Hispanos Unidos de Guilford (HUG) and Residential Education and Housing hosted a Trunk-or-Treat event on Thursday, October 30th, in the parking lot behind English Hall. Guilford students were invited to deck out their car trunks with Halloween flair for a trunk decorating competition or to trick-or-treat while dressed in their spookiest costumes. 

However, the event had a low turnout. Only two cars parked in English Hall’s parking lot were there for the event.

One was decorated to look like a ghostly pirate ship. The zombie parrot perched over the back of the car kept watch over a cardboard treasure chest overflowing with golden doubloons and jewels. Another was covered with cobwebs, eerie pumpkins looming from the inside of the candy-filled trunk.

A small group of trick-or-treaters came dressed in a variety of costumes, showcasing the creativity in Guilford’s community. Some were dressed in nostalgic childhood costumes, like Strawberry Shortcake. Others were dressed in sillier costumes, like a pile of leaves or a chicken suit. There was even a menacing Sith lord, who challenged others to lightsaber duels. 

HUG Member Elizabeth Martinez said she organized the event to invite people on and off campus to join the Halloween festivities. Another reason she organized the Trunk-or-Treat was to encourage people to show off their creativity by decorating their cars with Halloween decorations.

“I like seeing the creativity everyone has, and I mean, you can’t go wrong with free candy,” said Martinez, when asked about her favorite part of the event.

Martinez said she wasn’t sure how many people would come out because of the poor weather that week. Most of the attendees were HUG members or their friends.

Junior Zaria Porter said she came because she was friends with some of the Resident Advisors attending. She said she didn’t plan to dress up until her roommate did, which inspired her to pull out her Halloween costume from a year ago: an avocado.

“I hadn’t done anything Halloween yet either,” said Porter. “It’s a good excuse to get out of my room.”

Porter said she had a fun time at the event, getting to socialize with everyone there. She also said she enjoyed seeing the decorated cars. 

While the majority were HUG members and their friends, some Guilford College students were just excited for an opportunity to trick-or-treat. That was the case for junior Luca Hoffman, who came with a handmade paper mask, cut and colored with colored pencils to look like a brown wolf.

“I wanted candy and a place to not be judged for trick-or-treating,” said Hoffman.

Hoffmann said he would like to come to an event like this again. Despite the low turnout, everyone in attendance said they had a good time participating in Halloween shenanigans with their friends. At the end of the event, people went around throwing handfuls of the candy into trick-or-treaters’ bags to make sure none went to waste. 

Despite the small group having a great time, had there been better advertising, even more students could have joined in on the trunk-or-treating fun. Juniors Paxton Crockett and Solé Williams-Brewer, when asked if they would be attending Trunk-or-Treat, responded that they had no idea that the event was happening or expressed confusion that it was on the 30th.

The lack of promotion surrounding the Truck-or-Treat event is the beginning of a larger conversation about how the Office of Student Leadership and Engagement could better promote events, especially smaller ones, around and on Guilford’s campus to get students involved in the wider Guilford community.