Twas the night of Monte Mash, and all through North Quad, all the students wore costumes, and danced through thick fog …
Otter Media brought North Quad to life Thursday night with their annual Halloween extravaganza, Monte Mash. The event featured a stacked bill of performances from local artists, as well as a collection of creative activities for students such as pumpkin and face painting, caricature drawing, and more.
“So I would say Monte Mash is like our festival, in a sense, because nothing really goes on on the campus, so we just have our own thing that we like to do,” said Christopher Malone, second-year business administration major, frequent volunteer and participant in Otter Media.
Not only a fun annual Halloween event, Monte Mash was also a chance for Cal State Monterey Bay (CSUMB) students to show off their creative talents. “It just shows that there’s still students who want to do, like, singing and bands and stuff like that and show off their band, show off their creative output and just have fun,” said Malone.
The night kicked off with a performance from student-led band June Smoke, followed by local rock artist Desdemon, who delivered a bone-jolting performance. Next up was CSUMB student and singer Miss Fortune, who is no stranger to CSUMB stages. The final performer, and arguably the crowd’s favorite from the night, was 831 legend, The Mystic Souls. The crowd collectively moved closer to the stage as The Mystic Souls performed songs that aligned with their signature indie-rock sound, influenced with Latin flare.
Bryan Gutierrez, the band’s singer and fourth-year hospitality major, spoke on the difference between this year’s Monte Mash versus last year’s, which the band had also performed at.
“[It’s] bigger, the vibe was cooler, and we had a bigger band too. The sound was more full, so it was just super, super sick. It was all good vibes,” said Gutierrez.
Gutierrez also spoke on his experience of not only watching Monte Mash evolve, but also his experience watching his own band and music evolve throughout his time as a CSUMB student.
“It’s crazy, we used to play in my dorm room in Yarrow on the third floor, and only my friends would come into my dorm…So it’s just really cool to see,” said Gutierrez. “I’m very grateful. That’s all I can say is I’m very grateful.”
All throughout the night students piled onto the North Quad grass sporting their creative costumes, with three fitted-up students winning prizes in Otter Media’s costume contest. Otter Media also had their very own merch table selling shirts featuring the winning design from their recent art contest.
Other CSUMB clubs tabled on the outskirts of the North Quad lawn as well, including the Esports club, which projected a game of Wii Sports onto the side of Vineyard Suites for students to play during the event.
“I would just say, like, give it a chance. Dress up with your friends, like, bring them out here,” said Astrid Berg, Otter Media member and first-year marine science major. “You don’t have to stay for very long if you don’t want to, but like, I don’t know, it’s pretty fun.”
Photos by Elliot Rowe