Club Row brings the scares on Halloween eve

Today from 11:15 a.m. to 1 p.m., Santa Monica College's main quad was home to the 2014 fall semester Club Row. This event takes place every spring and fall semester, and is one of the best opportunities for SMC clubs to promote themselves and advertise to potential members. This semester's theme was "Halloween," and clubs strove to make their booth or table stand out from the crowd in the hopes of attracting students to their organization. Some sold food and others advertised in elaborate costumes. There were also unconventional draws, Generation of the Future ran a dunk tank, International Student Forum invited students to a game of human whack-a-mole, and Eco-Action enticed with a fortune telling booth. Unsurprisingly, the more effort a club put into their presentations, the more students were drawn to them.

Club Grow, SMC's gardening club, gathered the most people with their "Little Garden of Horrors" display. One member, Mark Biedlingmaier said of his table, "We spent a few days coming up with it. We have enough support so we were all able to come together in a short amount of time. I'm glad it came through."

Apart from it being a bonding experience for the members of a club, Club Row is one of the main recruiting and fundraising techniques that these groups use. Biedlingmaier says that though not everybody shows interest in their table joins the club, it is a good way to raise awareness. "We do find a significant amount that come back for at least one meeting. I know sometimes life gets in the way, but we definitely get a boost in our turnouts for the club meetings. Club Row is definitely a good opportunity to recruit people and enlighten them to the opportunities that are around campus."

Besides the displays that the clubs set up themselves, this semester's attractions also featured The Boba Truck, a food truck focusing on bubble teas, and a live band playing outside the book store.

So whether or not students decide to join a club during their time at SMC, Club Row provides a way for clubs to make their presence known around campus, and hopefully match students to others with similar interests.

A previous version of this story incorrectly stated Future Alumni Club as hosting a fortune telling booth.