Small crowds gathered as first-timers and pros showed their Halloween spirit by carving pumpkins during Spook Day on Monday in front of Davenport.
Small– to medium–sized pumpkins lined the tables eagerly awaiting artisans that would make their mark.
A group of ELS students decided to give pumpkin carving a try.
“In my country, we don’t have Halloween,” Heayoung Lee, an ELS student who is studying genetics said. “It’s interesting but carving is hard. I want to experience American culture.”
Carvings ranged from the traditional jack-o-lantern smile to stenciled moons and stars. While one pumpkin sported shades, another was given a nervous grin.
“It’s really cool, I know people are away from home and they don’t get to continue family traditions. It’s important,” Sarah Keagy, a freshman undecided major, said.
Small bags of candy were given as favors and the students were given the option to take the carved pumpkins with them.
Aside from the pumpkin carving, students participated in a candy counting contest.
Contestants were encouraged to guess how much candy corn was in a medium-sized jar.
Their estimation was placed in a container next to the jar of candy and the winner was chosen at the closing of the event.
Samantha Dauz, a sophomore and special events committee chairwoman, searched through the many estimations and found the guesses either too high or too low.
Dauz was able to find a winner for the estimation contest, an ELS student who was off by one.
The winner of the contest won the jar of 451 pieces of candy corn, two movie passes, a $10 gift certificate to In-N-Out Burger and more candy.
The Campus Activities Board, who sponsored the event, also had a mummy wrapping activity planned.
When the coordinators noticed how well the pumpkin carving was going, however, they decided to cancel the mummy wrapping activity.
“It’s to get people excited for Halloween,” Dauz said.
The carved pumpkins that were not taken home by the carver were placed in an informal contest where the carver had a chance to win movie tickets.
CAB used the pumpkins to decorate Davenport and Stu-Han for Spooktacular the next day.
Andres Rivera can be reached at arivera3@ulv.edu.
Journalism operations manager at the University of La Verne. Production manager and business manager of the Campus Times.
