By Maddie Garvis//
Safe Harvest is returning to Hood on Oct. 28 with several changes to make the event more COVID safe.
The event, sponsored by the Mortar Board, has been a fixture at Hood College for the last 30 years, according to Mortar Board adviser Lisa Littlefield. Last year the event was canceled because of COVID. Littlefield said that this year’s Safe Harvest will be a return to normal as the event is historically a big part of Hood’s connection to the greater Frederick community.
“People who bring their kids tell us that they themselves came to Safe Harvest at Hood as children,” Littlefield said.
The purpose of Safe Harvest is to invite the Frederick community to be a part of campus life and introduce them to the college, while also giving children a place to safely trick-or-treat.
This year’s Safe Harvest will be a slightly different version compared to previous years. To make the event safer for those attending and for members of the Hood campus, the visiting children and their parents will trick-or-treat in front of each dorm instead of going into the first-floor lounges.
With this change, the resident assistants of each dorm will decorate the outside of the buildings instead of just the lounge, which has been the focus of the Halloween decorating in previous years.
The trick-or-treating groups will also be a lot smaller to maintain social distancing standards, with each group having no more than 10 people. This will mean that a lot more student volunteers will be needed to lead the groups around to each dorm, Littlefield said.
Masks will be required for visitors when inside any campus buildings and are advised to be worn outside while on the trick-or-treating tours.
The final change is the location of the games and activities that are typically held in the Whitaker Commons. Instead of being confined just to the Commons, this year’s tables will be spread throughout the ground floor of the Whit atrium and outside on the Whit patio.
“This year we’re spreading out those tables where children will be having their activities so there’s social distancing between tables and groups of children,” Littlefield said. “The spread throughout the atrium will allow for a more controlled flow of people through the activities.”
Student volunteers from various campus clubs and organizations will have Halloween-themed games and activities at each table for the children to participate in while they wait for their trick-or-treating groups to leave.
According to Mortar Board President Hiba Usmani, 18 clubs have signed up to run a table so far, and she expects more to register in the time leading up to the event.
Usmani and Littlefield agreed that the event is a great opportunity for participating Hood students to have valuable leadership and volunteer experience and is a fun way to participate in Halloween while they’re away from home.
This year will be Usmani’s first time having a hand in planning the event. Usmani, a senior, said that she’s a little nervous about planning this year’s Safe Harvest.
“I’m kind of nervous about everything, in that I just really want it to be a successful event,” Usmani said. “I really want this to be successful, I really want the kids to have fun, I want everyone to have fun. For it to be an enjoyable night, I think that’s my main goal.”
Any students interested in volunteering to lead tours or help decorate Whitaker for Safe Harvest can contact Hiba Usmani at hu1@hood.edu.
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