Victoria Gonzalez/Vaquero Radio
UTRGV will host Carnival of Madness from 7 to 11 p.m. Tuesday at the Student Union lawn on the Brownsville campus, where students can celebrate the Halloween spirit.
This is the second year the university has held the event. Program Coordinator for Student Activities Raul Leal Jr. said he hopes to continue this tradition annually.
Leal said planning the event was based on student and Campus Activities Board members’ feedback from last year’s Carnival of Madness.
“We also spent time with our students in our office to learn more about what would make a really big impactful event for them,” he said. “And kind of took all of that input together and created this year’s carnival just to make sure that we created a really big memorable experience for students.”
The event will feature different zones with activities to participate in. Leal said the Graveyard Game zone will have carnival games where students can win prizes.
Monster Midway is another zone that contains carnival rides and the Department of Housing and Residence Life is putting together a haunted house called the Salón of Terror.
Coven Concession is for student organizations to fundraise by selling food, the Great Pumpkin Grove will have a pumpkin patch for photo opportunities and the Crafty Crypt is for DIY projects.
Many student organizations were contacted to fundraise at the event. Leal said by buying food, students will be supporting the campus organizations.
“And the food options are pretty cool,” he said. “They’ll be doing everything from chamoy apples to funnel cakes and kettle corn. So there is a lot of variety for students to have fun with.”
After The Stomp celebration in August, Leal said detailed planning for the Carnival of Madness began in September.
“So all of these different departments and functional areas across the university are coming together to put this together for our students,” Leal said. “And so, it really has been a unit effort from everybody just to make sure that we are creating one, an environment that’s fun and engaging, but also something that’s super memorable.”
The main goal Leal has for this event is for students to enjoy themselves, which is why the event has a variety of zones.
“If you are not into the horror, we have the pumpkin area,” he said. “If you’re not into that, but you like DIY, there is a DIY station. So there really is something for everyone. And so that’s my goal. And how I know we’ll be successful is if students really enjoyed themselves.”
Carnival of Madness will feature a virtual costume contest where a digital team will take pictures of participants and the top-voted costume will win a prize.
Over 800 students attended last year’s event, but Leal hopes that the numbers this year will exceed the previous year.
Leal encourages students to show up to campus events because it helps build the college experience.
“So no matter what your major is or your classification, coming out to these events, enjoying yourself, it all is a part of that college experience, and the things that you’re going to remember when you graduate,” he said.
This is Victoria Gonzalez for Vaquero Radio.
