Local small businesses, community organizations and Registered Student Organizations lined the Student Union’s Osprey Plaza for the UNF Pride Club’s Halloween Market.

The event took place from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Oct. 25. The Halloween Market was the second of its kind hosted by the Pride Club, which held an arts market this past spring semester. 

Seventeen vendors, community organizations and RSOs tabled at the Halloween market, according to the club’s Instagram account.

Pride Club Secretary Thomas Orsini, a history and anthropology junior, was costumed as a witch—complete with green face makeup. Orsini said it was important to hold events highlighting UNF’s LGBTQ community, especially after the closure of the LGBTQ Center.

“It shows that we’re still here, we’re still surviving and it also helps build community,” Orsini said. “Nothing is more important than community.”

Wearing a vampire costume, Pride Club President and mechanical engineering major Aster Walters shared a similar sentiment. 

“I think it’s important for people to understand that the queer community is still very much here,” Walters said. “[We] are still very vibrant, loving and welcoming… and I think that being able to have events like this arts market is a wonderful opportunity to show that we are visible.”

According to Mack R., the club’s social media specialist and senior advertising major, the market events have become popular among the club’s members.

“I am a big fan of supporting small businesses, so the fact that I get to support queer small businesses while also working with my favorite club here on campus is amazing to me,” Mack R. said.  

The UNF Pride Club is an RSO dedicated to providing the “University of North Florida Student Body with a positive, supportive organization for LGBTQ+ individuals and their many allies,” according to the club’s Perch Portal profile. 

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