Carnival atmosphere of Fall Festival lights up students’ Friday evening

TERESA DULAC
STAFF WRITER

Photo by: Elizabeth Wagner

The carnival-themed Fall Festival, run by Exc!te, brought students and families together for food and fun to celebrate the fall weather on the evening of Friday, Oct. 19.

Spread out under a big tent outside of the J.C. Williams Center, households ran game booths or sold food while emitting a pleasant display of household spirit. Exc!te offered food and hot apple cider to visitors, and various households sold cotton candy, popcorn and fried Oreos.

Photo by: Elizabeth Wagner

Slightly apart from the booths, visitor stopped and sat on hay bales around a fire, warming themselves and sipping hot apple cider. Inside, the movie “The Greatest Showman” was showed at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m., giving visitors a chance to sit down and relax in the warmth.

About every 10 minutes, a trumpet could be heard calling visitors to the pig racing booth run by the Knights of the Holy Queen household. Wearing cowboy hats, cheering and demanding to be called “pig racers,” the Knights drew a huge crowd. Senior Patrick O’Brian, a member of Knights of the Holy Queen household, said, “The Fall Festival is an incredible experience, especially when you have the best pigs north of the Mason–Dixon Line.”

At another booth, Metanoia et Missa and Redemptoris Mater women’s households teamed up, giving visitors the chance to shoot sling shots. Conquer Through Love men’s household ran a booth that allowed visitors to smash plates and win prizes. Other households ran game booths at the festival as well.

The whole festival was lit up with soft stringed-lights, and the fun games and good food brought the campus together to have a good time. Sophomore John-Paul Kleb said that the Fall Festival was “just stupendous; such a gathering of people here to have good food and have good fun, it’s just terrific. Nothing like it.”