IMG_5588.JPGIt’s an annual tradition every fall in Charlottesville that started in the late 1980s. A day when the masses of costumed children get to interact face-to-face with costumed University of Virginia students and faculty on the famed UVA Lawn. The candy… donated by UVA student groups and passed out from 54 student dormitories on the Lawn as well as the faculty-occupied Pavilions. At one room, UVA athletes dressed in their uniforms complimented every child’s costume while around the bend, the Dean of UVA’s Darden School of Business–dressed as Darth Vader–and students from the Darden Student Association passed out a small chunk of the $150 per hour of candy provided by 70 student organizations. Last year’s event recorded approximately 2,000 visitors and from my own recollection, this years’s crowd was no smaller!

While my kids definitely love the fact they can fill their entire Halloween bag in 30 minutes (and that’s just from going up one side of The Lawn!), I think Trick or Treating on the Lawn represents what makes UVA and Charlottesville great. It’s the combination of the changing leaves surrounded by the history of the Lawn and Rotunda and the interaction of UVA students and the greater Charlottesville community. It didn’t hurt one bit that today was a spectacularly day.

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One of my favorite things to do is just start wandering the Lawn exploring costumes and seeing students give so much love to the little ones in their variety of creative costumes. It’s so fun to watch people interacting with one another and even with pets! So many cute dogs and other pets, which included Truffle the Pig this year and one of my favorites last year, Mr. Pickles the Pug, who was encased in a Chipotle wrapper.

If I’m not doing a good enough job of selling it, I just direct you to these social media posts!

https://twitter.com/libbyhawthorne/status/793203979564048384