Photo by Sam Yu Winter Hawk, 7, of Frederick, came as a ghoulish bride to the Safe Harvest Halloween festival at Hood College on Thursday evening.

Hood College kicked off the festivities Thursday with "Safe Harvest," a community outreach program for children ages 2 to 12.

"That's the main event," said Rachel Bauer, president of the Keystone Chapter of the Mortar Board which sponsors the activity. "It's something we look forward to, the highlight of the year."

Safe Harvest bring hundreds of children, with their parents, for an evening of games and food, and rounds of trick or treat in the dorms.

"Everything is geared toward giving the kids a safe environment to have a good time," Bauer said. "We have five dorms and they compete with each other over this. All the campus organizations get involved."

Activities begin at 6 p.m. at the Whitaker Center, and groups of trick-or-treaters are escorted through the residence halls starting at 7 p.m.

The Mortar Board has sponsored a food drive this week for the Thurmont Food Bank with collection points for nonperishable food items and disposables at various locations on campus. The drive began Monday and ended Thursday with the results announced during Safe Harvest.

The focus shifts today as the Campus Activities Board converts the Whitaker Center into a Halloween fun house for students. They call the event "Fright Night."

Don Miller, director of student activities and orientation, said the group has been preparing for a month. "Everything is done by students for students. CAB originates all the ideas, does all the work."

Fright night starts out in the "Ghoul Caf?," a central gathering place featuring pumpkin painting, music and dancing, a costume contest and chicken wings. It also serves as the staging area for the main attraction: the haunted house.

"We've been doing this for 10 years," Miller said. "We've collected a huge supply of materials to draw from. So it can get pretty elaborate."

Between 150 and 200 students are expected to turn out for Fright Night this year, according to Miller.

Across town Frederick Community College will host its annual Halloween costume contest for students and faculty in the college cafeteria starting at noon today.

"Students are usually the most active participants," said Kristi Mills, the student activities coordinator. "But sometimes an office group will go together with a theme, and that could involve 10 people right there."

Prizes for best student and best faculty costumes are awarded by the publications office staff. Every participant gets a voucher worth $7 in the school cafeteria.

Mount St. Mary's University will host "Boo Bingo" for the first time, starting at 9 p.m. today in Purcell Hall. Players come dressed in their most imaginative costumes and compete for votes, with the winner receiving a gift certificate to a local restaurant.

For students who take their Halloween entertainment more seriously, the Laughlin Auditorium will show two films, "Hocus Pocus" and "The Exorcism of Emily Rose." Admission to all events is limited to Mount students only.

Other activities will be less structured.

"All the dorms and clubs will be doing their own thing on Friday night," said Brooke Donovan, assistant director for campus activities. "There will be a lot going on."