By Mariah Bennett | Staff Writer
After a three-year hiatus, Phi Gamma Delta’s (FIJI) Fright Night will be back from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. Wednesday through Friday on Fountain Mall. Admission is free for all students, and the evenings will include a photo booth, T-shirt sales, food trucks and movies.
Students will be able to skip the haunted house line with a “fast pass” if they purchase a T-shirt, according to San Antonio senior and FIJI president Cameron Hull. All event proceeds will go toward the American Red Cross, which is partnered nationally with FIJI.
The American Red Cross is an association that supports people in crisis and provides staff workers and volunteers with training in case of an emergency.
Hull said he was a freshman the last time Fright Night took place in fall 2019, and the event is something the fraternity worked hard on and is proud of.
“I think it’s important for us to try to do things with excellence,” Hull said. “I’m really excited to see all the students embrace the return of what was historically a fantastic event.”
The haunted house will include 10 themed rooms, according to Grapevine junior and head philanthropy chair Jake Masini.
“Each [room] has about four to six people in them, dressing up to that theme,” Masini said. “So there’s rooms like hospital, butcher, hazmat, alien [and] clown — basically just normal kind of Halloween costume themes turned into rooms.”
Masini said this year, the event will include a new aspect in which sororities compete in a banner competition. Voting will occur Wednesday and Thursday, and the winner will be announced Friday.
“They’re basically just painting FIJI’s Friday night banner with their letters included in it — like a spooky Halloween-themed banner,” Masini said. “The winner gets $500 to their philanthropy.”
Masini said he looks forward to seeing all the fraternity members come together to give the student population a really fun event.
“Just seeing that pay off, I think, is what I’m most excited for,” Masini said. “But also, just seeing all of our members have a good time with it as well.”
Hull said he is most excited to see the event come back to its traditional time of the year.
“I think Fright Night is a good example of one of those events that everybody can come attend and, you know, take a break from school, take a break from studying,” Hull said. “It’s a lot of fun for students … and we’re really happy to be able to bring it back in a big way.”
