Two Halloween pub nights rock the Student Centre in October
The UTMSU and campus clubs hosted spooky celebrations in the lead-up to reading week.
Twice this October, students took over The Blind Duck for Halloween-themed pub night festivities. Seven student groups co-hosted “Halloween Pub Night” on October 17, while the University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM) Students’ Union (UTMSU) hosted its annual Halloween pub night on October 23, this time titled “Fright Night.”
Each function featured games, drinks, and live performances and attracted several students, many of whom turned up in costume.
The UTM Urbanism Club, the UTM Filipino Student Association (FSA), the UTM Art Club, the Erindale Gaming Association, UTM Esports, the Harmonix Music Club, and CFRE Radio organized the pub night on October 17 and offered free admission.
Starting at 7 p.m., a sequence of cover bands took the stage at The Blind Duck, playing songs ranging from new wave to pop rock ballads. The cover band roster was followed by a DJ who kept up the dance music through the tail end of the night. The gathering at the stage was large but spread thin for the most part, as club photographers snaked through bubbles of audience members and the occasional dancing duo.
In the adjacent Square One Presentation Room, partygoers cycled through a massive collection of card and board games. Along rows of tables, several groups locked in for friendly bouts of poker, Katan, and Anomia, among dozens of other options.
Around the corner was a photo booth featuring a makeshift police lineup backdrop and handheld props, courtesy of the FSA.
Event organizers set up several video game stations throughout the Student Centre. Some attendees stopped by for sessions of Guitar Hero and Mario Kart in the Board Room, while others played matches of Super Smash Bros. and Tekken across from Chatime. Though it was drizzling outside, that didn’t stop a few attendees from setting up a game of mahjong in the outdoor seating area.
The Students’ Union ran their pub night on October 23. The event was coordinated by UTMSU Vice President Campus Life Lois Ogunnubi-Oriade, who shared some of her experiences from the process of setting up the pub night in an interview with The Medium.
“Honestly, one thing I’m really passionate about is student engagement on campus because it was something that I felt I was lacking in my first year,” she said, discussing what she likes about organizing such pub nights. “So, my goal is to make an event that students will want to come out for, that they’re excited about, and that … they have a good time during.”
Speaking on the event collaborators and attendees who came out, Ogunnubi-Oriade added, “I’m very happy that we were able to bring artists for the first two pub [nights] that we’ve had so far … we have a really good crowd of students this year who are hyped, so I like that.”
Ogunnubi-Oriade said that fatigue was the biggest obstacle she faced while planning the event overall. “Logistically, everything has been going well. We have Shane [Madhani], our building manager, who handled the artists and everything, so that aspect was pretty taken care of. My team just kind of worked on promotion, and decor, and all of Halloweek. So where the fatigue comes from is that Halloweek as a whole is also my portfolio, so it’s like back to back to back events, sometimes two events in a day, so by Thursday, I’m tired.”
The payoff began as the night went into full swing, and lines formed outside The Blind Duck. Participants came prepared in costumes ranging from DC heroes to pickles. The highlight of the night was Toronto-based rapper, Smiley, most known for his song “Over the Top” featuring Drake. He was joined on stage by Crow From The 905 and Murda Beatz.
Everyone got into the Halloween spirit as the night progressed. Participants gave lightsticks and drinks to the decorative scarecrows and took pictures of the stage, which hosted a range of graves. Event organizers also engraved the graves with the names of lost Student Centre amenities, listing 2025 as the death year of things such as “Free Breakfast” and “Student Autonomy” in reference to the UTMSU’s ongoing Hands Off Our Education campaign.
The party ended after 11 p.m., when the winners of the Halloween Haunt tickets and the costume contest had been announced, and it was time to prepare for the final day before reading week.
