Last night was good for Tristan Sodergren-Barr.

It was the second time the senior history major had won first place in the Taylor Dining Halloween costume contest.

Hundreds of students packed the dining center for a spooky-themed dinner and costume contest.

He donned a wizard outfit inspired by Dumbledore from the “Harry Potter” series.

“It doesn’t breathe well,” Sodergren-Barr said.

The homemade costume included a cloak made from old house curtains and a black tunic. However, his wand and hat were ordered from a Harry Potter costume Web site.

Winners of the costume contest received large baskets of candy and other non-perishable items.

“Here’s a lot of junk food I shouldn’t eat,” Sodergren-Barr said.

Dion Martorano took second-place, dressed as the killer from “Scream,” and Savanna Voss took third, dressed as a Tootsie Roll.

Voss, freshmen elementary education major, said her grandmother had made the costume for her last year.

“I’ve gotten a lot of (guys) tonight saying they want a piece of my Tootsie Roll,” Voss said.

Sheila Poffinbarger, assistant manager of South Quad Dining, said last night’s event was something special and wished she could do more like it.

“It took a lot of work to set the dining room up, but it turned out really well,” Poffinbarger said.

The dining hall staff transformed the center with pumpkins and ghoulish furnishings, including a decorative table in the room’s forefront displaying an oversized blow-up pumpkin, surrounded by Halloween candy and treats.

Poffinbarger encouraged her staff to dress in costume.

She was dressed as the grim reaper.

“It’s little things, but the students still seem excited,” she said.

At the start of the dinner shift, local rock band Friday Night Villain performed a 45-minute set in the South Quad to a substantial group and many bystanders.

“We played tons of scary songs. You could say it was Friday Night-terrifying,” said Josh Easton, the band’s lead singer.

Before each song, Easton jokingly pronounced how scary the next song was going to be. The band members said they enjoyed playing in the quad and noted how the acoustics played to their benefit.

“The band was a pretty big hit,” Poffinbarger said.

By the end of the night, more than 850 students had swiped into Taylor, making it “one for the records,” Poffinbarger said.

Chetel V. Jordan, senior communications major, enjoys the Halloween Dinner at Taylor Dining on Oct. 31. Jordan dressed as Foxxy Cleopatra from Austin Powers Goldmember.

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