Hall’s student council kicked off fall with a back-to-school picnic taking place on Sept. 25. beginning at 6 p.m. in the bus loop parking lot.

By Kate Levine

After hosting a “trial run” picnic last spring, the student council at West Hartford’s Hall High School has now begun what will continue to be a tradition of picnic to book-end the school year. The picnic on Sept. 25 began at 6 p.m. and ended at 8 p.m. with over 60 students spanning from all grades arriving throughout the event. 

There were food trucks there to provide students with tacos and shaved ice, and there also was a tent for Bear’s Smokehouse BBQ. Students were given an incentive to RSVP to the event by rewarding the first 50 to do so with free tickets to the food trucks. It had clearly been effective as plenty of students showed up and enjoyed the food provided. Students brought blankets and games of their own to enjoy, but they were also provided with ping pong tables and other classic lawn games such as: corn hole and ladder toss. 

The sunset painted the sky in warm tones of orange, pink, and red. The heavy cloud cover descended over the horizon creating a scene worth remembering. It was a bit chilly and there were high winds that led into the nor’easter to begin later that night. As a result, students were huddled all throughout the designated area in warm clothes with blankets taking photos of the sunset together. 

Students set up blankets on the hill and take pictures. Sept. 25, 2026. Photo credit: Kate Levine

Music played from a small DJ stand set up where students were allowed to suggest any song of their choosing, of course as long as it was clean. The music created a warm environment with people dancing as songs they recognized came on. At one point, students came together to dance to the Macarena as a group of over 15 kids joined together to do the iconic dance. 

Hall has recently taken an initiative to host more events in an effort to build Hall’s student community. There was even a music bingo night held the night before the picnic for Freshmen to enjoy. There is a likelihood that there will continue to be more events akin to this hosted by Hall student council throughout the year. It is nice to see how focused on community building Hall’s student council has become over the past years. 

Considering that a few years back there were not so many events for Hall students to participate in that weren’t sporting events, dances, or arts, it’s exciting that there has been some middle ground created for students that aren’t keen to go to those events and would prefer to attend something else – like this picnic. Hopefully more students will choose to attend events similar to this one, but all who attended the event had much fun and made it a success. 

Like what you see here? Click here to subscribe to We-Ha’s newsletter so you’ll always be in the know about what’s happening in West Hartford! Click the blue button below to become a supporter of We-Ha.com and our efforts to continue producing quality journalism.