Fountain Valley High School’s first Halloween Club Carnival was held on October 29, 2011 from 6-11 PM on the school campus.
Rather than having the clubs circle their booths around the bowl as during International Week, many booths lined up along the walkway between one side of the bowl and the cafeteria, along the walkway from the choir room to the history buildings, and in front of the choir room. One club, SOS Brigade, was even able to secure the cafeteria to host its popular maid club.
At the heart of the carnival was the Troubadours Haunted Maze within the choir room; the line snaked from the entrance of the classroom to the gates of the school. Many students had to wait an hour or two in order to gain admission to the highly anticipated event. Members of choir in their costumes walked amongst the crowd at the carnival to garner hype for the maze. Reactions to the maze were mixed; some were left trembling long after exiting the maze while others preferred last year’s maze to this year’s.
Mainstream music played on as lights dimmed and the sun began to set. As the night wore on, many students, alumni, faculty, and friends of Barons gathered around the booths in Halloween costumes. Despite the cancellation of the scavenger hunt, the turnout at the carnival was at its zenith during the first half of the carnival; after 9 PM, the walkways seemed more vacant. Perhaps the reason for this is due to certain popular clubs running out of products to sell. After 8:30, there was a distinct deficiency of non-sugar-laden carnival food, proof that many clubs did better than what had been expected.
“I think that the turnout for the booths really reflected how much effort the club put into it,” says Orchestra Historian Linda Huynh (’13), who sold Mangiamo Gelato, one of the Halloween Carnival’s most popular products. “Other than that though, I had a lot of fun just hanging out with my friends. The Halloween carnival is one of those instances that prove that anything can be fun as long as you’re there with your closest friends. “
