BY ANDREA GONZALEZ
CHRONICLE STAFF
It’s officially spooky season, which means it’s that time of the year to visit haunted houses, go to popular theme parks for mazes, and watch spooky movies. Cypress College students are ready to finally celebrate.
With COVID-19’s lockdown people have been avoiding celebrating Halloween. Whether that’s dressing up, going out with friends and family, going to Halloween parties, Halloween hasn’t been the same since the pandemic began.
Since the spirit of Halloween has been absent for so long, students are more than excited to get out of their house and enjoy some time out with loved ones.
Acting major, Alex Duarte said, “I really love celebrating Halloween and I love hanging out with friends and also my family on Halloween. More specifically, I love going to the Theme Park events.”
It’s no secret that 2020 was quite an eventful year for all of us, ironically most events and activities were either restricted or closed off. All theme parks were closed due to high cases of COVID-19; Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights, Knotts Scary Farm, Six Flags Fright Fest, and Disneyland’s Oogie Boogie bash were among those shut down in 2020.
Since more people have become vaccinated, more events and places have been granted to operate at full capacity. This gives students the opportunity to finally dress up, gather with family and friends, and celebrate Halloween.
According to the vaccination progress data provided by COVID19.CA.gov, as of Oct. 3 around 59.3% of Californians are fully vaccinated, with more than 4 million individuals in Orange County fully vaccinated. Since more people are receiving vaccines, this broadens the chances for more outdoor festivities and gatherings and less restrictions.
For one student, he understood that he had to quarantine himself last year due to increasing COVID-19 rates. Although he had many plans for last year’s Halloween, his safety and the safety of others came first.
“It wasn’t a huge blow because I understand that we were- and still are- in the middle of a pandemic,” said journalism major, Javier Ramos.
He continued, “This year my sister turns 21, and her birthday is on the 30th, so my siblings and I are planning a costume party. And the day of Halloween, my roommate and I are going to invite some friends over to our apartment and make food and watch horror movies, pass out candy if any kids come by trick-or-treating.”
Typically, most students tend to celebrate Halloween by going to theme parks with friends and family. This year, some students have already kicked off Halloween by going to popular amusement parks for some thrills.
Biology major, Jessica Sanchez, spent quality time with her family at Universal Studios Halloween Horror nights at the end of September. However, she expressed great concern about going out in a populated area like Universal Studios.
“I was getting paranoid, but I’m glad that universal staff did a wonderful job at forcing everyone to wear a mask all times even on rides, regardless of vaccination status,” said Sanchez
Duarte said, “I really enjoyed Knott’s Scary Farm because it was fun being able to do something like that again with just my friend, and I love scary environments.”
Now that California’s COVID-19 restrictions have decreased, students have a wider set of possibilities spending time out this year. Without social distancing regulations in place people are able to have gatherings, and when people are vaccinated they have more variety of choices when it comes to going out. In terms of Halloween, students can finally give Halloween festivities justice after not being able to do so last year.
