In celebration of the National Day on Writing, the Arkansas State University Writing Center held a costume contest and an open mic at Story Coffee House. 

It also included a candy apple creation station. 

Abby Frisby, a graduate student studying English education from Bay, Arkansas, works at the Writing Center and helped organize the event. 

“(Last) week was dedicated to National Day on Writing and we had a few different events go on campus throughout the week for this, but this was kind of like our final main event. We had kind of talked about what we wanted to do for it, and I came up with the idea to do the Halloween party,” Frisby said. 

She said the people at the event voted for their favorite costumes and Story Coffee House, Verb Bookstore and Wicked Suds Bath Company sponsored the prizes. 

Frisby said the event celebrated authors who wrote horror or spooky stories. 

“The open mic portion is kind of an extension of (the celebration) where people got up and read portions from their favorite spooky works or read something additional that they’ve written,” Frisby said. 

Lindsey Spencer, co-owner of Story Coffee House, served drinks from the coffee bar during the event. 

“We love hosting events, and especially inviting students to host events in our space, because students are a big part of our audience and our customer base here. Since our name is Story, we are all about stories. So, we’re open to any other ideas that students want to put on here,” Spencer said. 

Tabatha Simpson-Farrow, the director of the Writing Center, said she enjoyed celebrating the National Day on Writing. 

“It’s been an exciting week. It’s been fun to have conversations with students about writing, and faculty as well, that kind of show up and just get to know our writing processes and why each of us writes on a daily basis,” Simpson-Farrow said. 

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