Each year, Hood College hosts Safe Harvest, an annual autumnal celebration that occurs around Halloween, providing local children in Fredrick, with a safe haven to trick or treat.
Hosted by Hood’s Mortar Board Society, Safe Harvest “provides children ages 12 and under the opportunity to enjoy a safe and fun-filled evening of games, arts and crafts, and trick or treating on Hood’s campus,” according to the society’s public relations chairwoman, Sienna Bronson.
This year’s annual Safe Harvest was on Oct. 28th. The Mortar Board Society organizes the event, but the whole Hood College community comes together to make it happen. Students are encouraged to buy candy to either donate or hand out to kids when they walk around the college’s five dorms.
“This year there were so many Hood College organizations involved. We had booths for Archaeology club, FSU, Least Squares Math club, Hood Improv Troupe, CKI club, the BrotherHood, SEA, Belly Dance Club, SGA, Cab, and ALD,” Bronson says.
(Dana Lewis, Chloe Jackson, Micaela McCarthy, and Tori Gomez)
While many students come out and show their support, not all Hood students are enthusiastic about this event. In fact, many students are confused as to why Safe Harvest exists.
Micaela McCarthy, a Hood College junior, says she would “rather have her kids go house-to-house trick or treating than go to a college campus,” if she had kids. Though she sees the point of Safe Harvest, she has never heard of trick or treating being dangerous at all, and asks “is it really necessary?”
While she was a freshman at Hood, Bronson was told that “trick or treating is illegal in downtown Frederick since it is a historic district.” However, she was recently informed that trick or treating is not illegal in Frederick, and that this is simply a rumor.
“Everyone at Hood says Safe Harvest started because trick or treating is illegal, because someone tried to poison kids candy one Halloween. But nobody seems to know exactly what happened,” says Alex Connor, Hood College junior.
(Frederick Residents at Safe Harvest, photos by Stout)
“How and when Safe Harvest began is a bit foggy,” Bronson says. “It was already going in 2003 when Dr. Flora first got here, but I think it has been going on for a while.”
Bronson says, “regardless of why it started, Safe Harvest is a great way for children to experience a myriad of fall and Halloween related activities in a safe place with others around the same age.”
“Current faculty and staff are always in attendance, and alumni who are in Frederick continue to return,” Bronson says. The event is so widely popular because they “open the event to the public, and that draws people in. There are some nearby places where trick or treating is not allowed for various reasons, and lots of people come most likely because of word of mouth.”
Cathy Woodward, Frederick resident, says Safe Harvest is the perfect place for her kids to celebrate Halloween.
Woodward, single mother of two, says, “It is a strange concept of having your kids go door to door asking for candy. The concept is quite strange because you do feel like you are putting your kids lives in the hands of strangers for a bit.”
Woodward goes on to say that trick or treating “is a risk, not just the candy, but what if the stranger is a pedophile or a kidnapper? I do not allow my children to trick or treat, so Safe Harvest is the perfect place to take my kids.”
Bronson says her favorite part of Safe Harvest is seeing the parents and children having a great time in a safe environment. She says it gives “everyone a chance to come together to celebrate Halloween in a shorter span of time with a defined environment.”
“Safe Harvest has been one of my favorite events every year since my first year at Hood,” Bronson says. “The main thing I get out of it is a fun experience that comes with the benefit of doing something good for the community.”