Though scaled back due to yesterday afternoon's pouring rains, the first annual Green Key Block Party brought about 200 people to Webster Avenue to eat hamburgers at Beta Theta Phi Fraternity and listen to the Ominous Seapods at Phi Delta Alpha Fraternity.
"It was successful not because of the amount of people that came out but because everyone was there," Coed Fraternity Sorority President Marty Dengler '97 said. "It wasn't just certain types of people or members of certain houses."
"It wasn't just another party - the universality was really nice," he added.
Although the block party was intended to raise money for a smattering of charities located throughout the Upper Valley, none of the fund-raising activities were held due to the inclement weather.
These would have included a moon walk, taking swings at an old car with a sledge hammer and electronic basketball games.
Hamburgers, hot dogs, potato chips, soda and ice pops were also to be sold to generate money for charities. However, the food was given away for free instead.
The Ominous Seapods performed on the porch of Phi Delt yesterday from 4-9 p.m.. The band, which calls Albany, N.Y. its home, "gave up a show in Pittsburgh in order to play here," Phi Delt President Josh Jarrett '97 said.
The block party was not the band's first performance at Dartmouth. The band has played three times at Phi Delt and once in Collis Common Ground, Jarrett wrote.
"They have just released their second album and have been touring around the Northeast," he added.
Bringing unity to the Greek system
The block party brought together all 27 CFS organizations into "one big social event that will have a positive impact on Dartmouth," CFS Director of Programming Jake O'Shea '97 said.
The block party was the first attempt by the Council's new outreach committee to host larger, more encompassing programming events on campus.
"If we can come together to produce a couple of events that can get a large number of people involved, the benefit to the community is obvious," Chi Gamma Epsilon President and Chair of the Outreach Committee Eric Newton '97 said.
The CFSC recently formed the outreach committee, and the block party was one of its first ideas, Newton added.
While current Greek system programming is excellent, the sheer number of events "water down" their effectiveness, he explained.
Newton said the CFSC represents 1600 people, and committee members felt the Greek system should plan more unified events for the campus.
Several presidents of Greek organizations explained the reasoning behind the new block party.
"The idea of the party is to have everyone contribute a little so we can create a big event everyone, Greek or non-Greek, Dartmouth students or Hanover citizens, can enjoy," Jarrett said.
"The main goal is for the CFSC to come together and provide the Dartmouth community with an enjoyable, safe Green Key," Sigma Phi Epsilon President Russ Stidolph '97 said.
"We are trying to come together as a system," Sigma Delta Sorority President Emily Smith '97 said. "We are trying to behave as a system."
O'Shea said the purpose of the block party was "to give people a chance to have fun," and "to contribute a positive social space" in light of the recent events on campus.
Newton said he hoped the block party would become an annual event. "It's hopefully going to become a tradition," he said.
The 27 CFS organizations, in addition to Amarna; Casque and Gauntlet; the Choates; the CFS Committee on Diversity in Programming; the Coed, Fraternity, and Sorority Council; Dartmouth United; the Fayerweathers; the Gold Coast; the Inter-Fraternity Council; Russell Sage/Butterfield; '97 Class Council; '98 Class Council and the Panhellenic Council sponsored the Block Party.
"We've got good campus-wide sponsorship," O'Shea said.
"We're still planning, and one of the key things is budget," O'Shea said.
The CFS council ideally wanted to raise money for charity via the block party, but the concern about just breaking even was also fretted over.
"We're hoping to get most of the funding from the individual houses and the CFSC fund," Sigma Delta President Emily Smith '97 said. "We've also solicited the ACs [Area Coordinators] and Class Councils."
Making money is not really the point, Smith said. "We just really want to have a fun time."
"The idea is that all the Greek organizations are coming together," Smith said.
The CFS committee formed to handle advertising for the block party used several avenues to inform the community of yesterday's festivities.
"Well, we ran an ad in the D, hung a banner in Food Court, plastered the campus with posters and sent a mass mailing to the HBs," President of Alpha Theta Fraternity Robert Puckett '97 said.
