Editor’s note: Additional reporting for this story by Julio Perez, Jade Slaughter and Alejandra Garcia Perez

A haunted house, drunk driver simulation, inflatable obstacle course, cake walk, duck pond, dinosaur dig and ping pong fish will all be featured at the Halloween carnival hosted in the B and C gyms by Student Council from 5:30-8:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 27, after last year’s event was canceled because of COVID-19 restrictions.

This year will mark the 20th Halloween carnival for the school. The high school was the first in the area to have an event like this and after its immense success, other schools have held similar events. 

Student body project officer Adrian Robledo said StuCo was excited to hold the event after so many plans were forced to be canceled last year and earlier this year.

“It’s our first major school-wide event that we’ve been able to have, especially after Hey Day was canceled [due to construction at Max Goldsmith Stadium],” Robledo said. “It’s our first chance to get the whole student body together.” 

The annual carnival has been around long enough to witness the school’s transition from the old Main Street campus that was torn down in 2012, to the new and more modern current design. 

“When we started this we wanted a way to showcase our school and our students and our clubs and our teams,” said Allison Stamey, student activities director and senior class adviser. “[The people] can walk in and see what’s available.” 

Carrying the responsibility of hosting the carnival was bound to bring some obstacles for StuCo. After taking inventory and discarding decorations no longer useful, the officers confirmed there were no prizes for the carnival and had to order more. 

“Trying to juggle [the Halloween carnival] with Homecoming has been challenging but it takes time,” Stamey said. “I work with Kevin Sapp. He’s parliamentarian and he is the senior officer in charge of the Halloween carnival.” 

There is a lot of preparation involved in the weeks before the event in order to ensure a successful carnival. StuCo is in charge of rounding up the clubs on all three campuses and getting them involved in the carnival by offering them the opportunity to host booths as well as prepare the decorations. Admission is free, but carnival tickets cost 50 cents each; the amount of tickets to participate in each club’s booth may vary. 

“Everything is by tickets,” Stamey said. “You can’t come in and pay a dollar for a drink, everyone has to go to the ticket booth and buy tickets. From that point, you can play any game you want.”

Although not all organizations do booths, the ones that do participate are able to keep all their earnings but must pay a $5 booth fee if their proceeds exceed $100. There are hopes for the 2021 Halloween carnival to be just as successful as the 2019 one, in which they actually ended up having to recount tickets that were already sold and resell them for a second time, making it the most successful to date.

“2019 was our biggest, that was the last one we did and it was the largest, with 28,000 tickets sold,” Stamey said. “It seems like every year it just gets larger because the word gets out.”

In regards to concerns about the COVID-19 virus, StuCo has assured there will be no enforced regulations, and as far as cleanliness is concerned, StuCo will be cleaning their game equipment regularly after every use in their booth. 

“At this point in the game, everyone is responsible for their own safety when it comes to COVID,” Stamey said. “There’s not any mandates that say we ‘have to do this or have to do that.’” 

Concessions at the event will be run by the volleyball teams who will offer snacks of all sorts such as nachos, hot dogs, candy, a variety of chips, pizza and Nothing Bundt Cakes. The carnival is appropriate for all ages and features games suited for different age ranges. 

“It’s really about boosting morale and bringing up spirit with the kids, and it’s something for the kids to have fun and not stress about schoolwork,” student body president Keira Conner said. “It’s a very happy atmosphere.” 

Stamey said the level of student interest in activities has increased this year now that COVID regulations have died down. Nearly 70 students showed up for an overall decorating party that took place in September. The same event last year only attracted 10 students. Stamey said she expects the carnival to continue to grow each year, and said StuCo is excited to see all of the new and familiar faces. 

“You see people of all ages smiling and laughing,” Stamey said. “Grandparents coming in with their kids, teachers and students, that’s my favorite part.”

In addition to the community involvement, Stamey said she also hopes the spirit of the student body will also be on display for all to see.

“I want the public to see what I see,” Stamey said. “And that’s a great group of students, that have a great time together, that know how to behave, because, guys, we do. We have a great school here and I don’t know if you see it, but I believe in this school and I believe in our students, so for me it’s bringing the community in, showing them exactly what this school’s about.”