No Turning Back: Howl sells out, brings huge crowd
Once again that time of year is here — and the Utah State University Howl is well on it’s way to becoming one of the largest Halloween parties in the west.
There has been a lot of hype about the Howl in years past, which may have contributed to the event selling out of tickets on Thursday night.
“This is the first year in history the tickets have sold out before the event,” said Madison Maners, public relations and marketing vice president for the Utah State University Student Association. “We feel great about and we think that it is great progress for the event.”
The Taggart Student Center is capable of safely hosting 6,000 attendees at the event. Typically, there are 1,500 to 2,500 tickets for sale at the door, but that won’t be the case this year. However, will call tickets became available for students who purchased their tickets online the morning of the Howl.
Students this year have been preparing for this event by pre-buying tickets. As the event came closer and students finalized their plans, some found that they had bought too many tickets and began selling them among themselves.
“Someone commented on Facebook, ‘Who would pay upwards of $60 to go to a school dance?’ and one student commented back, ‘It’s more than just a school dance. It’s concerts, it’s a dance party, it’s movie showing, it’s exotic animals … It’s so much more!'” Maners said.
While many students may be disappointed that the tickets are sold out now, USUSA hopes that this will cut down on disappointed students at the door. Many come from Salt Lake City or farther for the event. If they hear tickets are sold out, hopefully they will either find a way to get tickets before coming all the way to Logan or not show up without a ticket, Maners said.
“I am not surprised that tickets sold out based on past experience, because there are always so many people at the Howl,” said Peter Haight, a student coming from Salt Lake City for the dance. “I always felt that was one negative about the whole thing — there are too many people. I honestly don’t really know what all the hype is about the Howl … It is hyped as the best Halloween party in the state.”
A lot of effort went in to making sure that the crowd is pleased and that the experience is memorable.
“Last year we had a problem that there were so many people, that it took hours for them to get into the dance,” said Felicia Gallegos, the Activities Director in charge of the Howl this year said. “We’ve done two things to fix that. The first one is in the lounges. We are bringing in two student DJs to kind of create a second dance. It’s a different style of music to appeal to a different kind of crowd. We also have a mentalist who will do shows.”
Both Maners and Gallegos said that USUSA tried to showcase student performers in order to appeal to all types of people and give students a chance to be involved and showcase their talents.
“I imagine there will be a lot of people coming from SLC to go. People want to come every year. It amazes me the hype the Howl gets every year. I have had so much fun in the past years, which is really why I am coming this year,” Haight said.
Haight thinks many people want to experience the Howl because of how much it is promoted and talked about.
“It’s an all-encompassing Halloween party. That’s why we open it up to students as well as non-students. If it was just a school dance we wouldn’t charge for it. We would just provide it for the students,” Maners said.
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