorium, the Gustavus Campus Activities Office  hosted the third Annual, almost-midnight showing of The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

   The auditorium was filled with Gusties yelling, throwing things, and of course having a good laugh.

   “The Rocky Horror Picture Show was unlike any movie experience. Everyone there was so into it and it was like a cult following, but the good kind!” Sophomore Grace Arnold said.

   The showing of this comedy horror film has been a popular event on campus during the past few years. This year it brought in around 150 Gusties.   

  “The turnout for the showing was great. It was awesome to see so many people get into the film and have fun” Sophomore Emily Scroggins said.

   On Saturday, the fun and festive events continued, starting early in the morning with the 14th Annual Saint Peter Halloween 5K Fun Run.

   Gusties both participated and volunteered at the run. Although the temperature was quite chilly, the run had positive reviews.

      “It was my first 5K that I’ve done in college, and it was really fun! I was really happy to run with the Gustavus Running Club. They were all really supportive and cheered at the finish line for each of our runners” Sophomore Abbie Biegner said.

   The 5K was an opportunity for people to get active early in the morning, get involved with the community, and show off their best costumes.

   “Volunteering for the fun run was such an amazing experience because you were able to connect with a bigger community and see everyone in their costumes with friends and family” Senior Ally Xiong said.

  Costumes in the run ranged from animals, to Disney characters, to even a handmade ship.

   “The running club coordinated costumes, and we all went as fruit. I ended up dressing up as an apple.

   The 5K became a favorite of mine, and I would definitely run it again next year,” said Biegner.

  Later that night, campus got spooky with the Norelius Haunted House.

   The haunted house has been an annual event put on by the Norelius collegiate fellows for quite a few years now.

   “It is our biggest event of the year. We start planning it in the beginning of September, and it was a lot of fun once we got all of the pieces in place. It was a great way for us to bond as a staff, and I would say it was successful because we had about 250 people show up” Sophomore Collegiate Fellow, Taylor Kmiech said.

The haunted house was themed to Stephen King’s movie, “IT.” It had multiple pennywise waiting to scare unsuspecting visitors, cannibals clowns, a jack in the box, and many more gags and ties to the movie.

     “Participating in the haunted house was a brand new experience for me and I got to make a lot of fun new memories with my favorite people” Kmiech said.

Not only did it get spooky in Norelius, but it did over in Lund as well. The Campus Activities Office hosted a Halloween themed SNL.

   The event included a haunted hallway, costume contest, dance, and pizza and punch.

   About 350 people showed up to SNL in costumes.

  The costume contest had four categories: funniest, scariest, best couples, and needs the most explanation.

   Donkey Kong and his banana won for best couple, then a half cat half skull face won scariest, two guys dressed as the devil and an angel won funniest and a guy dressed as a dad won for needs the most explanation.

  Halloweekend on the hill was full of fun events, crazy costumes, food and spirit.

  Less than 365 days until we get to do it all over again.