The University’s Residence Hall Association (RHA) collaborated with student radio station WMCX for the first time to host the on-campus event “Monmouth RHA and WMCX Present: Fall Fest” on the front lawn of Guggenheim Library Thursday, October 30 at 6 pm
“This is our fifth Fall Fest,” said student RHA president Krista Varanyak. “We’re really excited and hope to see a lot of people come out.”
This year’s incarnation of Fall Fest introduced a couple new major changes to the event dynamic that were not present in the previous four years. This year marked the first time WMCX co-sponsored the event with RHA.
“It is a good partnership,” said RHA Faculty Advisor Ryan Kassis. “The radio station brought a lot of advertising for us and did a great job providing us with music.”
WMCX set up a remote control panel on the Guggenheim Library lawn, where they streamed a Halloween-themed selection of songs from the station’s headquarters in the Jules L. Plangere Center on the academic side of campus. They played popular holiday-appropriate songs, such as the Misfits’ cover of Bobby Pickett’s “Monster Mash” and the theme song to The Nightmare Before Christmas, “This is Halloween.”
“We haven’t been too involved with students on the residential side of campus,” said WMCX General Manager Danielle Gertz. “Partnering with RHA for Fall Fest provided us with a great opportunity to reach more of the student body.”
Gertz expressed that she also hopes the radio station co-sponsoring the event will gain WMCX more student exposure. “We want to gain more student listeners, since most of the station’s listeners are not affiliated with Monmouth University,” she said.
This year also marked the first time RHA hosted the event on the Guggenheim Library lawn. Fall Fest’s four previous incarnations took place on the Residential Quad. Gertz said the change in venue allowed both organizations to “make the event bigger and have more attractions.”
University students enjoyed the Fall Fest attractions free of charge. Though both organizations targeted the event toward on-campus resident underclassmen, all students were welcome to attend. “It took about a month and a half to plan,” said Varanyak. “We had to do a lot with contracts and work order forms to set it up.”
“It’s very positive for the student body that they’re doing this,” said junior graphic design major Franny Kieffer. “It’s good to see them gathering all the students together to kick off the Halloween festivities.”
Students who attended participated in a variety of activities provided by both RHA and WMCX. RHA provided free hot cocoa and Dunkin Donuts Munchkins for students in addition to pumpkin painting, a photo booth with props, caricature drawings, and games of corn-hole. Event entertainment company Party Perfect provided 250 pumpkins for students to paint as well as a Halloween-themed, inflatable bounce house for attendees to jump on for no additional charge.
WMCX provided a bowl of Halloween candy and a variety of promotional items for students to take such as stickers, sunglasses, and pens featuring the radio station’s logo. The organization also hosted two contests at the event for students to participate in.
At 7:30 pm, the radio station hosted a “Name that Tune” contest, inviting students to compete to see who could name the most theme songs from popular Halloween movies. The contest lasted five rounds, and participants had 20 seconds to name the movie the tune was featured in. The contestant who named the most over the span of the five rounds won. Freshman Mike Levy won the contest and was awarded a WMCX backpack full of prizes featuring the organization’s logo.
Following “Name that Tune,” WMCX hosted a costume contest at 8:30 pm. Students were invited to attend Fall Fest wearing Halloween costumes and could register their festive attire to be judged by radio station personnel for more prizes. An anonymous student dressed as popular Internet horror icon, Slenderman, won the contest. This student also received a WMCX backpack along with a sweatshirt featuring the University logo.
The event concluded at 9pm with the organizations closing up the activities and students returning to their residences. Gertz said she enjoyed having WMCX co-sponsor the event with RHA and that the radio station would absolutely return to Fall Fest in 2015.
Both organizations are open to all student involvement. To learn more about WMCX, tune into 88.9FM or visit them at wmcx.com. RHA can be contacted at rha@monmouth.edu.
PHOTO TAKEN by Michael Bateman
