The Halloween Dance is making a return

By Elizabeth Ednie

The annual Halloween Dance was set to make its return on Saturday, October 30 in the Sports Complex, but is now pushed back to Saturday, November 6 due to the recent power outage.

After almost two years into a global pandemic, big events like the Halloween dance are making a comeback, and students are excited and hopeful for the normalcy that it will bring.

“It’s definitely too bad they had to reschedule the dance especially with the power being restored before Saturday, but I’m glad they’re still holding it next weekend. We need a return to normalcy after last year,” junior Rina Sutherland said.

The Halloween Dance and other large-scale events are planned by the Student Government Association’s Programming Committee with the collaboration of Associate Director of Student Engagement, Lina Macedo.

The dance will take place in the Field House of the Sports Complex Saturday, November 6 from 10:00 p.m. until 1:00 a.m. and will feature a DJ, free food, a cash only beer garden for students over the age of 21 as well as a costume contest.

Wristbands will be for sale at the Information Desk in the lower level of the Roche Dining Commons each day until Friday, November 5 between 11a.m. until 7 p.m. 21+ wristbands will be for sale at the Information Desk as well between 2:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. on Friday, November 5 and from 12:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. on the day of the dance.

On Wednesday, October 27 when the power first went out on campus was when Macedo made the executive decision to push back the dance for the safety of the Stonehill community, since students were encouraged to go home if able.

“We need power to have the dance, but the factor of the students not being on campus was definitely the main problem,” Kathleen Kilban, SGA Special Events Chair said.

Executive Programming Chair Alexis Thomas is excited to bring back Stonehill traditions that were absent the past year-and-a-half due to the pandemic.

“At the end of the day, costumes or not, it’s one of our legendary scale dances and we are excited they are returning! We are committed to ensuring that students get these Stonehill traditions like Skyhawk Madness and the Halloween Dance. While we are aware that it’s not Halloween, we still wanted to give students the opportunity to have the Halloween dance,” Thomas said.

Some students are happy about the dance being rescheduled, because they can celebrate Halloween both weekends.

“It’s so nice that they were able to move it, especially being a senior. Now I get to have two Halloweekends,” senior Lucy Malcolm said.

Some students felt that since the rescheduled date was after Halloween, that it would not feel the same as if it was held on the original date.

“I am very excited to go to the dance. I am a little disappointed that it was rescheduled to next week just because it’s not Halloween anymore, but I am looking forward to going,” senior Molly Cannon said.

Due to the Nor’easter that came through last week, some students thought that the dance being rescheduled was for the best, considering the circumstances.

“Because of the storm, I had a feeling that the dance would be getting postponed. I think it was definitely for the best to ensure that everyone and their families were okay and safe because of how long we were out of power.

Despite the dance being after Halloween, I think the Stonehill community can definitely still come together and make it just as fun as it would be if it were on the scheduled date,” senior Meghan Jarret said. Despite pushing the event back a week, Kilban thinks that the dance attendance will be as high as it would have been on October 30.

“I know a lot of students were unable to celebrate Halloween last weekend and are looking forward to continuing the celebrations next week. Many students have already purchased wristbands and are looking forward to the event,” Kilban said.