A Victoria’s Secret “Angel,” a police officer, Supergirl and the Joker. Halloween brings all of these characters out at one time.

It’s that time of year again, and University students are preparing to celebrate the holiday that was once a Christian day. While most college kids no longer trick-or-treat, Halloween is still fun.

“Everyone can participate in it. It’s all about having fun and being with friends,” said Megan Malone, sophomore in AHS.

Similar to the national attention given to the University’s Unofficial Saint Patrick’s Day, the University of Wisconsin at Madison and Southern Illinois University at Carbondale have Halloween celebrations that attract national attention.

At Southern Illinois, an unofficial Halloween is ordinarily thrown the weekend before Halloween because the bars and liquor stores are now closed on the actual holiday due to violence during past celebrations.

“It’s a whole party weekend,” said Emily Muren, sophomore at SIU. “It’s like a giant costume party.”

Celebrators will attend bars, house parties and haunted houses. Muren said the festivities are popular because everyone is sick of school by the time midterms roll around. People are ready to let loose, she said.

“It’s our dedication and drive (that set us apart),” Muren said.

The Saturday after Halloween, students at Wisconsin, along with the expected crowd that will head that way come Friday the 31st, can attend “Freak Fest,” a concert that closes down one of the main streets on the Madison campus.

Lifehouse performed last year, and this year OAR is performing on the Badgers’ campus.

Christine Cregg, sophomore in Business at Illinois, celebrated Halloween at Wisconsin last year and said that the festival brings a lot of visitors.

While people look forward to the event all year, Katie Dettman, sophomore at Wisconsin, said the event is just about listening to the performers, eating food and enjoying friends.

“It’s just about the experience,” Dettman said. “It’s what you make of it.”

She said the festival is crowded, with people packing the street.

“It would be like having Unofficial on Green Street,” Cregg said.

According to Cregg, the event was fun because there were so many people and people were very creative with their costumes.

“It would be interesting to see what it looked like from a distance,” Dettman said.