A student in a Freddy Fazbear suit sporting a top hat, black-and-white Nike Dunks and bulging eyes waved a pride flag across the runway in Stamp Student Union’s Grand Ballroom.
Spook N’ Slay, a Halloween costume contest hosted by Pride Alliance and the Multicultural Involvement and Community Advocacy office, took place Thursday night as attendees presented their costumes on stage in an ode to drag culture.
The second annual event celebrated the LGBTQ+ community during LGBTQ+ History Month as well as Halloween festivities, said event organizer and senior anthropology and microbiology major, Aren Scriba, who dressed as Morticia Addams from The Addams Family.
“A lot of queer people, especially trans people who are gender non-conforming ones, get marginalized on the basis of having that form of expression that’s not aligned with dominant cultural interests,” Scriba said. “It’s especially important to have places and groups where that’s valorized and admired and given some respect.”
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Landscape architecture graduate student Kelly Sieberts said the event created a space for her to surround herself with people in the LGBTQ+ community, which she said can be rare.
Sieberts, who dressed up as a Luna Moth, described the experience of spotting the insect as “magical,” and wanted to embody it in her costume. Long, antenna-like ears rested on her brown hair and a green cape formed the moth’s wings when she raised her arms.
Senior theatre major Matthew Cruser dressed up as Shaggy from Scooby-Doo and said Halloween is an event for LGBTQ+ people to express themselves on campus.
“Usually, dressing up and expressing yourself is very looked down at, and it’s like the one time of the year where you can do that and be celebrated for it,” Cruser said.
Bryant Rivera Cortez, a senior middle school math and science education major, performed a forward roll, pushups and a split to accompany his costume — Sportacus from LazyTown.
Rivera Cortez wore a crop top, blue armbands and a denim jacket dotted with silver embellishment to emulate the character, topping it off with a bandana tied around his head. He also drew a black mustache below his nose and put on dark blue, seafoam-colored pants to replicate the look.
Rivera Cortez said he attended Spook N’ Slay last year and dressed up as Harley Quinn, a character that allowed him to show his athletic and acrobatic skills.
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Scriba said they expected attendees to shine brilliantly — they did just that.
Junior studio art major Atlas Martinez — who dressed up as Freddy Fazbear from Five Nights at Freddy’s — won best overall costume and took home the largest Ikea shark plush toy, a symbol of the transgender community. Four other attendees won smaller shark plushies for best overall costume runner up, funniest, scariest and cutest costume.
“I’m usually a very anti-social, reserved person, but coming out here and winning first place for the costume [contest] was actually really fun and cool,” Martinez said. “I still haven’t processed it.”
