Students dressed up in Halloween costumes to get candy, s’mores and ride free hayrides at the AACC Pumpkin Patch event on Friday.

The Department of Public Safety organizes the event annually in order to express their gratitude to the community, according to Sergeant Janene Kerpelman.

“Each year I add something a little different … so everybody can have fun,” Kerpelman said. “Now that everyone is coming back [from COVID], maybe we’ll … get more stuff to do.”

This is the first year that Public Safety invited students to the event.

Chief of Police Sean Kapfhammer said the purpose of the event is to show the campus community “a good time.”

“This is always a big seller for us,” Kapfhammer said. “We enjoy doing this.”

First-year nursing major Angelina Berg said “it looked like a fun thing to do with my friends.”

“I like it. It’s very cute,” Berg said. “I like that there’s, like, face paint, balloons, and, like, snacks.”

Fourth-year nursing major Emily Hertz agreed.

“There’s lots of tasty treats.” Hertz said.

The event did not meet one student’s expectations.

“In my head, I imagined something bigger,” first-year psychology major Asia Marie Juania said. “But … small is nice.”