The Theophilus Tower put on its annual trick or treat community event Saturday, Oct. 25. For over a month, Tower residents have been plastering butcher paper to their hallway walls in preparation for the two-hour-long event. This year’s theme was “storybook,” and each floor was decorated as a different book. These themes ranged from the second floor’s “Where the Wild Things Are” to the seventh floor’s “Hunger Games.”
Families took the elevator up to the eleventh floor of the Tower and, trick-or-treating on each floor, made their way down to the basement of the freshman-priority building. Community member Uriel Benichou says he brings his two daughters every year — this year the pair dressed up as a mermaid princess and peacock princess.
While the annual event is a resource for the community, it serves the residents of the Tower as they adjust to life on their own. Freshman Molly Phethean volunteered to hand out candy on the “Very Hungry Caterpillar” first floor and said she missed her family’s Halloween traditions.
“I love Halloween,” she said, “I love seeing the little kids’ costumes.”
Freshman Thomas Crowl ran the eighth floor’s comic book themed picture booth and said he missed “doing stuff like this at home.” Conversely, Joey Van Tassel, another UI freshman, “wanted to see the community.”
Students performed for families waiting for the elevator in the Tower lobby. The K-Crew, part of the Vandal Hip Hop Club, performed choreography to a “K-Pop Demon Hunters” medley in full costume. A trio of men in the pep band ran down to the Tower to play a rock set as “Presenting Obtuse” before returning to the football game happening at the same time.
Miriam Moore can be reached at [email protected]