The Tuesday of this year’s Homecoming spirit week was cartoon day. Over 820 Lemont high school students dressed up as cartoon characters and recorded many skits. The senior class dominated in the skits competition, winning first with “Scooby Doo”, second with “Tune Squad”, and third place with “Elmo’s World”. The juniors ended up taking fourth place with their “Cosmo & Wanda” performance and the sophomores’ “Cartman” took fifth.

Of the students who filled out a survey, 42% mentioned that they enjoyed the inflatable costumes, specifically the Spongebob and Patrick costumes.  Other costumes that were a favorite from the students were Cosmo & Wanda from Fairly Odd Parents, the Joker, and Russel from “UP!”. 

The overwhelming majority voted for inflatable Patrick & Spongebob, who were Kevin Hackiewicz and Martin Dumbliauskas, both juniors. What started as a lunch table conversation turned into the biggest hit of Cartoon Day. 

Dumbliauskas said, “We ended up in Spirit Halloween just searching for stuff, you know, as you do, and kind of just saw them and thought it would be funny.” 

Dumbliauskas was correct as 70 responses mentioned either the Spongebob and Patrick or the inflatables. 

“We thought it might be good for a skit and that we could maybe make something work for that, we didn’t podium for a skit but it was still fun,” said Hackiewicz. 

The costumes were a big hit, somewhat due to the shock factor invoked by massive inflatable cartoon characters roaming the school.

 Dumbliauskas said, “For a lot of people it was just shock, because oftentimes people either wouldn’t see you coming around a corner, or you’d be walking behind them and they’d turn around and get scared, like just terrified of this imposing figure directly behind them.”

The response to these costumes not only spread by word of mouth, but by social media as well. 

“I saw myself on a lot of people’s [Snapchat] stories, I was just like, oh that’s me I guess! I guess people were just surprised by it, I don’t think they really expected it,” said Hackiewicz.

In response to the reaction to their costumes, Dumbliauskas and Hackiewicz said they felt like funny guys, humorous fellows, and goofy individuals.