From Ohio University To UCSB, The College Halloween Parties That Became Legendary
By Kevin Wilkerson, Editor & Publisher PubClub.com
Give college students any reason to party and they will do it in grand style.
Some take it to the extreme and here are places where huge block parties take priority on Halloween over things like, say, going to study at the library. Unless students are in one of those towns with a college bar called The Library, like in Austin for the University of Texas.
How PubClub Picked These Halloween Party Schools
This list grew largely from firsthand PubClub experiences and years of comments and recommendations from students and alumni on our Top Party Schools rankings. Some of these Halloween traditions have changed considerably over the years, so we’ve updated the article to distinguish today’s events from the legendary parties of the past.
Ohio University – Athens, Ohio
There’s a reason the University of Ohio is one of PubClub.com’s Top Party Schools. It’s the annual Halloween party.
One student once described it to PubClub this way: “Where else do they have a Halloween party where the city literally doubles in size and roughly 20 bars in a three-block stretch uptown? Athens, of course!!”
University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill
Even without Halloween, Franklin Street is one of the best college party places in America. Add in the excuse of Halloween and it becomes an absolute all-out blast.
About 35,000 people head to the street (it used to be 75,000, according to some reports). It’s an official event, with a large police presence, but they are looking for trouble rather than causing it. It runs from 9 p.m.-1:30 a.m. and peaks at midnight.
Unlike its peak years, when thousands of outsiders came in to party, the city cut the crowds by making it a “Homegrown Halloween.”
East Carolina University – Greenville, NC
The football team once disguised themselves as patsies and upset some major-college teams. But there’s no disguising the fact that East Carolina University has a Halloween scene to rival that of Ohio U.
Here, again, we quote a student: “5th street is like Mardi Gras on Halloween. The Greenville Police Dept. (GPD) , closes down a six-block area because the party is so big and crazy.” The GPD also sets up pedestrian checkpoint entries at intersections like Fifth and Evans and Fifth and Reade.
UCSB – Santa Barbara, CA
It is not surprising that a college which has its own beach and students and alumni proudly proclaim that UCSB stands not for University California Santa Barbara but U Can Study Buzzed would have a wild Halloween celebration.
But it’s not just the students who roll down Isla Vista. Nearly 50,000 people converge on the area, with many parties starting and spilling into the frat houses in a real-live Animal House.
Unfortunately, it’s not what it used to be and is now pretty much limited to people with student ID cards.
Kevin Wilkerson is the founder of PubClub.com, an award-winning journalist and nightlife expert who has covered destinations, events and nightlife for more than two decades. He has attended games at schools across the country and covered several colleges while working as a newspaper reporter where he received an Associated Press award for investigative journalism.
Next Stops On The PubClub Colleges Party Bus
• Top Party Schools In The USA
• Top Party Schools In The SEC
• Top Party Schools In California
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