Project Pumpkin magic

Project Pumpkin, pie in the face

Students turned Hearn Plaza into Hogwarts for this year’s Harry Potter-themed Project Pumpkin.  The 22nd annual Halloween Festival brought more than 1,100 Winston-Salem area children from local agencies and organizations to campus for an afternoon of scary and not-so-scary fun.

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Held from 2-6 p.m.  Oct. 28, the event featured trick-or-treating, carnival games, haunted houses and live entertainment by Wake Forest student musical groups.  A “Mad Scientist Show” and mummy races were popular activities.  Hundreds of costumed student volunteers escorted children around the festival.

Started by a Wake Forest student in 1988, Project Pumpkin is organized by students, who recruit volunteers to sell T-shirts, create decorations, schedule entertainment, publicize the event, and organize carnival booths.

“Of all of the great events which Wake Forest hosts throughout the school year, Project Pumpkin has always been the most dear to me,” said Teddy Aronson, a senior and chair of this year’s event.  “Project Pumpkin is a unique event in the way in which it brings together so many people and aspects of both the Wake Forest and the Winston-Salem community.”

Throughout the month of October, Wake Forest student volunteers visited community agencies to get the children excited for Project Pumpkin and help them make decorations to display at the event.

Project Pumpkin is sponsored by the Volunteer Service Corps.

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