By Benjamin De Leon

The Associated Students of Riverside City College continued their tradition of Halloweentown, which took over the quad in Riverside City College on Oct. 26.

Halloweentown caters to the youth of Riverside by having a safe, public event with fun activities that allows parents to have a good time with their families.

“We heard about the event from a flyer in my son’s child development class on campus. We love it,” parent Magdalena Zepeda-SeLegue said. “I loved that the event is on Friday, we don’t have to worry about getting home too late and we all get to be here together as a family.”

This year, there were many activities for the children to choose from such as a costume contest for different age groups, trick or treating booths hosted by the various clubs at RCC, planetarium shows and a scary maze for the older kids.

At 6 p.m. the public was free to roam through the corridors of the quad where each club had decorated their booth with various themes such as Twilight Zone and Disney movies.

RCC’s Gender and Sexuality Awareness Club used “Monsters Inc.” as their inspiration and utilized their very own “Scream O’ Meter” which recorded screams from the kids.

This year was RCC’s Engineering Club’s first time volunteering for the event and they wanted to promote themselves within the community.

In addition to handing out candy, RCC’s clubs and organizations also promoted their groups in different ways.

Biological Sciences Club collaborated with Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics Club and used games such as “Guess What’s In the Box” and “Keep Your Eye On the Ball.”

“These games help kids improve their observation skills and help them think of the (game) as a science experiment,” parent Corina Annette Gonzalez said.

Later into the night, guests were encouraged to view the show at the Robert T. Dixon Planetarium and to a chilling adventure in the scary maze set up near the Cesar E. Chavez building.

“People should check out their future shows,” Maureen Barley, planetarium coordinator, said. “We’re giving a preview of it throughout the night by using our telescope to view Saturn.”

“I’m a former worker at Universal Studios, so I really had the resources to make this year’s maze more scary and intricate,” Nathaniel Dominguez, Special Events Coordinator at RCC, said.

“Last year, the maze was located in the basement which was a bit more difficult to navigate for the students.”

This year, Dominguez utilized the RCC’s softball team for volunteers of the maze explaining how it helped with team building exercises.

“The event was a huge success this year, we had a wonderful turn out like usual,” Deborah Hall, Student Activities Coordinator said.

Halloweentown is a great annual activity for community engagement, an opportunity to receive Collegiate Points for club and a fun way to win some prizes during Halloween.

Any clubs interested in participating in next year’s Halloweentown, can contact student activities coordinator, Megan Bottoms.