The 30 students on the Winter Carnival Committee are dedicated to much more than choosing a theme for the weekend. They are the brains and muscle behind the posters, the programming and the piece de resistance: the snow sculpture.
Members started thinking of a theme last spring and finished chiseling away at the abominable snowman on the Green yesterday, just in time for the weekend's opening ceremonies.
"We have to organize events for the weekend, get a sculpture built, and get people excited," Sarah Wagner '95, one of the three co-chairs of the council, said. But most of their work is done with little help from the rest of campus.
"Winter Carnival has been going on so long that people don't really think about it," said Tim Chow '96, another of the council's co-chairs. The third co-chair is Tammy Busch '95.
Student Programs Coordinator Linda Kennedy also sits on the council.
Among the responsibilities of the council are picking the theme and then running the contest to choose the poster and t-shirt, Chow said.
"We started thinking about the theme in meetings last spring," Chow said. "We tried to get away from things that have been done before."
"Someone came up with the theme of 'When Hanover Freezes Over,'" Chow continued. "But we needed to find a second line."
Chow said the second half of the theme, "All Carnival Breaks Loose," was decided after a long search that concluded Fall term.
The council considered a number of other themes, including a Western motif, Chow said.
After choosing a theme, the council held a contest to design the poster, for which six students submitted entries, Chow said.
"The theme didn't lend itself for a visual idea," Chow said. "David Stack '96 won the contest, because he had the best idea and it was well-executed."
Chow said the council members were not sold on any of the t-shirt designs submitted, so they asked Stack to modify his poster for a t-shirt.
The council sells the t-shirts and posters throughout the week before Carnival in hopes of breaking even, Chow said.
The council receives money from the Programming Board to cover the costs of the weekend, because it is an official College event, but it tries to treat the money as a loan, Chow said..
Chow said expenses included materials for the opening ceremonies, the Carnival formal, renting scaffolding for the snow sculpture, and food and materials for the planning meetings.
With money raised by the sale of 1993 merchandise, this year's council also bought green vests to "give to members with a lot of Carnival spirit," Wagner said.
Aside from the poster and the t-shirts, the most noticeable symbol of Carnival is the snow sculpture, which also falls under the responsibilities of the council, Chow said.
Artie Zweil '94, the council's sculpture chair, said he spent about 180 hours working on the abominable snowman before it was finished, including all night on Wednesday to complete the sculpture before the opening ceremonies last night.
Zweil said the idea for the sculpture came from Betsy Allen '96 but the planning and construction were left to the council members.
"A few of us made clay models after exams last term and made sketches to get things started," Zweil said.
Before the actual sculpturing began, the snow was stacked in five levels. Extensions for the arm and head were added, Chow said. The sculpture stands about 25 feet tall, he said.
Zweil said he was always confident the sculpture would turn out well.
"You can't go too wrong," Zweil said. "It's so big. You just hack at it. Pieces come off and a figure emerges."
"It takes a vision," Zweil continued. "Someone will see it, then someone else will, and then someone else."
Zweil said he volunteered for the job of sculpture chair despite a self-admitted lack of artistic talent. Wagner agreed with Zweil that artistic ability is not a prerequisite to working on the snow sculpture.
"It takes no talent," Wagner said. "It takes know-how."
Zweil said he really enjoyed working on the snow sculpture, despite the amount of time he had to devote to the project.
"Working on the sculpture is a lot of fun," Zweil said. "But I don't know why I enjoy it so much."
Other council members said they appreciate the time and effort Zweil has contributed to building the sculpture.
"Artie's crazy," Chow said. "He's out here all the time working on the sculpture."
The council is also responsible for planning the opening ceremonies of Winter Carnival, which were held last night, Chow said.
The ceremonies included a small torchlight parade for the winter sports teams, followed by speeches from several of the captains and by College President James Freedman and performances by several College singing groups.
The Winter Carnival Council is also responsible for coordinating all of the weekend's events planned by other organizations on campus.
"We're in charge of coordinating what everyone else is doing, such as the Programming Board's formal, the Dartmouth Outing Club events and the 99 cent day at the Dartmouth Skiway," Chow said.
"It's a huge, huge project to get underway," Chow added. "You have to dedicate the first six weeks of Winter term other than classes to the Carnival if you are a chair."
