West High’s athletic booster club has already written an $80,000 check with the athletic department’s name on it, but scarily, that wasn’t enough.

On Oct. 22, an extra $12,000 was raised in the second ever Club West Halloween fundraiser. Plenty of family fun was had at the haunted hayride, costume contest, auction and more.

However, the community’s participation at the Found Farm was the true ghoulish gift.

“[Attendance was] far above our expectations,” said Club West President Jeff Albright. “In years past, we would have about 100-150 people. This year we had over 400.”

Albright attributes the event’s scale to the board’s three month advertising process strictly online.

“[My favorite part was] just the participation. It’s great to build community for West High in general,” Albright shared. “We had kids from elementary school all the way up to high school kids, and that was great to see everybody out.”

The momentum doesn’t stop now that the event is over. Club West is currently selling spirit signs and aiming to raise $5,000 for a new “Hector” Trojan mascot.

“We’re unveiling a new mascot coming up, and they’ve been really beneficial in helping us,”  said BJ Mayer, West High’s athletic director. “They’ll be doing a lot of things, but they’re a great help to us and something that we couldn’t do without.”

The annual scheduling of this event is being discussed by the Club West board, but it is sure to return as an ornamental October occasion nevertheless.