From Thursday, Oct. 23 to Saturday, Oct. 25 the Hopkins Student Organization for Programming (the HOP) hosted the annual Hoptoberfest, a multi-day collection of events to usher in the fall.
Kicking things off with the aptly named Kickoff Fest, held on Keyser and Wyman Quads, the first day of Hoptoberfest began with a carnival and free food. Long lines of students awaiting free commemorative T-shirts and meals stretched under the face of Gilman Hall, checking in to receive their meal tickets. The food on offer included both vegetarian and non-vegetarian options from Ekiben and Nora’s Kabobs, which were quickly cleaned out by the crowds. An additional snack ticket allowed students to get one of either pretzels, cupcakes or, if they were willing to walk the distance beyond Shriver Hall, ice cream.
The carnival itself, recognizable by an orange-and-black balloon arch, featured a range of games where participants could win tickets to select prizes. The games included sending toy lizards flying with a hammer, scoring in basketball hoops, tossing rings and even riding a mechanical bull – a challenge only few could overcome. With their accrued winnings, students could exchange their tickets for a Squishable, although many settled for more easily accomplished building block sets as prizes.
In an email to The News-Letter, the HOP described its process in selecting activities for Hoptoberfest.
“Our activities list is decided by a group brainstorming session between the chairs and our committee,” they wrote. “We usually have a lot of returning activities from years prior, but we also want to keep it fresh so we try to come up with a couple new aspects every year. Once we have a list, we meet with our LEED advisor and get approval for the activities we want.”
The next day featured a haunted house hosted in the Ralph S. O’Connor Recreation Center, run entirely by students. Long lines awaited the opportunity to be frightened while students listened to the screams of those who had gone inside. Made up of stalls connected to form a long corridor, the haunted house was full of decorations ripped from horror movies, like doll parts and animatronics. Volunteers dressed as all manners of monsters, sneaking through the curtains separating stalls to set up jump scares. After making it through, students could grab free T-shirts and candy to conclude the experience.
Freshman Amelia Joseph shared her thoughts about the haunted house experience in an interview with The News-Letter.
“I’ve never been to a haunted house before, and a couple of friends wanted to go there, so I thought I’d tag along,” Joseph said. “It was nice that they were able to fit a huge variety of stuff into that limited amount of space available. And it was interesting to see the creative ideas that they came up with.”
The last day was a significant day for Hoptoberfest, beginning with a Farm Day. Upon checking in, students received a green wristband and a snack ticket that they could spend on one of three fall treats: candy apples, donuts or apple pie — with some apple cider to match. They could then engage with the many attractions available: a stall to make friendship bracelets and dried flower bouquets; a petting zoo featuring bunnies, tortoises and even a camel; and a stall to receive henna. Students could also select and take home a pumpkin from the pumpkin patch.
Allison Farfan Martinez, a freshman who attended the event, expressed her sentiments about the final day’s attractions in an email to The News-Letter.
“My favorite part was seeing all the animals or the henna! The bunnies were the cutest!” Martinez wrote.
When asked if there was anything else she’d like to see next year, Martinez recommended accompanying tunes for the experience.
“I would love for there to be music next time! I think it would make things more fun,” she wrote.
In the evening, queues reformed around the Rec Center awaiting the sold-out Hoptoberfest concert, featuring artist Khalid. Swathes of students danced to the DJ's selections while awaiting the singer. The musician made his entrance around 9 p.m., performing a collection of his best-known hits while supported by a live band and backup dancers.
In his email to The News-Letter, Traditions Committee Co-Chair for the HOP Liam Parker discussed their process for booking Khalid.
“Booking the artist was a process that took many months of labor and many different ideas of who we wanted, so to see such a positive student response on who we ended up booking made us and our committee very happy to see,” he said. “We want to provide the best events for every undergraduate student, so whenever we see positive feedback like we had for the concert it lets us know we are on the right track.”
The HOP also shared some challenges in organizing the event in their email to The News-Letter, including hindered communication and action from actors in the process.
“Some challenges that we face with any event is tracking down different staff members and holding people accountable, where another challenge is also always setting up everything and trying to be on time with lots of students waiting,” they said. “Advice is always to start planning early, the earlier vendors and others are reached out to the less stressful it is closer to the event. Also, being proactive and constantly keeping open lines of communication so that any vendor or staff member can have questions answered quickly.”
While Hoptoberfest has ended, the HOP will culminate its Halloween festivities with a costume competition at Levering Hall on Oct. 31.
