This year, Halloween fell on a Monday, and as a community, we decided to make it a full day of fun and festivities. During our weekly festival meetings, we gathered suggestions from anyone about how we should spend the day. Ideas ranged from pumpkin carving to apple cider making, with everyone having many ideas about how it should play out. Eventually, we landed on a schedule that scratched everyone’s itches and set us up for a great time.
At 9am, crews gathered, as usual, to complete their farm chores while others began setting up the day. At 10am, we all convened at the ed center front porch for a snack of apple cider and donuts, which was a huge hit. Then we split into two groups, each taking turns making scarecrows and carving pumpkins.
The scarecrows were adorned in clothing we had outgrown or deemed beyond repair, with straw from the barn filling each form. Students and staff had fun coming up with outfits and facial expressions for each one. At the pumpkin station, students used various techniques to empty and carve faces that ranged from funny to scary, with added ears and dried flowers as exciting editions.
Next came a spooky hayride in shifts to get us to our community lunch at Foxfield Barn. The kitchen prepared hot dogs, pasta salad, green salad, and muffins which filled us up after a long morning of creativity and excitement.
While the residential students and staff were resting, the day unit scurried around to decorate the dining hall for the costume dance party. Spider webs were hung, ghosts and balloons floated around, and streamers gave the room a bit of spooky mystery. At the front of the room, all the carved pumpkins were proudly displayed, with a witch scarecrow presiding over the entire room. Ballot boxes were on either side, one for pumpkins and one for costumes, with everyone getting a vote.
When 3pm rolled around, the music went on, and the lights dimmed just a little. Costumed revelers began to trickle in at first, but in just a few minutes, the room was filled with ghouls, pandas, athletes, pirates, and more. Many gathered around the music showing off their best dance moves, while others looked over the pumpkins and cast their ballots for their favorites.
When it came time to give out the awards, it was a close call! There were so many amazing costumes, it was obviously that many struggled with who to vote for. In the end, Bares won Spookiest Costume donning a very spooky mask, April won Most Creative with a handmade mermaid costume, and Ani won Best Overall with her Philadelphia Eagles get up. The prize for Best Pumpkin went to Shannon who filled hers to the brim with native flowers!
The dance party came to an end, which everyone chipping in to clean up. Lucas House hosted a bonfire in the evening, and the partiers marched out of the hall, one at a time, jack-o-lantern in hand chanting “Pumpkins! Pumpkins!” while they took them to the wagon for transport.
After dinner, the residential community gathered for the evening party at Lucas, and were greeted by all of their amazing pumpkins lit up behind the house. Day students and commuting staff headed home to do some trick or treating and celebrating with friends and family off campus.
With a day so full of excitement (and a little mischief the night before), everyone was exhausted. Face paint was scrubbed off, costumes were put away, but the smiles remained as we drifted to sleep so we come back together for our All Saints day landwork project the next day.