Students dine in Marketplace for a spooky lunch

While students lined up to eat "bloody Mary pasta" and "grim reaper death by chocolate crepes," flesh-hungry zombies congregated to feast on the students at the Marketplace's Knight of the Living Fed event.

Beyond the strobe lights, cobwebs and Halloween music, actors dressed as zombies spooked students as they lurked throughout the dining room. With blood dripping from their mouths and forks in hand, they stirred up quite a reaction.

"The zombies are creepy," freshman environmental major Chris Ngo said. "It's funny to watch them walk around, getting really close to people's trays, making a noise and staring at them."

The event started at 11:00 a.m. and lasted until 2:00 p.m. on Monday.

Other attractions included: a pumpkin decorating table, face painter and a dessert station that featured a marble slab style of ice cream. Patrons were able to choose from an assortment of Halloween candy to mix in that included: M&M's, candy corn, Oreo cookie crumbles and gummy worms. GameStop set up a room for students to play Halloween-inspired games such as "Batman in Dead Island."

"We love being out here. We love doing stuff for students," senior engineering major and GameStop employee Aston Mack said.

Opened to the entire UCF community, patrons were encouraged to come in, eat, and vote for the annual Marketplace employee pumpkin carving contest.

Marketplace employees Tiffany Frances and Sarah Johnson completed their finishing touches to their ghost-carved pumpkin as they contemplated carving bats in the background.

Frances and Johnson said they anticipated victory and a year worth of bragging rights. The pumpkins were on display for all to see upon entering the Marketplace. The lineup featured a bloody ketchup-face, a frightened googly eyed monster, a ghost, a regurgitating cat and a few creative jack-o-lanterns.

Another competition involved a jar full of candy corn.

"I guessed 457," freshman engineering major, Chris Lancaster said.

The student who estimated correctly received the contents of the jar along with a prize pack that included a reusable to-go bag, a cup and coupons among other treats.

In the spirit of Halloween, students arrived in costume. Batgirl, Lady Gaga, a wolf man and a banana showed up to name a few. Freshman theatre studies major dressed up as Sonic the Hedgehog.

"It is a nice surprise to see Halloween spirit on campus. [It's] great to see people dressing up."

After three hours of setting up spider webs, blood and decorations, dining services marketing coordinator, Kacie Boniberger said the only set back was not being able to give the decorations more height due to safety precautions. Dressed-up as a cat, she deemed the event a successful one. Dining Services Marketing Programs Manager Shannon Frost agreed.

"The turn-out for this event was fantastic. We received lots of great feedback and look forward to putting on more extravagant themed-parties at both The Marketplace and Knightro's," she said.