Winter Carnival weekend suffers
from lack of student participation

By Elizabeth Kennedy
Norwich Guidon Staff Writer

Mylar palm trees hung from the rafters in Plumley Armory. Carnival booths were set up by different clubs and activities. It looked like a carnival in Hawaii-just like it was supposed to, except there weren't any tourists.

The NU sophomore class sold about 130 tickets to the annual Winter Carnival Ball, which they organized, but only 50 people showed up, 20 of whom were there to run the carnival booths, according to Matt Dempsey, a 20-year-old communications major from Salem, Mass.

So where was everyone? Not on campus, according to student supervisor Christopher Perkins, a 22-year-old history major from Briggs, Calif.

According to carnival organizers, there were several factors which contributed to the lack of participation in this year's Winter Carnival Weekend, which cost an estimated $3,000 to put together.

The biggest loss of participants came as a result of the freshmen leave policy for the weekend. Freshmen were allowed to leave campus Saturday afternoon following the NU hockey game, and they wanted to get off campus as soon as they could, Perkins said.

Another problem was the attire required for ball entrance. Things were done a bit differently this year, Perkins said. It was not required for upperclass members of the corps to wear uniforms, and women did not have to wear evening gowns. When people purchased the tickets, they were encouraged to buy Hawaiian shirts at Wal-Mart, to go with the ball theme.

As it turned out, Perkins said, some people didn't come because they couldn't wear the dress uniform that they don't often have the opportunity to wear. Similarly, many women didn't go because they didn't have the chance to get dressed up, he said.

Because of the lack of attendance, members of Norwich Christian Fellowship, Beta Beta Beta, the women's lacrosse team, cheerleading team, and paintball team packed up their carnival booths and went home by 10 p.m., Dempsey said.

The plan was to have a carnival with pie-eating contests, turkey bowling, target shooting, and a barbecue, all of which would eventually transition into a dance. According to Perkins, the transition was never made because there weren't enough people.

Tori Stitt, a 20-year-old biology major from Tampa, Fla., was running the Christian Fellowships turkey-bowling booth, which made only $8. Luckily, she said, it was enough to cover the cost of the frozen bird that they bowled with.

"Next year there needs to be better advertising about what's going on, and the activities that are going to be available," Stitt said. "The advertisements that were up in the halls didn't show the fun that was available for people to have."

In addition to the ball being a disappointment, the other activities planned for the weekend didn't go as planned either, Dempsey said.

There was a broomball tournament and public skating planned to take place on Disney Field, but the man-made rink wasn't completely frozen.

Also scheduled was a snowshoe softball tournament, which didn't draw the crowd necessary to have an actual tournament.

Fireworks and a bonfire were scheduled for Friday evening, but both were canceled because of high winds, Perkins said.

On first brush it would appear that this year's Winter Carnival weekend was a disaster, but some good did come out of it, Perkins said. "The sophomores did a good job organizing it; there is room for improvement. It was a little rough around the edges here and there, but they are off to a good start."

Dempsey said leftover t-shirts and glasses will be on sale together for $10 this week, in the student activities office.

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