The sound of soft jazz fills the air as Cleopatra says hello to a Savages baseball teammate while Batman and Catwoman get a glass of Golden Hills Brewing Company’s Pale Ale.

EWU Libraries’ held their 10th annual Oktoberfest fundraiser on Oct. 27. This year’s theme was “Twilight Masquerade,” which saw students, faculty and alumni dress up in different costumes, ranging from 1920s gangsters and flapper girls to Pete “Maverick” Mitchell and a zombied Nick “Goose” Bradshaw from “Top Gun.”

The fundraiser once again featured both a silent and a live auction led by Austin Booker, EWU alumnus and winner of the Pacific Northwest Auctioneers Competition.

The goal for this year’s fundraiser was to raise $50,000 towards the EWU Libraries’ Collection Endowment Fund. The fundraiser raised a gross of $50,000. This is the first time this has happened.

Carol King, an alumna and director for the event, said the masquerade had a higher attendance than any previous fundraiser.

The dinner was served by Just a Couple of Moms Catering while beer and wine was provided by No-Li Brewhouse, Golden Hills Brewery Company, and Latah Creek Winery and Gift Shop, and Walla Walla Vintners.

Prior to the live auction, Kyler Burnett, the winner of the EWU Libraries’ Star Search contest, performed yo-yo tricks that were applauded by the audience.

After he received his cash prize of $500, Burnett said he was going to put the money towards a new computer.

In addition to the auctions, there was also a photo booth and wine toss where patrons won a bottle of wine by throwing a ring around the neck of the bottle.

Rayette Sterling, the outreach and instruction librarian at the JFK Library, had judged the student talent show and was in charge of the wine toss. Sterling said the masquerade was an approachable fundraiser where people could roam around and mingle.

“We’ve got people from the Cheney area, faculty, staff [and students]. It’s a nice mix of people,” Sterling said.

Natasha Garland, a geology major who dressed up as Maverick, came to the masquerade after seeing the flyers around campus. Her favorite part of the evening was the live music by the Chris Grant Quartet.

“I love it. It’s very different from the library I study in,” Garland said.

Although there will be tweaks to next year’s fundraiser, King said the masquerade was a success.

“We’ve had some of the best support this year for sponsorships beforehand,” King said. “Even walking into this, it was great and seeing this many people support the library is fabulous.”