Freeze Frame
Despite a wide variety of activities, from an inflatable wrestling ring and a chance to be a human dog sled, this year’s Winter Carnival suffered from a low turnout and less than wintry weather.
The Winter Carnival events consisted of activities such as a snow sculpture contest, chili cook-off, relay race and a semi-formal Snow Ball dance held at SkyBarn on South Campus.
‘We could’ve been better advertised,’ said Pam Parker, Student Chair of Winter Carnival. ‘We have a lot of staff helping out on the committee, but not enough students, so we don’t really have the manpower to get out there and advertise as well as, let’s say, DanceWorks can.’
Popular events included Guitar Hero and Dance Dance Revolution competitions, which were held at Goldstein Thursday. A concert by Grammy-nominee Chrisette Michele, was due to take place on Friday, but was cancelled due to poor weather conditions.
‘We did all we could,’ Parker said. ‘We made a flier, put up ads on Facebook, but ultimately, if we don’t have enough students helping out on the committee. If everyone invites their friends, there’s still not enough people from the whole campus. Also not enough students take advantage of the free events we have for them.’
Despite the setbacks, Parker describes Winter Carnival as a success due to the variety of events offered this year, and said out of those who did come out to enjoy the fun, everyone seemed to be glad they showed up.
‘The turnout wasn’t big,’ said Erica Hurtt, a junior hospitality management major. ‘But the people here did have fun. Probably having it in a bigger venue and making the carnival itself more wintry might have attracted more people.’
Better advertising and clearer communications were cited as some solutions to attract more people in the coming years, as well as establishing Winter Carnival as a prominent school tradition like Homecoming.
‘Even people who were participating that weren’t too excited about it at first ended up changing their minds by the end,’ Parker said. ‘That just shows if you can get people out there to the events they will have fun, but you can’t force attendance.’
Published on February 24, 2008 at 12:00 pm
