A line filled with hundreds of University of Connecticut students waiting to celebrate Halloween early stretched from the Student Union Lawn to the School of Business, surrounded by smoke from fog machines illuminated by a nearly full moon Tuesday night.
The students were waiting to check in to PumpkinFest, an annual event held by Student Activities offering students thrills, games, food and other creative opportunities for free.
Mallory Smith, a graduate assistant for Student Activities Major Events and Programs, said that it was amazing to see so many students excited and standing in line for the event.
“I hope they keep coming out,” she said at the beginning of the night, and they did.
Last year, about 1,200 students attended PumpkinFest, and this year, attendance was predicted to be between 1,200 and 1,500 students, said Erin O’Keefe, program coordinator for Student Activities.
O’Keefe said the event began a few years ago during the COVID-19 pandemic as a way for students to celebrate Halloween outside. In the past, the festival’s main attraction was a light show, accompanied by over 300 pumpkins. While around 250 pumpkins carved by students and staff were present at the celebration this year, the Hall of Illusions was the main attraction.
2026’s Hall of Illusions is Student Activities’ take on an interactive haunted house, with themes present from the hit Netflix series “Stranger Things,” which concluded at the start of this year.
Neon lights blazed throughout the maze-like attraction, as fog and spooky tunes filled the air. Scare actors, many of which were students involved with Student Activities, hid around the corners of the halls filled with objects flipped upside-down, ready to prompt screams and maybe a few laughs from students.
Ryan Franco, a fifth-semester psychology major who is involved with Student Activities’ Late Night, was a memorable scare actor of the night.
Holding a red balloon and dressed as a terrifying clown reminiscent of Pennywise from Stephen King’s “It,” Franco said in an eerie voice that he was having “a grand old time,” giving people “the joy of fear.”
Franco’s clown makeup, as well as the other scare actors’ special effects, was the work of Aslin Wolfe, a fifth-semester animal science major who is also involved with Late Night.
Wolfe said that providing students with entertainment was her goal for the evening.
“I love haunted houses myself, so it’s fun getting to be on the other side,” she said.
Laser tag, a mechanical jack-o-lantern, face paint and balloon animals were set up at other stations outside for students not seeking haunted thrills. Plenty of fall-themed food from trucks was also available for free with entry.
O’Keefe mentioned that she was excited to host a truck from The Mason Jar Exchange for the first time, a food truck company based in Branford, Conn., that serves fresh meals like loaded potato soup and mac and cheese.
The owner of the company, Marissa Vaspasiano, said that The Mason Jar Exchange was excited to be at UConn and hoped to provide “comfort and warmth for the evening.”
Jayla Davis, a server for Borrelli Catering, a company based in Rhode Island, said that PumpkinFest was “full of life,” and that she had never seen anything like it before.
Students in line said they were willing to wait to spend time with friends.
Diya Panwala, a fifth-semester computer science major, said she loves Halloween and that she didn’t have much time to celebrate with it friends, other than at PumpkinFest.
“It looks really fun,” she said.
Marlena Downing, a first-semester chemistry and music performance major, was dressed in full cosplay as Maka Albarn from the anime and manga series “Soul Eater.”
On her way to the event, Downing said that PumpkinFest was a good way to ensure that students are celebrating Halloween in a safe way. She said the event offered a fun alternative to going out and potentially putting herself in a dangerous situation.