Riu Palace Antillas and Riu Palace Aruba welcomed guests to celebrate Halloween with a special ‘Great Pumpkin Carving Contest’ held on Saturday, October 31. Following the carving contest, the resorts’ main restaurants transformed into Dracula’s Castle, where guests were invited to ‘enter if they dared’ for a special Halloween dinner in which the best pumpkins were displayed.
In the Riu Palace Antillas hotel, Chef Victor Olivares judged the annual Halloween event that included both large and mini pumpkins. Guests were dressed with festive black and white kitchen aprons, wearing traditional toque hats, and sporting carving knives.
As onlookers cheered, competitors were given only 15 minutes to carve their best Jack-o’-lantern using classic carving patterns provided and their own special touch.
Chef Olivares awarded Maloney Iannuzzi first prize in the large pumpkin category and Carol Mendez first prize in the mini pumpkin category.
About RIU: The international RIU chain was founded in Mallorca by the Riu family in 1953 as a small holiday firm and is still owned by the family’s third generation. The company specializes in holiday resorts and over 70 percent of its establishments offer its acclaimed all-inclusive by RIU service. With the inauguration of its first city hotel in 2010, RIU is expanding its range of products with its own line of city hotels called Riu Plaza. RIU Hotels & Resorts now has more than 100 hotels in 19 countries, which welcome over four million guests a year and provide jobs for a total of 27,813 employees. RIU is currently the world’s 30th ranked chain, one of the Caribbean’s most popular, the largest in Spain in terms of revenue and the third largest in number of rooms.
