Princesses, ghouls and superheroes lined the university sidewalks in search of candy and Halloween fun Tuesday. It could only mean it was the time of year when the residents of Colby Hall opened their doors for the 37th Annual Colby Halloween.

University faculty and staff brought their children and grandchildren to trick-or-treat through the halls of Colby, where candy was not the only thing given away and some familiar faces waited to greet visitors.

La’Cresha Henderson, Colby hall director, worked with The Women’s Center of Tarrant County and The Salvation Army to make Colby Halloween about giving and receiving this year. Donation boxes were arranged for Colby Halloween visitors, who provided items that included shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste and other hygiene items, as well as new or gently-used clothing.

“We have so many people coming into our community, so why not ask them to bring a small donation?” Henderson said.

Another new feature for Colby Halloween was the participation of previous Colby hall directors and resident assistants. A meet-and-greet event, themed “honoring our tradition and celebrating our history,” was held for alumni the night before the Halloween event, Henderson said.

“With Colby being scheduled to undergo renovations next year, our focus was tying in alumni,” Henderson said.

Children up to the age of 9 were allowed to choose between a tour of the lighthearted wing, which featured decorations from Candyland and Dr. Seuss, or the scary wing, which included a frightening circus and a dark forest, Henderson said.

“Because of the age group we tend to have more kids that go on the lighthearted tour,” Henderson said. “So we offer two lighthearted tours and one scary.”

In addition to the hallway tours, the Clark Hall and Foster Hall councils created a haunted house in the basement of Colby, Henderson said.

Nine-year-old Juan Salcedo visited Colby Halloween for the first time this year and said he was excited to visit the scary side.

“I wasn’t grounded, and I didn’t have that much homework,” Salcedo said.

Every resident of Colby participated in Colby Halloween and duties ranged from voting on themes for the hallways to selecting costumes. Each dorm room was required to have its door unlocked during the event and have 600 pieces of candy to hand out to trick-or-treaters.

Heavy recruitment was also important for the event, Henderson said.

“We had about 100 students from the on-campus community come in and help us,” Henderson said.

Crystal Lee, a freshman kinesiology major, volunteered to lead tour groups into Colby. Dressed as a grandma, Lee said she was most excited about seeing the trick-or-treaters in their costumes.

Henderson said one of the goals of Colby Halloween was to encourage participation from students who had not been as active in other dorm festivities. Seeing students find their place and showing their talent was very meaningful, she said.

As always, the tradition of inviting people to celebrate the holiday within Colby remained an important feature, Henderson said.

“It’s a way for us to open our doors to the TCU community and give back,” Henderson said.