Safety tips for Halloweekend 2024
Photo courtesy of Photo Editor Faith Zatlukal
Here is the H Lot bus shelter which is a part of the Geneseo late night bus route and located across from Orchard street.
As the end of October creeps up slowly, many students are counting down the days until one of the biggest party weekends in the college setting. This weekend is none other than “Halloweekend.” This term refers to the weekend either before or after Halloween when college students and other young people alike decide to celebrate the holiday—typically through wearing the costumes of their choice and taking the town by storm. This year’s celebration will last a shocking three days for many, as Halloween will fall on a Thursday.
Underage drinking and the overconsumption of alcohol are dangerous and are not promoted here at SUNY Geneseo. We would be remiss, though, not to acknowledge the many students who gather on Orchard Street over the weekends. Halloweekend is when many students attempt to go out for the first time or when certain members might go out for their once-a-semester hoorah. This means that even students who frequent Orchard Street need to be extra careful to ensure a fun and safe weekend for all.
Due to the large number of people, one of the most important things to remember is to stay with your group. If you begin the night with a group of four friends, you should end the night and leave with the same four friends. Recent events have shown that not everyone who frequents the street on the weekends is a student, and they may not have the best intentions. Even if you know someone is a fellow student, the true intentions of someone can be hard to tell. Meeting new people throughout the night can be funny and nice, but be sure not to follow strangers anywhere and to make sure your friends do the same.
Throughout the weekend, all typical safety tips still apply. These include: not taking a drink from someone you don’t know, always keeping an eye on your drink, and never leaving it unattended. Having a sober friend is a great way to ensure that someone in your group will be able to think clearly in an emergency. Even if you do not have a sober person in your group, the University Police Department is available in the event of an emergency. SUNY Geneseo’s main priority is the safety and well-being of students, and this principle applies especially during times such as Halloweekend.
If engaging in any other party activities, there are preventative measures that you should take. A newly installed vending machine inside the Macvittie Union in the mail room has many useful supplies: Plan B, fentanyl test strips, pregnancy tests, condoms, Narcan, and other useful items for college students are available. Take advantage of free resources like these, and encourage your friends to do the same.
The end of October often brings very cold weather, while some costumes often consist of very little clothing. These two things do not mix well, so it is recommended that you wear a jacket. It may not be the best idea to bring your favorite jacket out with you, as you may lose it at some point throughout the night or get it dirty beyond repair. Walmart, Goodwill, TJ Maxx, and other local places have cheap jackets that will keep you warm throughout the Halloweekend and the following colder months.
Often, a treacherous walk back to the dorms or off-campus apartments is unenjoyable at the end of a long night. There is a solution to this problem in many cases: The Geneseo late-night bus service! For those that live on the Southside, the bus stops at the Wayne Hall bus stop. The bus makes many other stops, such as Main Street, North Street, Wadsworth Street, and Court Street. The bus schedule is available on the Geneseo website under the parking and transportation services. One of the bus stops is H lot, a parking lot conveniently located across from Orchard Street.
Halloweekend has the potential to be one of the best weekends out of the year for some, as long as the proper safety measures are followed. The concept of safety is often labeled as not cool or boring—but what is truly not cool is a situation where someone gets harmed when it could have been prevented.