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By Megan Siana
By Megan Siana
In the dim evening light, heroes and villains collided for festive fun at Riverside City College.
On the evening of Oct. 24, RCC held its annual Halloween Town event for children and adults of all ages.
This year’s theme was “Heroes and Villains.” RCC’s Halloween Town was an opportunity for safe trick-or-treating, including costume and pumpkin carving contests, door decorations, spooky music and about 2,500 bags of candy.
“(The event) definitely met our expectations,” said Meshay Brown, president of the Associated Students of RCC.
Hundreds of children dressed up and stood ready in a massive line to enter Halloween Town, which was being hosted in the A.G. Paul Quadrangle.
The line stretched from the clock tower corner all the way around to north side of the Quad.
“We didn’t get an official count on how many people were there, but I know that some people waited as long as two hours to enter,” Brown said.
While waiting, guests were able to view the children’s costume contests.
There were three age group contests for ages zero to four, five to eight, and nine to 12.
Children entered in the costume contest were evaluated by three judges including Riverside Mayor Ronald O. Loveridge, Fire Chief Tedd Laycock, and Cindy Taylor of RCC’s Outreach program.
Guests were also entertained by a Halloween Town soundtrack played over loud speakers including songs such as “Monster Mash,” “Thriller” and even theme songs of popular television show heroes such as “Spiderman” and “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.”
Once inside the Quad, children, parents and students followed a walkway down the halls, collecting candy at over 13 different doors. RCC clubs and organizations got together to decorate the doors and walls around an assigned classroom and pass out candy for the amusement of the trick-or- treaters.
Door decoration themes included a “Justice League,” Gotham City, ninja nurses, “The Addams Family” and “The Nightmare Before Christmas” doors. The RCC’s Nursing Program decorated a door for Halloween Town with the original theme, “ninja nurses: saviors of the sick.”
“It was my idea,” said Susan Eyman. “I was just kind of joking, but they all liked it.”
Eyman said their idea was to go with the theme of “Heroes and Villains” as well as the Nursing Program.
“Ninjas can be heroic, so our idea is that we’re killing these germs,” Eyman said pointing to the “germ” decorations on the wall. Children were advised to always wash their hands to help fight germs as the Nurses Program gave out candy.
There were many decorations for the children to enjoy.
“SpongeBob was my favorite,” Matt Strohacker said. Strohacker was dressed as Jack Skellington of “The Nightmare Before Christmas.” He was also the winner of the ages five to eight costume contest, and refused to be called any name but “Jack” by his parents for the night.
Trisha Belasquez said that “The Addams Family” door was her favorite.
Connor Redmond dressed as Link from the popular Nintendo video game, “The Legend of Zelda.”
When asked why he chose his costume, Redmond said “I don’t know, ’cause I love Zelda.”
At one point in the evening, a fire alarm was pulled by a person who is, at this point, yet to be identified. The blaring could be heard over the festive music and lasted about 10 minutes.
Other than difficulties with the alarm, Halloween Town had a high turnout, and provided family fun for many of those who participated.
