The Georgetown University Farmers Market (GUFM), Georgetown Entertainment and Media Alliance (GEMA) and Georgetown Program Board (GPB) co-hosted a festive event that featured several Halloween-themed activities. 

The Oct. 30 “A Night of Thrills” event consisted of six hours worth of spooky programming, from horror movies and costumes to visiting the campus’ Jesuit cemetery. The event came as a collaborative effort from the three student groups who aimed to foster a festive and fun spirit. 

A Night of Thrills featured a nighttime farmers market in Red Square and a screening of “The Exorcist” on Copley Lawn. Attendees were able to buy food and movie snacks from the market while watching the film.

GUFM, which typically coordinates the Red Square farmers markets from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Wednesdays, hosted the new, nighttime market from 6 to 10 p.m. for this event.  

For the first time in the tradition’s 50-year history, GPB showed “The Exorcist” outside on Copley Lawn, according to GPB vice president Carina DelCore (CAS ’24). Participants were able to watch the film on a large screen and received wireless headsets for a more immersive experience. 

DelCore said the collaboration with the other student organizations broadened the tradition of the film’s screening by incorporating additional festivities.

“This is a really fun tradition,” DelCore told The Hoya. “Now we’ve gotten a chance to work with other student groups and really have a chance to sort of expand it and make it a good tradition for everybody to enjoy,” DelCore told The Hoya.

DelCore said she hoped the event offered attendees the chance to not only experience the tradition, but also connect with other Georgetown students and get excited for the Halloween season.

“I really hope that they get to have a great Georgetown tradition experience. ‘The Exorcist’ is so cool that it was filmed here,” DelCore said. “I think it’s just like a fun way to appreciate our community and be surrounded by other people from Georgetown, in a non-academic, just fun, appreciative way and to get in the Halloween spirit.”

Alessandra Vietina (MSB ’24), a student on the GUFM Board, said the event represented a unique collaboration between the Farmers Market and GEMA due to their diverse missions and programming. The event aimed to combine the Farmers Market tradition of weekly afternoon markets with GEMA’s tradition of a nighttime Halloween Eve screening of “The Exorcist,” according to Vietina.

“The idea, because my roommate’s on the board of GEMA, was to put them together and I was like, ‘let’s do a night market and a movie and kind of bring those things together,’” Vietina told The Hoya. “And so I tried to get some new things going.” 

Vietina said the result was a spooky evening marketplace, which brought both new and familiar vendors to Red Square to offer students snacks before the screening.

“I wanted to bring things people will snack on in a movie, but also bring some of the returning vendors,” Vietina said.

Among some of the vendor snacks unique to the event were kettle corn and complimentary hot cider which the GUFM board offered. BUN’D up, a vendor which typically offers bao buns during the daytime market, also sold burgers during the nighttime market. Local churro vendor, Churros, Inc., also participated at the Market in celebration of the Nov. 1 Mexican holiday, Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos), a commemoration of deceased ancestors. 

Vietina said the GUFM Board intended for the event to be an enjoyable celebration of the holiday season. 

“We’re just excited for people to come and watch ‘The Exorcist’ together for the end of Halloween and the beginning of the holidays,” Vietina said. “I hope people can get some good food and enjoy a good movie.”

After the film screening, attendees were also encouraged to take part in the annual “Healy Howl” in the Jesuit cemetery, which included free cookies from Wisemiller’s Deli, a countdown to midnight and a collective howl at the moon. 

Will Hays (SFS ’25), the president of GPB, said he hopes the unique and Halloween-themed events allowed students to let loose and enjoy the festivities.

“We hope people have a good time. Maybe a few screams, a few jumps. But yeah, we just hope that everyone who comes out is able to enjoy this tradition,” Hays told The Hoya.

Elliot Lovinger (CAS ’25), a student who attended the event, said it felt distinct from typical Georgetown events as it combined traditions into a novel celebration of the holidays.

“It’s just a change of scenery. It was like a new event,” Lovinger told The Hoya. “We were talking about how Georgetown doesn’t really host a lot of fun events. So this was festive and it seemed fun.”