USACE – Savannah District Halloween costume contest

Published Nov. 1, 2019
2019 costume contest

The winners of the 2019 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Savannah District Halloween costume contest from left to right were: (The Three Amigos) Beth Williams, Engineering-Hydrology, Rebecca Weiss, Program Management-Planning, Mackie McIntosh, Chief of Civil Works, 2nd Place; (Satyress) Leslie Carter, Resource Management, 1st Place; (Elvis) Nathan Dayan, Program Management-Planning, 3rd Place. (Photo by Dixie Manzanares, USACE Savannah)

2019 costume contest

Col. Daniel Hibner, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Savannah District commander, and Andre Wright, Savannah District Employee Recreation Association president, pose with 10 of the entrants for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Savannah District Halloween costume contest held October 31, 2019, at the district headquarters. (Photo by Dixie Manzanares, USACE Savannah)

It wasn't about candy. It wasn't about fright. It was all about having fun. And “it” wasn’t a clown under the street. It was the District headquarters’ annual Halloween costume contest Oct. 31.

With 13 entrants vying for one of the top three prizes in the contest some of the employees in the district were able to show off their Halloween costumes and make part of the workday a bit more entertaining.

While the prize money made a nice bonus for the contest, the Savannah District Employee Recreation Association-sponsored event was intended to bring some of the fun of the Halloween holiday into the workplace.

“We do it for morale, to get a lot of laughs, have a lot of participation,” said Andre Wright, Savannah District ERA president. “People dress up for Halloween outside of the office and we wanted to bring some of that energy and laughter to the building.”

The effort is deemed a success, as it was an opportunity to bring together coworkers in a social gathering.

“We’re using this as a team-building effort to bring together the branches that primarily support the Civil Works program,” said Mackie McIntosh, Chief, Civil Works Programs & Project Management Branch. “We’ve got a lot of new faces here, some that are coming back, some temporary, and this is a great way to bring everybody together.”

The costume contest also helps ERA build on upcoming events as district morale boosters.

“With ERA, the goals for these events are to be able to take a few minutes, be able to laugh, get to know your fellow employees, have a good time and have fun events at work,” said Wright.

The next big ERA-sponsored event will be a cake walk raffle scheduled for the week before Thanksgiving.