Halloween can be celebrated in ways other than trick-or-treating. Through East Lansing’s community events planned for Oct. 30, residents and MSU students have the opportunity to celebrate the spooky holiday at downtown events.
The events include Safe Halloween, The Great Pumpkin Walk, the Haunted Campus Tour, the Wild Goose Inn's transformation into the “Land of Oz” and ArachnoBROADia at the Broad Art Museum.
Safe Halloween
MSU Greek Life will provide a safe night for children to trick-or-treat from 5 to 7 p.m. on M.A.C. Avenue. Activities include crafts, face painting and giveaways. The event is an opportunity for children to socialize with college students.
Money raised during the event will go toward Special Days Camps, a camp for children with cancer and their siblings. The Spartan DJ Club and acapella group The Spartan Dischords will perform.
The Great Pumpkin Walk
More than 50 downtown East Lansing merchants will give out candy for a night of trick-or-treating from 5 to 7 p.m. Parking downtown will be free from 4:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Activities provided by the Wild Goose Inn, Grand Traverse Pie Company and the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum will be on hand to keep trick-or-treaters entertained. Grand Traverse will hand out cookies, while the Broad Art Museum will offer games, crafts and insect education from the MSU Bug House.
An average of 1,500 people attend the event yearly, said Amy Schusler-Schmitt, community development and engagement manager for the city of East Lansing.
“It’s a fun opportunity to showcase some of our younger families in the community, and really allow them to come downtown and see all of the businesses and service opportunities that they can enjoy through their merchant community,” she said.
The Wild Goose Inn
The bed and breakfast will continue its annual tradition of turning into the “Land of Oz” from 5 to 7 p.m. with colorful decorations and costumed characters from the movie “The Wizard of Oz.” The occasion will also feature a replica yellow brick road.
ArachnoBROADia!
The Broad Art Museum will have activities for children including Halloween games and crafts. The MSU Bug House will educate people about creepy insects at the same time.
Haunted Campus Tour
MSU’s Campus Archaeology and Paranormal Society will host their fifth annual Haunted Campus Tour from 7 to 8 p.m.
The hour-long walk will tour the north side of campus including the MSU Library, Beaumont Tower, Beal Botanical Garden, Mayo Hall and Saints’ Rest. Attendees will meet at Beaumont Tower.
Tour guides will share information from Campus Archaeology and the Paranormal Society. Campus Archaeology will explain historical occurrences in the buildings and show archaeological finds, while the Paranormal Society will discuss legends that have circulated throughout the years, said Ben Clemens, journalism sophomore and the society’s social media chairman.
“We’ve heard and researched many legends surrounding a lot of these historically important sites on campus,” Clemens said. “Two or three weeks ago we did a campus-wide paranormal investigation at these sites, so a lot of the legends are very fresh in our minds.”
Compared to orientation tours, the event is an exciting way to learn about the history on campus with legends and archaeological finds, Clemens said.
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“It’s an avenue for people who may not really be that interested in history to really get to know history,” he said. “It’s all very interesting and it really makes the history come alive.”
To finalize Halloween festivities for the year, East Lansing neighborhoods will hold their respective trick-or-treating events Oct. 31 from 6 to 8 p.m.
