Why just have one day to celebrate the best day of the year when you can have an entire weekend full of candy, fright, and of course, costumes.
This past weekend both on and off Winona State University grounds has been full of spooky celebration. Various dorm halls, Winona State departments and classes celebrated in their own unique way. Prentiss-Lucas Hall had their Haunted Floor event and the English Department held their very own Halloween trivia.
“We like to host Halloween trivia because it’s fun to see our students in costumes and to test their knowledge on spooky topics before they head off to their other Halloween celebrations,” Professor Ann-Marie Dunbar, chairperson of the English Department explained.
However, Hallo-weekend off Winona State’s dry campus is often a very different story.
Starting the weekend off with a night of laughs, Thursday’s costumes often fall within the humorous side of costumes. Unlike the common Sabrina Carpenters, Disney princesses and, the oldie but goodie, “Magic Mike” characters that were seen on Friday and Saturday night, Thursday’s costumes were full of outside-of-the-box creativity. A group of Ed Sheerans all dressed in orange wigs and various album covers were spotted making their way through town on Thursday night. Right up there with witty costumes, Winona State Senior, Dylan Jackson dressed in yellow body paint as Ned Flanders from “The Simpsons” took the trophy for commitment to the bit.
With Halloween falling on a Friday night, Winona State students came to play Friday and Saturday night with their costumes. Whether passing out candy to trick-or-treaters, attending a house party or making their way through the many bars downtown, everyone brought their A-game. People who are Winona State peers became unrecognizable this weekend dressed in costumes, wigs and bold makeup as they embodied their costume for the night.
Halloween on a Friday leads to more unexpected costumes and out of the box ideas and even more people from Winona State participating in festivities.
The were the top five most unexpected Halloween costumes seen this year:
- Barden Bellas
- Founding fathers
- “Cereal” killers
- Marvel characters
- Fight Club characters
Overall, this year’s Hallo-weekend was quite successful for both Winona State as a campus and for Winona State Students. This raises the question of which trends throughout 2026 will influence the many Halloween costumes that will be paraded within the community and along the streets next Oct. 31?
