One of the many events leading up to Halloween at MU this year was Spooktacular, held in the Student Center on Oct. 24. The event featured all sorts of Halloween-related activities and was open to both MU students and the public. Hundreds of people attended to enjoy free food, hang out with friends and show off their Halloween costumes.

One student who came in a scarecrow costume and participated in the costume contest was junior Emery Grigsby.

“I love Halloween because it’s my chance to dress up as something fun like a scarecrow and experiment with makeup,” Grigsby said. “I love that Mizzou has events like this one so I have more opportunities to show off my costume.”

One popular activity at the event was pumpkin carving. A huge area was set aside with long tables covered in newspaper and hundreds of pumpkins to choose from. Carvers could exercise complete creative freedom over their pumpkins, or they could use one of the templates provided. Senior Anna Campbell said that the pumpkin carving was her favorite part of the event.

“I’m a broke college student living in an apartment,” Campbell said. “I don’t have the space where I can messily carve a pumpkin, or the money to spend on the supplies. But pumpkin carving is still so much fun to do, so I was so happy when I saw that I could do it here and bring my pumpkin home with me.”

Spooktacular had something for everyone, whether it be a haunted house, a mason jar mummy craft, a fortune telling station or an area where you could play with virtual reality headsets. There was also free pizza, Insomnia Cookies and a caramel apple-making station. Senior Sarah Megazzini said that she enjoys volunteering at events like Spooktacular because they make an effort to reach as many MU students as possible.

“Mizzou does a great job of offering free events like this one where students can come out and just have a good time with friends,” Megazzini said. “I like being a part of things that promote inclusivity and it’s one of the ways I’ve been able to meet so many different people while being a student here.”

Because the event was also open to the public, there were lots of children running around in their Halloween costumes with their parents. They were also able to enjoy activities geared more toward their age group, such as a face painting station and bowls of candy almost everywhere they could look. Megazzini said that it’s the kids that make Spooktacular one of her favorite events to volunteer at.

“Seeing the joy on these kids’ faces as they gorge themselves on chocolate and are showing their friends their Halloween costumes is so much fun,” Megazzini said. “It’s a good reminder to us college students to not grow up too fast and to enjoy the simple things in life like Halloween.”

If students are craving more Halloween-related activities, there will be a Haunted Observatory on Oct. 30 at 6 p.m. at Laws Observatory.

_Edited by Alexandra Sharp | asharp@themaneater.com_