As the Dodecaphonics sang their last verse in front of Kappa Delta Epsilon sorority, the small hands of their audience began to clap along, and with the last lingering note a high pitched exclamation of "That was awesome!" rang out. It might not have seemed so different from a typical a capella event except that the audience members were about half the size of Dartmouth students and were dressed as ghouls, princesses, vampires and the occasional Harry Potter.
This Halloween, Webster Avenue, better known as Fraternity Row, was shut down to accommodate the first ever "Halloween at Dartmouth." Thirty-five campus organizations helped to sponsor the free event for Upper Valley children, which was organized by Kappa Kappa Kappa fraternity and co-ordinated by Tri-Kap members Ian Tapu '08 and Timothy Leung '09.
Families who attended the event received a map of all of the participating greek houses as well as other stations run by residential clusters and other organizations. Children who attended the event painted and carved pumpkins, ate cotton candy, had their faces painted, decorated cupcakes and made bracelets and necklaces. In addition to the Dodecaphonics, a Chinese dance troupe, the Dog Day Players and the Rockapellas performed. Phi Tau and Delta Delta Delta hosted haunted houses, and Tri-Kap held a costume contest.
Costumes ranged from toddlers in full dragon suits to six "goth girls" complete with black clothes, faces painted white, and fake nose rings.
Children involved in the DREAM program and their mentors attended the event, as well as many families from the Hanover community.
Amelia Lubrana, an eight-year-old dressed as a "spiderweb ghost," said she was most looking forward to the "bouncy house" in front of Tri-Kap. She also looked forward to trick-or-treating away from Webster Avenue.
"We're going trick-or-treating here first and then in the neighborhoods," Lubrana said. "And then there's this big mansion that gives you big bags of candy."
The program gave the greek organizations the chance to overcome what Tapu calls the "negative stigma" associated with Webster Avenue.
"Since no one who isn't affiliated with Greek life or who isn't a student ever comes down to Webster Avenue, it's a perfect opportunity for them to get to know us," Tapu said.
The idea for the program began with an Easter egg hunt that greek organizations put on in Collis Commonground for Upper Valley children last year, Tapu said.
"Last year we did the Easter egg hunt and we had more than 200 people show up for that, so we wanted to do something bigger," Tapu said.
Starting as early as last spring, Tapu and Leung began bringing up the ideas to other campus organizations.
"We're both involved in a lot of activities, so we were able to reach out to people," Leung said. "People were really excited to get on board."
The program grew until it involved over thirty campus organizations, including Student Assembly, Aquinas House and the Russell Sage, Choates and Massachusetts Row/Gold Coast residential clusters. Tapu hopes that since many underclassmen helped to put on the event, it will continue for many years.
Events like "Halloween at Dartmouth" and the Easter egg hunt represent another side of greek community service.
"All of the Greek houses do lots of fundraising, but we want the Greek houses to really make that personal connection" Tapu said.
Tapu and Leung said that they hoped this event would continue in years to come.
"I hope everyone has a great time. I want to be able to come back as an alum and see this event happening," Tapu said.
